The Official VisionWeb Blog

With the reopening of businesses in some states, optometry practices are getting their inventory and staff prepared. However, it can be difficult to keep up with new insurance rules, government regulations, and local mandates while delivering care to a larger volume of patients.

Therefore, we thought it would be a good time to give a general summary and update on the eyecare industry and what might be on the horizon for optometrists to keep their pulse on. Here's what you need to know in order to make the next month a success:

We understand that planning out your day or week can be tough when you don't know the timeline for reopening your practice and accepting patients at full capacity. So far in our remote work series, we've given you ideas for updating your tools, implementing telehealth, and building out your marketing personas.

But now we want to help fill your schedule on the days where you aren't sure how best to use your time or your staff's time. We have a few ideas for how you can continue to work on your business without conducting routine eye exams. Keep reading for some inspiration and guidance.

Unprecedented times call for adaptability and creativity, which can help strengthen your practice. Especially when there is no immediate end to government regulations and mandates, it's better if your practice implements changes quickly to mitigate profit loss. Dr. Barker said it best when she stated that "remote patient care has been interesting and has pushed us to be creative and quick on our feet".

That's why we want to focus on the ways you can enact change quickly with minimal disruptions to your staff motivation, sales, and patient satisfaction.

Although ECPs usually don't have a business background, some business savvy is required in order to stay relevant in the ever-changing eyecare industry. Companies conduct SWOT analyses when they're moving into new markets, looking to expand their user base, or assessing their position.

Your optometry practice can figure out areas for improvement, develop campaigns to rise above competitors, and figure out its overall value to patients with the help of tools like a SWOT analysis.

We'll show you how to conduct a SWOT analysis for where your optometry practice stands in relation to your competition, locally and nationally.

Although optometrists have traditionally been apprehensive to adopt telemedicine or deliver remote diagnoses, the current shelter-in-place precautions call for healthcare providers to adapt. If you have established patients with red eyes or injuries during this time, what options do you have besides remote care? However, beginning to administer patient care while you and your staff work from home takes planning and the right tools.

From billing codes to workflow changes, we want to show you how telehealth could be incorporated into your practice either for the short or long term.