3 Game-Changing Optometry Innovations That Can 10X Your Practice Revenue | Innovators Edition

Summary

Power Hour Optometry – "3 Game-Changing Optometry Innovations That Can 10X Your Practice Revenue"

Podcast Host: Eugene Shatsman
Episode Theme: “Innovators Edition” — Optometry innovations that promise to dramatically boost practice revenue and improve both patient care and efficiency.

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Episode Overview

This episode showcases three major innovations poised to revolutionize optometric practice. Host Eugene Shatsman speaks with leaders behind each breakthrough:

1. IOR Group: Building office-based surgery programs for optometrists.
2. Pair Eyewear: Transforming eyewear with customizable, “snap-on” top frames to drive patient engagement and repeat business.
3. Aurelio: An all-in-one optometry software platform streamlining operations, communication, and patient experience.

Each segment explores not only the technology, but the real-world business models, risks, and practical impacts—with an emphasis on how these tools can drive significant increases in revenue and patient loyalty.

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1. MONETIZING SURGICAL REFERRALS: THE IOR GROUP MODEL

Guest: Tony Burns, Founder & CEO, IOR
Segment Starts: [01:23]

Key Discussion Points

• Business Model:

  • IOR helps optometrists create in-office surgical centers, turning referrals into revenue.
  • ODs collaborate with surgeons: Instead of sending patients out, surgeons come in or use an OD-run facility.
  • Turnkey service: IOR handles everything—design, accreditation, revenue cycle management, governance.

• How It Works:

  • Can be within the OD’s office, a nearby satellite location, or a shared site among several practices.
  • No fixed square footage requirement; typical is 700 sq ft for one OR, but can be as small as 450 sq ft.

• Financial Opportunity:

  • “Dramatically increases top end and net revenue.” ([01:54])
  • Practically, ODs become the billing party. All costs—equipment, supplies, surgeon’s fee—are line items; the rest is profit.
  • Example: Practice making $90K in co-management fees increased to $11 million gross, $5-6 million net with OBS. ([06:00])
  • Conservative estimate: 5-7% of comprehensive exams become surgical cases.

• Procedures Offered:

  • Cataracts, refractive, oculoplastics, glaucoma, retina.
  • Younger OD demographics = more refractive/cash-pay surgery (RLE, ICL, etc.)

Notable Quotes

• “In five years, they would make something like seven to eight million dollars net.” – Tony Burns ([05:28])
• “This isn’t to replace frame sales—it’s expanding your scope and offering more to your patients...” – Tony Burns ([08:25])
• “We just completed our 250th office-based surgery. We have outcomes on about 400,000 procedures…data is better than the current published data. Our adverse event rate is lower.” – Tony Burns ([10:49])
• “We can get them in for very little…I mean, five, $10,000 can get them started.” ([12:18])

Risk & Operational Considerations

• Malpractice risk is no higher than co-management.

• Biggest risks: capital outlay and operational changes, but IOR can provide partnership models to reduce upfront financial risk.

• Surgeon Partnerships:

  • Can use current referral partners or IOR’s nationwide network, Modern OBS Partners.
  • Flexible, with ongoing support and training for integration.

Market Trend & Future

• Model gaining rapid traction since late 2024.
• “Five years from now, it wouldn’t surprise me if half the cases were done on OBS.” ([19:49])

Further Information

• Learn more: iorgroup.com ([19:28])

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2. PATIENT ENGAGEMENT & FASHION: PAIR EYEWEAR’S MODULAR FRAMES

Guest: Nathan, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Pair Eyewear
Segment Starts: [21:55]

Key Discussion Points

• Concept:

  • Customizable glasses with “top frames” snapped over a base frame—lets patients instantly change styles.
  • Licensed designs (Disney, Marvel, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, sports leagues, more).
  • Prescription sunglasses available via snap-on tops.

• In-Practice Patient Experience:

  • Each patient selects a “base frame” (primary pair), chooses from hundreds of top frames.
  • Merchandising fixture allows 10 tops per frame in-store; thousands of designs available online/B2B.
  • Average initial purchase: 2-3 tops per patient; typical customer will own 8 tops in a year.

