Case Studies

ABB CONCISE Case Studies are real life, in-depth accounts of Eye Care Practitioners who rely on ABB CONCISE profit-strategies to build business. Four times a year, case studies are published in the ABB CONCISE Contact Lens Profit Advisor, the industry's leading source of unbiased expertise for today's eye care professional.

Case Study #1
ABB CONCISE plays a role in practice recovery
Case Study #2
Eye Care Practice Cashes in on Success
Case Study #3
Practice owners feel confident consolidating orders with ABB CONCISE

Call 1-800-852-8089 to learn more about ABB CONCISE competitive pricing strategies and profit checks for eye care practitioners.

Case Study #1

To the Rescue - ABB CONCISE plays a role in practice recovery after devastating fire

After southern California wildfires brushed close to his Malibu office several years ago, Gregory O’Connor, O.D., made sure his insurance policy provided maximum protection against fires. On April 17, 2005, he was thankful it did. That day, a fire began in one of the stores in the retail plaza where his office is located, and spread quickly when the chemicals in a neighboring beauty supply store ignited. His office suffered heavy smoke and water damage and had to be closed for repairs.

The good news was that Dr. O’Connor’s insurance policy not only covered the repairs but also provided enough income that he could afford to keep his staff working from remote locations for more than a year. For the first few months, the staff would come into the sooty office for a few hours each day to help clean and sanitize each patient chart. In June, reconstruction began. At first, Dr. O’Connor thought about continuing his patient exams in different offices. While many of his colleagues in neighboring communities offered him space, he decided it was too inconvenient. In retrospect, he’s glad he made that decision. “None of us expected it would take a year to get back into the building. I realize it would have been a tremendous imposition on my colleagues to try to work out of their offices,” he says.

Instead, he did what he could from his temporary home office, refilling therapeutic and contact lens prescriptions, for example. Thanks to ABB’s yourlens.com, which provides contact lens refill services, he was able to renew contact lens prescriptions for many of his patients. “I was pleasantly surprised when [ABB CONCISE rep] Andrea Kaiser showed me the results of the months I was closed. My contact lens sales were close to normal,” he says. He would refer patients to colleagues as needed. He hoped that patient loyalty built up over 20 years in this practice location would be enough to entice patients back. It did.

In June 2006, Dr. O’Connor and staff returned to the office to start preparing for reopening. In November, the practice formally reopened— and it is “my dream practice,” says Dr. O’Connor. He realized this was his opportunity to redesign and furnish the office to his liking. Each exam room includes a computer into which Dr. O’Connor enters the patient’s Rx into ABB’s yourlens.com. “It’s right there on my task bar, so I enter the Rx right in front of the patient. It’s very impressive to patients,” he says. And it’s good for the staff. Because these orders are shipped directly to the patients, it saves staff time. “It also eliminates the possibility that we will drop the ball on transferring information from exam room to dispensary to ordering. I can tell the patient at that moment if the lenses are out of stock,” he says. “Plus, we don’t have a collection of trays sitting on shelves in the business office.”

The practice offers competitive advantages that other Internet sellers cannot match. “We guarantee them the accuracy of the product and the prescription,” he says, noting that the practice can specify which contact lenses the patient can order. “We also guarantee them that they’ll be 100 percent satisfied.”

    Waiting Game - Passing the Time

Immediately after the fire, Dr. Gregory O’Connor had a long to-do list. He hired a private claims adjuster to make sure he was well represented. He analyzed whether he should rebuild or reopen elsewhere. The insurance policy dictated he would rebuild where he was. Once the administrative details were settled, however, Dr. O’Connor found himself with a lot of extra time. “That was the most difficult thing. I love living a well regimented life and being busy and productive. I’m usually in my practice six days a week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Almost daily, there would be some patient care issue which would allow me to have some contact with patients.” Other than that, he amassed CE credits and read journals. “I would make it a point to study every day. I was worried that if I didn’t, I would have fallen behind,” he says. Even so, meeting his ABB CONCISE rep was among his top priorities when the building reopened. ABB CONCISE rep Andrea Kaiser was tremendously helpful. “She helped me get the diagnostic sets that I needed,reviewed what my business had been while I was closed and what was new with the various contact lens vendors,” he says.

Reopening after a long hiatus also allowed Dr. O’Connor to create a new preferred vendor list. “One resource I didn’t even consider changing was ABB CONCISE. I’m that pleased with my experience with ABB CONCISE,” he says.

