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Understanding the Different Models of Corporate Optometry

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Whether you’re a recent graduate with big plans or you’ve just left a job to start up your own corporate optometry sublease, it’s important to remember that the industry you’re trying to enter is well-established and competitive. There are some basic concepts you need to clear up before you go about setting up your own optometry practice.

Understanding the Market

Based on where you are in the country, you need to have a strong understanding of the number of optometry patients in the area, the projected number of patients down the line and the modern practices of optometry (including information of technological advancements in the industry). Get information on how many other corporate opticals there are in the area.

Select the Right Business Model

Based on your financial standing, potential employees and expertise, you can choose from a list of different business models:

Franchise

Franchising will help you cross the phase where you’re still trying to establish a brand name. Setting up a well-reputed franchise will help you bring in customers who trust the name. This is useful to have optical merchandising, marketing, frame lines set up for you. Some examples are Pearle Vision, MyEyeLab and Cohens Fashion Optical. Many franchise fees are minimal but include discounts on equipment and frames and the company provides marketing for your location.

Sublease

Subleasing will provide you with the same benefits and disadvantages as those of a franchise. The difference will be the startup cost you’ll need. For a franchise, you need a higher budget. Sublease is turn key with the equipment and office set up. The OD would go in set up their own business adjacent to the optical. Many companies will sublease space in Lenscrafters, Target Optical, LC Macy, Walmart and For Eyes.

Independent Contractor/ Fill in

Independent Contractor is a great way to do part time work or fill in work while you work full time as an employee or sublease owner. Independent contractors enjoy the flexibility to practice what hours they agree upon and able to write off expenses and travel for that day of work. Corporate optometry has many great fill in opportunities and the benefits of fill in are more than just income.

Employed

Employed model in corporate optometry has many benefits that many ODs enjoy. There are no administrative tasks or excessive paperwork. You would simply go in and see your patients and do what you do best and that is being an OD.

Employed ODs enjoy paid time off, a competitive salary, bonuses, benefits package and much more. Many companies will have this option as permitted by state law. Many times ODs will be employed by the sublease owner. Some companies in corporate optometry that employ ODs are Warby Parker, National Vision, Luxottica and Stanton Optical.

Ignore the Negatives That You Hear about Corporate Optometry: Think Bigger

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Ignoring the Negatives of what you hear in Corporate Optometry. Think bigger to what a career in corporate optometry can bring.

Not all corporate optometry companies or even brands within a company are the same. Find the right fit for you whether it is employed, part time, fill in, sublease, franchises , or even  selling to a private equity.

“Every obstacle is an opportunity waiting to reveal itself.”

Ask any ‘bright-eyed’ optometry student in their final year where they will want to work after graduating, nearly all of them will say anywhere but corporate practice. If you are even slightly familiar with the field, you will be well aware of how ‘corporate optometry’ is quite a notorious field. It suffers from a bad reputation in not just optometry schools, but well beyond.

‘There are too many patients’

‘Work hours are endless. There are no holidays in the job’

‘It doesn’t pay you well’

‘This isn’t full scope optometry’ and so on.

These are just a few of the many reasons you might hear from several  ODs against corporate optometry, and why they become a hindrance for those pursuing it.

Although some of these are true while some exaggerated and some even false, no matter what the case, it is also true that obstacles do not block your path, they are your path.

So, if you are a soon-to-be OD, here are a few tips on how you can turn the ‘obstacles’ of perception in corporate optometry, into opportunities.

Change your perception of obstacles

What you believe now to be ‘problems’ might not necessarily be so. It is simply absurd to be so prejudiced against the field that you don’t even consider it once.

Long work hours, low reimbursement plans, routine care or whatever other factor proves problematic for someone may not apply to you. Several ODs who have been working in this field are not working because of lack of other options. They love what they do. Who knows you might end up loving it too?

Focus on your strengths, not weaknesses

No matter how skilled you may consider yourself, the truth is, we all have the same degrees and many corporate opticals practice full scope optometry. Corporate optometry has a lot of foot traffic. Seeing a diverse patient base can strengthen your clinical skills.