• Business Model for ODs:

  • Designed for managed vision care reimbursements.
  • Bundle: base frame + 2 tops around $150 retail.
  • Top frames retail $25-$30; base frames $70-$130.
  • Initial buy-in: $1,800 to $2,500 (including merchandising tower).

• Patient Retention & Revenue:

  • “A patient will come back into store 20 to 25% more often than their average patient.” ([28:05])
  • Average order value +20% over typical frame/lens purchase, as patients “invest” in better lenses for their main pair.
  • Weekly/monthly new launches drive repeat visits and ongoing engagement.

Notable Quotes

• “Our whole mission is to bring joy back to eyewear.” – Nathan ([22:12])
• “Somebody earlier today at the booth called it an optician’s playground.” – Nathan ([24:14])
• “It’s almost a multiple-pair play without a multiple-pair play.” – Eugene ([29:46])
• “50% of customers will come back within the first 180 days...” – Nathan ([37:04])

Addressing Online Sales

• Pair Eyewear partners with ECPs for revenue share on online orders using in-store codes; encourages return to office for purchases, but gives credit on web sales linked to the practice.

• “If a customer goes back online…we’ll give you a percentage of that revenue back. So you’re essentially making more dollars without needing to do much work.” – Nathan ([33:01])

Practice Growth & Loyalty

• Drives referrals (incentivize with low-cost top frames).
• Unique styles create word-of-mouth and in-person advertisement for the practice.
• Increases opportunities for cross-selling and care reminders when patients return to pick up top frames.

Further Information

• Find out more: retail.paireyewear.com ([39:42])

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3. TECHNOLOGY THAT STREAMLINES EVERYTHING: THE AURELIO PLATFORM

Guest: Jared, Founder, Aurelio
Segment Starts: [41:33]

Key Discussion Points

• All-In-One Optometric Practice Tech:

  • Integrates with native EHR/practice management (PM) systems for unified patient engagement, VoIP phone system, insurance verification, supply chain, and more.
  • Originated with automated contact lens ordering, now expanded platform.
  • Focus: Started as a tech solving “tech” (front office staff) problems—easing pain points with too many tabs, logins, lost time.

• Contact Lens Sales Automation:

  • Integrates with PM to automate reorders, exam walkouts, and e-commerce.
  • Practices report double-digit Y/Y contact lens sales growth, recapturing sales from 1-800 Contacts, Costco, etc.

• One Platform for All Communication:

  • VoIP: forwards all calls/texts/faxes through Aurelio; hard and soft phones available.
  • Patient engagement: forms, recalls, reminders, payments—all unified.
  • Example: Practice with 14+ tabs, multiple vendors, now uses one system and one staff workflow.

• Insurance & Recall Innovations:

  • Customizable recall automations that reference real (not just annual) benefit expiration.
  • E.g., “Hey Eugene, your vision med benefits are expiring soon, use them before you lose them!” ([51:02])
  • Can combine benefit expiration with CL reorder reminders.

• AI & Staff Training:

  • Sentiment analysis/transcript on calls for QA and coaching.
  • Developing AI agents trained on unique practice info/SOPs, to support after-hours and free up staff.
  • Full view: All communication channels aggregated per patient (calls, emails, texts, faxes).

• ROI and Cost Savings:

  • Practices consolidate expensive third-party recall, phone, contact lens software—potentially saving 50%+ on monthly software spend.
  • “We’ll save you more than half of that by bundling everything into one software.” – Jared ([57:33])

Notable Quotes

• "What we do is automate all their CL ordering, e-commerce, all of the exam walkout technology to capture all CL patients and drive revenue back into the four doors of the practice." – Jared ([42:08])
• “Average practice uses over 14 tabs a day just to get their job done.” – Jared ([45:21])
• “Our core contact lens product will then also make you money. So then with Aurelio you’re not only saving cost, but also going to be a revenue generating engine.” ([58:02])

Practical Impacts

• Reduces staff overwhelm, error, and onboarding time for new hires.
• Makes training data-driven with sentiment scoring and call quality review.
• Prepares practices to capitalize on every patient touchpoint and withstand competitive market shifts (e.g., online exams, direct-to-consumer models).