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Case Study #2

Eye Care Practice Cashes in on Success

When Wayne Golden, O.D., decided to open a new private practice in 2001 near the corporate location where he’d been working for four years, one of the first phone calls he made was to ABB CONCISE rep Mark Maxwell. “I’d known Mark since 1994, when I graduated from Nova Southeastern. Someone has suggested I contact some of the reps where I wanted to work to see if they knew of job leads—and Mark did.”

Knowing that Maxwell would serve as consultant to help him determine numbers of trial and inventory lenses made it easier for Dr. Golden to focus on the other aspects of opening Golden Family Eye Care, his Sarasota, FL practice. Since those early days, Dr. Golden has come to rely on his monthly business review meetings with Maxwell. “He brings me updates on products and promotions and shows me where I can save. It’s also interesting to see his analysis of my contact lens usage.”

From the start, Dr. Golden understood that ABB CONCISE would provide him with contact lenses at a lower cost than he could get himself as a start-up practice. He also knew he’d benefit from reduced administrative overhead by having one invoice, a single contact for orders and one daily delivery.

He’s been pleased with the additional services ABB CONCISE has brought to his practice. For example, Dr. Golden has become an advocate of online patient contact lens orders. He likes it for two reasons; it’s convenient for the patient, and it saves the practice time and money.

Dr. Golden uses yourlens.com for nearly all contact lens orders. However—and this is where Dr. Golden’s approach may differ—his staff members remain the primary users. “To make it easier for the patient, and to increase our capture rate, we tell patients we’re happy to reorder their lenses for them at the time of the exam. We explain the annual supply savings, and when they decide on the purchase, we use their credit card and place the order for them. “the patient can choose to have the contact lenses delivered right to their home or office. That service is free with annual supplies, and some manufacturers now offer free direct-to-patient shipping for smaller supplies, too. Many of his older patients appreciate the convenience of having the staff place the order for them.

“By having my staff place the order, it keeps the patient off the Internet to shop, and it’s less work for the patient,” he says. The slight amount of increased staff time is a fair trade-off for the increased capture rate. Similarly, when patients want to reorder contact lenses, they can call the office, provide their credit card number and a staff member uses yourlens.com to order the lenses for the patient.

With an ample supply of diagnostic lenses in the office, Dr. Golden can send nearly every patient  home with contact lenses to wear. Keeping a virtual at ABB CONCISE is more convenient and ties up less of his cash than keeping an inventory in the office.

Staff do place the initial order for patients and place refill orders for those who don’t purchase an annual supply. All other steps in the typical ordering process are eliminated, saving his practice administrative costs. Since lenses are shipped directly to the patients, the staff doesn’t need to unpack orders, pull charts and call patients. In addition, since the patients pay for the lenses directly, Dr. Golden’s monthly invoices from ABB CONCISE are much smaller. Very few contact lenses are shipped to his office.

Dr. Golden also orders his contact lenses online at abbconcise.com. “It’s so convenient. We place items in the virtual shopping cart throughout the day, we submit the order. Most of it’s is delivered the next day.” Dr. golden recently began ordering ophthalmic lenses through ABB CONCISE. The SOMO lenses have been a success in his office, allowing him to offer patients a premium lens at a competitive price. “The return policy is also very nice, which takes some of the risk out of the equation,” he says.

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Case Study #3

Practice owners feel confident consolidating orders with ABB CONCISE

Mark B. Boas, O.D., MS and Suzanne O. Boas, O.D., say that when it comes to ordering and keeping tabs on their busy contact lens practice, they’ve put nearly all their eggs in the ABB CONCISE basket. 

Dr. Mark Boas says, “Normally, I’m nervous about putting so many eggs in one basket. It’s a testament to how confident I am with our ABB CONCISE representative Kevin Montone and the company’s services that we don’t feel vulnerable, “he says. In fact, they have gained a greater insight into how their business operates and a better handle on expenses. 

Whether it’s a fledgling practice or a mature one, like the more than 20-year-old practice this husband-and-wife team operate in Exton, PA., there are short-term and long-term advantages to lining your nest egg with ABB CONCISE products and services.