Focus on your determination to learn and become better than who you were yesterday and develop your skills meanwhile. Corporate optometry jobs are everywhere, be it Walmart, Costco, VisionWorks, etc., so taking a sublease or even doing fill in work  will help you to continue to learn and expand your horizons.

As for those who say corporate optometry doesn’t allow you to widen your talent, it’s not really true. Corporate optometry allows you to be anything that you want. You can be an employee, a leaseholder or a franchise, a contractor or even an associate OD, depending on your goals. Moreover, if that’s not enough, you can privately pursue specialization in whichever area you are interested in.

Think bigger

Whatever you might be thinking, think bigger.

Many people consider medical professions because of the nobility that comes with the territory – the drive to serve humanity. So, being an optometrist is no exception either, especially a Corporate OD!

Even if you want to be a self-employed instead, you can consider starting off in corporate optometry too. It pays you well and is sure to give you experience and lessons that will prove beneficial to you in the future. This is because being a corporate OD allows you to interact with a diverse group of patients and learn the business aspects of optometry. Thus, you see and treat many different ocular problems and ultimately, learn learn a lot from the optical side of the business.

So, the truth about corporate optometry is that opportunities are everywhere! Obstacles seem to appear when you take your focus off your goals. So clean those spectacles and meet the so-called challenges head-on.

The path will become clear as crystal too. Just the clarity every OD wants!

“Alexa, How can Amazon Disrupt the Eye Care Industry?”

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Amazon has come a long way since 1998 when it was simply an online book store. It has continued to innovate and challenge competitors to evolve and adapt or simply be left behind. Amazon Prime membership has 85 million members and e-commerce sales are more than triple compared to other competitors online. With the recent $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods and approval for pharmacy licenses could change the future of healthcare.  Amazon has the data, infrastructure and innovation to change the pharmacy industry and possibly the eye care industry as well. Here are some ways that Amazon could alter the industry.

 

Telemedicine

Amazon has the platform to develop a telemedicine app to connect customers to pharmacists and doctors. Browsing Amazon’s website and don’t know which contact lens solutions or artificial tears to pick? Simply click on the feature to talk to a virtual provider to help with your selection via the telemedicine app. The health care apps can be used to book doctor’s appointments and even pay for your visit. The app would be customer- centric and convenient and could synchronize with the Warby Parker’s refraction app to enable patients to get glasses.  Consider the information that the app could provide to patients with pre-exiting conditions and direct them to local Amazon location or other company partners.  The virtual doctor could review a health care product or condition that a patient is searching on the website to finalize the sale or prescribe a medication and be delivered by Amazon Prime Now service by an Uber driver.

 

Innovative Technology

 

Imagine using Echo to direct you to a virtual doctor that can answer your questions on over the counter products or prescribe a treatment plan without leaving the house? The system could potentially connect the patient via telemedicine to treat the patient and could pick up the medication at a Whole Foods pharmacy. Echo would be able to provide treatment plans with over the counter products.  A treatment plan could possibly come up on the amazon app and with 1 click put in the product in the cart or either delivered within 2 days to your home or picked up at a Whole Foods kiosk. Not only that, but it would offer great personalization. Amazon is known to produce options based on an individual shopper’s purchase history. Amazon consistently sends emails asking about reviews on their products which would only help them grow their online eye care industry. When pairing this with a patient’s medical history it might become easier for them to refer a patient more detailed eye-exams in-office if they deem them necessary to partnered brick and mortar locations.

Big companies and small businesses could use Echo as a personal assistant to streamline business processes and answer frequently asked questions. For example, it can provide an overview of daily schedule, outstanding balances as well as HR information to let corporate know when a Doctor takes a day off or is out sick and relate the info to daily sales goals. Sales data could be given by Alexa. Data on per hour production can be evaluated and compared to others in the region and industry to set strategic plans and company standards to improve sales and efficiency.  It can also order new supplies and report inventory levels.