Further Information

• Learn more: aurelio.com (AURELLIO: two Rs, two Ls)
  • Direct contact: [e-mail] ([60:15])

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Notable/Memorable Moments

• Massive Revenue Jump: “[A large practice] went from $90,000 in co-management fees to $11 million gross revenue and $5-6 million in net profit with the same patient base.” – Tony Burns, IOR ([06:00])
• Eyewear Becomes a Loyalty Engine: “We’re seeing a 25% higher customer coming back in-store rate than other brands.” – Nathan, Pair Eyewear ([25:31])
• Making Software Fun Again: “The average practice uses over 14 tabs a day just to get their job done… Our goal is to make it so you can hire your Texas Roadhouse waitress and have her be an awesome tech because we simplify everything.” – Jared, Aurelio ([45:21], [48:48])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• IOR Group – Office-Based Surgery: [01:23] – [20:33]
• Pair Eyewear – Modular/customizable eyewear: [21:55] – [40:07]
• Aurelio – All-in-one practice software: [41:33] – [61:05]

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Final Thought

This episode delivers a blueprint for ODs looking to radically grow revenue, enhance service, and future-proof their operations—not with hype, but with actionable, proven models from the innovators themselves.

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For more information and links, see episode show notes.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome.

[B]

Welcome to the Power Hour. And this is optometry's biggest and longest running show. And I am your host, Eugene Shotsman. And today we are doing the Power Hour Innovators edition show, which is an episode that's built around a simple idea that is very sought after. A lot of people listen to the show, a lot of people watch this show, and a lot of people provide feedback every single year. So I really want to make this one as good as it possibly can be.

[C]

Foreign.

[B]

There are companies making big promises. What's next for optometry? What's the newest technology? What's the newest business model? What's a great way to grow, serve patients, run a better practice? And what I wanted to do was find a few examples of something that's actually new, something that's real useful, scalable, and then go and ask the tough questions that practice owners need to be asking because before they get too excited. So in today's show, I sit down with three executives from three innovators who are all coming at the future of optometry from very different angles. First we talk with ior. Now this is about a business model that could fundamentally change how some practices think about their surgical referrals and how they think about scope expansion and how they think about revenue. And the numbers are substantial. So listen up and see if it's right for you.

[D]

My name is Tony Burns. I'm the founder and CEO of ior. We are an office based surgery development company.

[E]

So what does that mean and how does that relate to optometry?

[D]

Yeah, so what we're doing is, we are, we've created a system that allows the optometrist to monetize their current surgical referral. We can set up processes that allows the sur. The optometrist to partner with a surgeon and keep the surgical cases in their own practice.

[E]

Okay, so how does that work, first of all? And then why would an optometrist want to do that?

[D]

So I think there's several reasons why an optometrist would want to do it. The first is obviously the financial foundation. It dramatically increases top end and net revenue to the practice. It also affords them a very large expansion of the scope of what they can deliver to their patients. It is an arrangement that they make a collaboration with a surgeon. Instead of referring the patient out to the surgeon's practice, we bring the surgeon into the optometric practice.

[E]

Is it the same surgeon they were referring people to before?

[D]

It could be. You know, it depends on the circumstances, depends on the volume, the Location. There's lots of factors that go into it, but we have some centers that have brought in new surgeons and we have some that are working with the same surgeon they were with before.

[E]

Okay, and you're saying you guys offer the whole system to set this up so the optometrist doesn't have to worry about it at all?

[D]

Correct. So we what we do as a company, IOR we do from inception where we work with the architect and the contractor to design the center. We implement what's called the governing body structure, which allows everything to to operate safely and efficiently within compliance with an accreditation standard, which we've partnered with the joint commission. We run revenue cycle management, materials management, general governance. We do the whole thing. We're a turnkey operation.

