Myopia management can offer benefits to safeguarding children's eye health and improving their quality of life.1-3 It can also provide practices the opportunity to grow their patient base and their profitability. In this recent Review of Optometric Business article, Dr. Chandler Mann and Dr. Pat Wellik share how they built a myopia management niche that delivers excellent patient care while significantly boosting their practices’ bottom-line.
Both Drs. Mann and Wellik are CooperVision 2024 Best Practices℠ Honorees.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Building Myopia Management with Significant Growth
By Chandler Mann, OD, Stone Oak Vision Source, San Antonio, Texas
I started offering myopia management services starting the very first day we opened in December 2022. While the ophthalmology practice I was at previously was not designed for myopia management, I had a personal passion for it and did my best to treat whichever kids I could. I knew when I opened my own practice that myopia management was what I wanted to focus on for my community.
I offer a full range of myopia management services, including MiSight® 1 day* contact lenses for age-appropriate children, and orthokeratology (ortho-k). In the first 18 months, more than 100 children have been enrolled in our myopia management program. We have seen an increase in patient-to-patient (parent-to-parent) referrals over the past four months, with over 20 new children referred from friends!
We have maintained a high retention rate with the majority of patients continuing their treatment plans as recommended. Only one child discontinued treatment out of the 112 children we have currently enrolled. Almost all of our patients have shown significant stabilization and reduction in the progression of myopia, as evidenced by their follow-up exams, displaying stability in their axial length, as well as their refraction.
A Journey that Began Over Two Decades Ago
By Pat Wellik, OD, Apple Valley Eye Care, Apple Valley, Minn.
I began practicing orthokeratology in 1997. At the time, it wasn’t exactly called “myopia management.” We began with overnight ortho-k lenses. I later became Paragon CRT® certified in 2002, and I also offer MiSight® 1 day contact lenses.
We have four doctors at our clinic with varying stages of experience in myopia management. We continue to update clinical practices for all our doctors. Myopia management is firmly entrenched in our practice culture with all 21 members of our team, both staff and doctors.
I believe our success is due to establishing myopia management as the standard of care for young myopes in our practice. We feel it is our clinical duty and responsibility to inform the parents (and young patients) that myopia management is THE best option for their children. I think we all set up barriers of self-doubt, excuses and negative reasons why myopia management—or any new change for that matter—will not work in our clinics; “I don't have time to learn about orthokeratology or train my staff,” or “I really don't believe some of the research,” or “I think it is too costly for my patients.” The list of “bad mojo” goes on and on.
Read the full article here. You can also discover more about CooperVision’s Best Practices℠ Program, in addition to myopia management resources and learnings at CooperVision’s Online Success Center.