 

“Vuzix Corp. will show off a pair of smart glasses that can talk to Amazon.com Inc.’s voice-activated digital assistant and display information to the wearer’s field of view”. This technology can help patients that need low vision devices. It can superimpose text messages and display information that the patient needs to see.

Vuzix Blade glasses  Source: Vuzix Corp.

 

Electronic medical records

Amazon has the potential and resources to build its own electronic medical records system, and they might be working on this as we speak. The medical records could be accessed through the Amazon app. If successful, patients would want to have their records from their doctors’ offices into one system where any health care provider could download pertinent medical history and other information.  Amazon would have access to the electronic records to be able to target patients for other health care services or products.

Amazon web services can pull data from current electronic medical records. If Amazon has access to medical records they can run algorithms to identify similarities and target potential patients with a Doctor onsite or video conference. Consider how this service could transform your business with sophisticated data mining abilities.  It can help strengthen the net profit, optical strategy and understand more about the patient demographics of that office. By having this data, it can provide data that researchers can use to find treatments for diseases or prevalence of getting a disease. It can audit your patient records to detect potential fraud. This feature could be utilized by insurance companies to detect fraud and retrieve unnecessary fees from providers and hospitals.

 

Amazon Business for EyeCare Professionals

Amazon Business started in 2015 and has become a 1-billion-dollar business. Through Amazon Business Eye Care professionals can purchase products at an affordable price and skip many vendors. Small equipment for the office through Amazon Business and even selection of frames at deep discounts for your optical. Need Tropicamide a new near point card or new CMS 1500 forms? Order it through Amazon Business for Eye Care Professionals. Use their service and become an affiliate by referring patient to get artificial tears and other over the counter products for eye care. For business owners to get products quickly another brick and mortar purchase might be in the future for Amazon, possibly  BJs Wholesale Club to be able to compete with Walmart at the store level and provide convenience to the business owner if a product is needed immediately and use the warehouses as storage for inventory. It would also add Gas Stations to its portfolio that requires a brick and mortar location.   According to Business Insider , there as been speculation that Amazon is interested in acquiring Target .

How would Amazon enter the Eye Care Industry?

Amazon could possibly purchase Warby Parker or 1800 Contacts. They both developed a strong online brands with great income potential and have the database that is required to incorporate Amazon’s innovative technology.  Warby Parker has a strong millennial following and growing. They both would have the infrastructure that Amazon would need to successfully enter the industry. Amazon’s presence into the eye care industry would likely increase the speed of online optical delivery or it can have an integrated system that combines online with  the Whole Foods store. Even without a purchase, Amazon has the ability to open optical locations in Whole Foods and expand services online.

 

 

 

Episode

Partnering with Optical Staff for Sublease Success.

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Corporate Optometry Nation
Corporate Optometry Nation
Partnering with Optical Staff for Sublease Success.
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Corporate Optometry Nation Podcast interviews Dr Diana Ramirez. Dr Ramirez has a sublease with Walmart in Texas. She was awarded 2020 OD of the Year at Walmart for Excellence in Patient Care. Listen in to the podcast was Dr Sampalis interviews her about how she works with the optical staff to secure her success in her own practice. Learn how to motivate and partner with the optical staff in corporate optometry.

Mothers in Optometry: Interview with Dr. Carla Gasparini

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Corporate Optometry Nation
Corporate Optometry Nation
Mothers in Optometry: Interview with Dr. Carla Gasparini







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Corporate Optometry Nation Podcast Mothers Day edition. Dr Maria Sampalis interviewed Dr Carla Gasparini, who has two Walmart locations in Austin Texas. Walmart has been a great partner for her. She discusses how she balances a family and being self employed. She gives great advice on how to grow a business and balance it all. Listen in to the very inspiring story how this female entrepreneur is doing it all.    She discusses how her corporate optometry office provides medical eye care . Being a mom and being self employed has been  a great career move for Dr Gasparini listen in to learn how you can do it as well.