[E]

So you basically create and run the surgical center for them. Now you said office based, right? How is that different than an ASC that most people are typically familiar with?

[D]

Yeah, great question. So the legal definition of office based surgery is anywhere that a surgeon does another procedure outside of a licensed facility. So a licensed facility being an ASC or a hospital, anywhere they're outside of that is considered. So it technically doesn't need to be within the office of the practice. It can be down the street. It can be a central location that several guys use. It just can't be in another licensed facility like an ASC or a hospital.

[E]

Okay, so then you build this office based surgery center for them and it could be potentially in their location or is it somewhere else?

[A]

Third party location?

[D]

Yeah, we have them both. I think the most common is probably within the office. That's probably 60% of our locations are directly within the office, but we have multiple that are outside of the office. Down the road we have several optometric developments that we have a central location and several optometric practices use the same location. So we really have kind of a model that will fit anybody.

[A]

Got it.

[E]

And how big is this? If I'm putting it in my office right now, I just trying to picture how much space do I need.

[D]

Yeah. So within office based surgery, there is no square footage requirement like you'd see in an ambulatory surgery center. What the standard says is that we have to be able to demonstrate to the surveyor that we can safely evacuate the patient in the case of emergency. We recommend 700 square feet for a single operating room. It can go up as much as, you know, 2,000 square feet. If you're going to put in EXMR and femto and two ors. We have some centers like in Manhattan that are 450 square feet. So we just have to have enough room to safely operate.

[E]

Got it. Okay, so now let's go back to the reasons why somebody would do this. So let's talk about the financial incentive. For example, you said you're. When you started, you said this is a way for optometrists to monetize the surgical volume that they have that they've traditionally been referring out of their practice. So talk to me about what that means. How do you monetize it?

[D]

Yeah. So the way the model works is the revenue comes into the optometric practice, and then the optometrist pays all the expenses. So equipment, supplies, implants, and then the surgeon also becomes a line item expense on their p and l the most. Let's say the average center that we have would do, you know, let's say 40 to 60 cases a month. And of course, in surgery, you look at eyeballs, not patients. So that is 20 to 30 patients a month over the course of five years. You know, they'll have some startup costs in the first couple years that'll. That'll reduce the margin a little bit. But over the course of five years, they would make something like seven to eight million dollars net. We have a large practice that we started with a couple years ago. In 2024, they made $90,000 in co management fees with the same existing patient base. In 2025, their gross revenue was 11 million.

[E]

Wait, wait, say that again. So they had $90,000 in co management revenue and then same patient base, no expansion of number of patients that they're seeing. They're doing how much?

[D]

11 million gross.

[E]

11 million gross. Okay. And that 11 million is what are their expenses? Because you said that the optometrist has to pay all the expenses.

[D]

Yeah. So in a practice like that, we would expect to see something like about a 40% margin. So out of an 11 million gross, they probably make 5, 6 million in profit.

[A]

Wow.

[E]

So 5, $6 million in profit from $90,000.

[A]

Growth. Growth.

[B]

Wow.

[E]

Okay, well, so this is, I guess it's maybe five or six million dollars of reasons to pay attention for a practice like that. But what about a typical practice? So you mentioned, you know, that there's 5, 6, 6 million. But like, let's just go through the numbers a little bit more. So if I have a typical practice, I'm seeing, I don't know, maybe I have two, three ODs. So maybe I'm seeing 500 patients a month. So if I see 500 patients a month, what percentage of Those patients are typically surgery candidates.

[D]

Yeah. So rule of thumb, we tend to see somewhere between 5 to 7% of comp exams convert over to surgery. So, and keep in mind, again, you know, in surgery, we measure eyeballs, not patients. So if you're seeing 500 comp exams

[E]

a month, let's call it 50 patients, then turn into, I'm sorry, the 50 eyeballs. Right. 25 patients turn into, turn into surgery candidates. Okay, now what kind of surgery? So now you got 25 patients that we've now referred to are obs, potentially in your model. What, what kind of surgery are we doing with them?