    Consolidation makes things simpler and improves practice efficiencies

The practice orders about 95 percent of its soft contact lenses through ABB CONCISE, making the process of ordering simpler and most cost-efficient. The online ordering system lets office staff track orders and know when items will be shipped. “We pay one shipping charge per day, which is a nice advantage compared to paying shipping charges from each manufacturer. It has helped us decrease our cost of business,” Dr. Mark Boas says. Receiving on e invoice has simplified the bill-paying process. 

In addition, the quarterly business reviews include graphs and charts that provide a look at what lenses they’re using and the financial implications. “It’s a useful business analysis tool that we wouldn’t necessarily take the time to produce for ourselves,” says Dr. Suzanne Boas.

    Benchmarking tools make it easier to compete

ABB CONCISE provides additional data that helps the practice gauge where it falls in relation to other accounts. For example, ABB CONCISE has collected benchmarks from its top 500 accounts. Drs. Boas come in above average on many key indicators, a confirmation for them that they have a solid approach. “Our daily disposable spheres are above 20 percent, while the top 500 account average is 12.5 percent,”  

Dr. Mark Boas says. Multifocal soft contact lenses accounts for eight percent of the soft contact lens sales, compared to 3-4 percent for the top 500 ABB CONCISE accounts. “We’re also doing about twice as many gas perm lenses, and we’re lower than average on phone and fax orders, meaning we’re doing well in online orders,” he says.

In addition, the O.D.s use the Soft Lens Retail Price Monitor as a helpful reference. Dr. Mark Boas says, “It’s nice to know what the competition is doing. We want to be able to tell our patients honestly that our prices are competitive with the alternatives.”

    Value is vital to patient retention

Gaining good pricing is important not only to lower cost of goods, but also to show patients the value of the products and services they gain from this practice. ABB CONCISE helps with several patient retention tools, such as the Approved for Annual Supply stamp. ABB CONCISE’s Guide to Patient Retention is another important aid. The guide shows all the annual supply promotions and ship-to-patient programs with rebate information. An in-office display automatically calculates the savings with patient rebates.  

“When we can show patients that we match the competitors in cost, we can show them that it’s more convenient to get contact lenses from us,” says Dr. Mark Boas. “We ship them for free to their home or office, and we can replace any supply if there’s a change in the prescription.”Dr. Suzanne Boas adds “They’re not paying a premium to buy from us, but they do receive premium service. We have been able to confront alternate deliveries pretty well with that.”

    Online ordering to boost practice revenues

The practice is launching yourlens.com, an online ordering capability from ABB CONCISE. Patients can order contact lenses online through the practice website—but the order is handled directly by ABB CONCISE. Adding yourlens.com capabilities means that the practice will have a 24.7 presence.

    Custom Gas Permeable Lenses increase patient options

Beyond soft contact lenses, Drs. Boas have been relying on ABB CONCISE for some of their GP lenses as well. “The GP consultants at ABB CONCISE are very helpful, whether it’s run-of-the-mill GP Lenses, corneal reshaping technology or keratoconus lenses, “Dr. Mark Boas says.  He has sent the GP consultants topographies, which help them design unique lenses.  

Dr. Suzanne Boas adds that the practice serves as an intern and extern site for nearby Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University. “Many of these students are nervous about GP contact lenses. It’s nice to tell them, “The GP consultants will help you and stand behind you.’ That removes some of the fear,“ she says. Plus, having a diagnostic set in the office decreases chair time and increases the probability of success. “It enables us to fit patients with an approximate lens on the first visit so they know a little more about what to expect."

    Ophthalmic Lenses with the best coatings

Most recently, the practice has started ordering UltraClear AR high-performance ophthalmic lenses, which feature a multilayer-enhanced AR technology with water-resistant and antistatic grease-resistant top coats at a significantly lower price than competitive lenses. The practice filled its empty slots in the lens inventory with UltraClear lenses and is refilling stock with the new lenses as well. “We feel like we’re providing patients with better quality lenses, and we’re seeing a reduction in our lab bills,” he says.  

In many ways, that’s what the doctors have come to expect from ABB CONCISE. Montone, armed with data, products, services and knowledge, has been more like a practice consultant than a salesperson. Over the years, he has helped the practice streamline its processes, expand its reach and save money. That’s the kind of service that has enabled Drs. Boas to consolidate their purchases with on e distributor. It’s the exception to the rule to not put all your eggs in one basket. In this case, it’s been a smart choice.

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