Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | RSS
Now more than ever doctors are investing in telemedicine platforms that can allow patients to more easily communicate and utilize office resources from home. When it comes to contact lenses, research shows that patients are increasingly turning to online ordering platforms even before the era of COVID-19 for the ease and convenience of ordering from home without needing to call or walk into an office. The Vision Watch Internet Influence Study looked at 4,900 United States respondents in 2018 and found that 34.8% of recent buyers reported using the internet during their last contact lens purchase.
These statistics and disappointment with existing contact lens subscription services available to practicing ODs inspired Drs. Brianna Rhue and Jennifer Tabiza to do something about it. As private practitioners, they were experiencing the pain points of having inefficient systems for helping patients conveniently order contact lenses and seeing an industry average 30% of their patients never buy from their offices, and an additional 30% repurchasing their remainder supplies elsewhere after ordering just what insurance covered from their office up front. They built Dr. Contact Lens from the ground up, a contact lens ordering platform that integrates with your existing electronic health records system to easily allow patients to order lenses through your office from the comfort of their own homes.
Unlike other platforms marketing to doctors to improve contact lens retention, Dr. Contact Lens is not a distributor and does not collect any revenue or set prices for contact lenses purchases. Their profit margin is from a flat monthly fee for unlimited ordering, but sales and orders are completely yours. You continue to use your existing distributor and contact lens costs as normal, and they report all sales directly to your distributor for use in calculating your normal rebates. The system is merely a plugin that connects your electronic health records system safely and securely with their online contact lens ordering platform. “Think of us as your personal staff member that will take care of your orders from start to finish,” their website explains.
Contact lenses from all major companies are available for use with this system: CooperVision, Bausch & Lomb, Alcon, Johnson and Johnson Vision, Unilens and X-Cel are all included. Contact lenses must have SKU numbers to be identifiable through online systems, so brands that do not SKU number their lenses at this time would not be compatible.
Are your interesting in learning more? You can email Drs. Rhue and Tabiza at support@drcontactlens.com or reach them on Instagram @drcontactlens