[D]

So we can do any, any kind of vomic subspecialty. We do cataracts, refractive oculoplastics, glau retina. You know, in, in this particular space, the optometric space, we tend to see a lot of refractive surgery and, and of course, cataract secondary. What we've found is in the optometric practices, the demographic tends to lean younger. And so obviously that means, you know, a lot more refractive surgery, which is of course, what everybody wants. You know, everybody's trying to get away from third party payers. We want to service the patients, the Medicare patients. We want to be able to offer them, you know, whatever services that they need to make them healthy. But at the end of the day, if you're really going to do a service to your patient, you want to give them vision that will stay for life. So a lot of times we end up doing upgraded cases. Multifocal lenses, ICLs, refractive lens exchange.

[E]

Yeah, refractive lens exchange seems to be really catching on, especially in the ophthalmology circles. And that's a really nice cash pay procedure. One question I have is if I'm taking a patient out of. So let's say a patient's 50, 50 years old and they were going to be buying multi, or maybe 50, 55. They're going to be buying multifocal lenses for me for several years as an opt. Interest instead. You know, instead now I'm recommending RLE refractive lens exchange. So what, what, what's my take home on that as an optometrist?

[D]

Yeah, so there's, there's a, there's a couple interesting things we looked at on this. So we've got these really great calculators that we're happy to send to anybody, even if you're looking at a really high value patient, let's call it 5, $600 per eye per year. The crossover point for the economics to make Sense, I mean, we can take it out as long as 15 years, you're still making more money on lens exchange. And this isn't something that we're trying to implement to replace frame sales or something like that. What it is is we're just expanding the scope and offering more services to your patients. You know, what we're hoping to do with this is to create a refractive surgery market where it doesn't currently exist. I had one optometrist we were working with in Nebraska and what he basically told me is that if this works, he'll stop talking some of his exam only patients out of surgery. And it works. You know, they come in. You know, his particular practice he had somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% of exam only patients. He just started talking to those patients about the surgical options and he's done very well.

[E]

Yeah. And we've covered exam only on the show quite a bit. And the reality is that across the nation right now, what we know is that more than half of patients are walking into an optometrist's office, they're getting an exam and they're not buying that same day contact lenses, glasses or frames or lenses. And so maybe this is part of the exam only solution. Maybe you could give that patient more permanent solution for their vision.

[D]

Yeah, I think that's exactly correct. Something else that's probably too early to speak to, but that we've been talking about is it's also kind of a really good retention tool. So the patient comes in, they get their exam, they buy their contacts online or Warby park or whatever mechanism that is. Especially with the new eye bots that are doing refractions and kiosks and things like that. If you offer the patient surgery, you tend to retend that patient because they have to come back for annual exams based on the surgical procedure.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

And so it could be a good retention tool as well.

[A]

Interesting.

[E]

Okay, so but let's go back to

[A]

this office based surgery.

[E]

It kind of sounds a little bit scary. How many of these have you done? How proven is this model?

[D]

So we just completed our 250th office based surgery. We have outcomes on about 400,000 procedure we've published. I think just over 100,000 of them have been published. And our data is better than the current published data. Our outcomes are better, our adverse event rate is lower. It's very, very safe. And there's some specific reason reasons for that. But yeah, we've had great outcomes.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

So what's the risk for the optometrist who's saying that this model might be for me, because the economics sound extremely attractive, but.

[B]

Sure.

[E]

I mean, sometimes with all the upside, there are some downsides. So what's the scary downside that we're not telling me about?

[D]

Yeah. So I think the thing we have to keep in mind is they still have to practice within the scope of their license. The MD do, the surgeon has to practice within the scope of their license. So we're not changing any of that. All we're doing is creating a collaboration where they each do that. So technically, the medical malpractice risk is no higher than co management is. Now, there obviously is. There's going to be some operational things that are going to have to change within their practice. So they're going to have to put some work into it. And, you know, there are, you know, it's expensive to do surgery, so, you know, they could have, depending on what their capital expenses are, what their build out is, there could be some expense involved. So there could be capital risk. But we also have mechanisms where we can partner. We're very confident in this model, so we can partner and remove that financial risk if they'd like to.

