As a practicing OD who sees patients 3.5 days a week and manages a large multi-location practice with one other owner, I find my primary job is making decisions. As owners, my partner and I have the responsibility to make key decisions that will impact the health of the practice immediately and for years to come. One decision that is never easy involves Managed Vision Care Plans. We balance what the experts in our field are recommending with what we predict will be the impact on the practice. Analyzing the financial costs is simple math. What is trickier is determining how it will affect working and interacting with our patients.
Three easily-overlooked aspects of Managed Vision Care Plans.
- Relationships – Optometrists are one of a few types of doctors who develop relationships that transcend the patient-doctor interaction. Sit one day with a doctor who has practiced for more than 20 years and you will quickly realize he is as much a psychologist or family friend as he is an optometrist. Our patients view us as friends. They have chosen to come to us for over 20 years and have shared their children, marriages, job changes and personal struggles. When a new MVCP starts at the beginning of the year and cuts the optometrist’s reimbursement in half, keeping the patient no longer makes sense financially. But what about relationally?
- Your Brand – Strong brands are consistent and weather the storms of competition and poor profit margins. For my brand, Wichita Optometry, to be strong for decades, our team must adapt to MVCPs and learn to be profitable through the changes.
- The WHY behind YOU – Optometrists and people in general have a difficult time defining the life-long question of WHY they do what they do. Let’s face it, when we decide to say “No” to a low reimbursing MVCP, we are trying to keep our yearly take-home pay from shrinking. The truth is we want to have successful businesses that make lots of money. ODs who have giving hearts and care for patients no matter the cost will have less angst about MVCPs than others.
Deciding to take or drop MVCPs is a task that owners wish was not a yearly decision. Unfortunately, we are in a culture of health care that changes quickly and often. In the past, successful practices have stood arm in arm and said no to MVCPs. Today, optometry practices are embracing the changes. Instead of complaining, successful practices are fighting MVCPs by becoming better business managers and actively adjusting the systems within to stay competitive.