[E]

So explain that a little bit more. So you're saying you could. I could go into this. If I'm an optometrist listening to the show, I could potentially go into this model without a lot of money out of pocket?

[D]

Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, we never say it's completely risk free because, you know, you've got to put your, you know, you're putting your, your name on the line, your reputation on the line. You're expanding the scope. But from a monetary perspective, we can get them in for very little. I mean, five, $10,000 can get them started.

[E]

Okay, so then I get in and then I start doing this. Is there a risk associated with the procedure being linked to my office? What if, I mean, what if it's a surgeon that, you know, makes a mistake and am I, am I liable for that as an optometrist?

[D]

Yeah. Not from a medical legal perspective, because they're still practicing within the scope of their license and the surgeon is within the scope of their license. Reputationally there might be. I mean, obviously we have to be very careful about surgeon selection, but, you know, it's probably no bigger than the risk they have now. If they refer out a patient to an ophthalmologist and they have a bad result, they're still gonna have that same reputational risk.

[E]

Yeah. Okay, so the and that. That makes perfect sense. And the ophthalmologist. Is it the ophthalmologist that they're referring to in the same town that would come and do surgery in my optometric obs, or would you help me find another ophthalmologist?

[D]

Either way, we have some locations that have used the relationship that they've had for, you know, decades at some point. We've also have.

[A]

We.

[D]

We partnered with something called Modern OBS Partners. Modern OBS Partners is a nationwide network of very respected refractive and anterior segment surgeons. We can recruit the surgeon. We can use the local man or woman that you've been using forever. It can be very flexible.

[E]

Yeah. Okay, so what I'm hearing you say is that this is somewhat of a turnkey system, and the turnkey system allows me to get a lot more from every single referral that I was making before. Now the question I have is, what needs to change inside of my office in order for me? And who teaches my team to talk about refractive surgery? Or who teaches my team to talk about surgical options that ultimately lead to the outcomes that we want in that surgical center?

[D]

Yeah, great question. So, obviously, you know, the person that makes the decision to do this has to be Ellen. They have to understand that they're bringing in these services into their practice. We have tools and mechanisms that can educate them on any level that they need to. Of course, it's going to be based on the competency of their staff and what they do. But it's really not any different than bringing in another service line into your practice, like dry eye or myopia management. It's the same concept. We're not adding a facility or practice. We're adding procedures to. To your practice. And so we would approach in the same way that you would approach any other venture. But we have all the tools, we have all the necessary resources to make sure that they understand what they need to.

[E]

Yeah. Does the optometrist have to become expert at refractive surgery? Does the optometrist need to be able to explain cataract surgery in a way that an ophthalmologist would? Or would you find yourself in a

[A]

place where there's like, how does the

[E]

line work in the practices that are already doing this. This?

[D]

So, I mean, obviously it depends on the individual physician, and I would highly recommend that anybody who's doing something like this would become as educated as they possibly can. But they're going to have a surgeon partner there, and we're not going to just put anybody in There we're going to make sure that the surgeon partner understands what the objectives are, you know, tailored to that particular program. You know, and, and they will, you know, we will be the catalyst for the collaboration between the surgeon and the optometrist. Sometimes the, the surgeon is doing all of the consultation, in some cases, you know, after initial visit with the patient. Sometimes the optometrist is. It just depends on, you know, what we do is we, we create the system that allows them to, to have the architecture to do anything that they feel comfortable as professionals treating a patient.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

Okay. So we talked a little bit about

[E]

the economics, we've talked a little bit about the risk, we talked a little bit about integrating this into the office. Now let's zoom in on the actual, I guess how popular is this right now on the actual proliferation of this particular model. Is this something I imagine ophthalmology super excited about you doing this? I also imagine that there are probably some bigger players that maybe find the economics very attractive. So is this something that like you guys just started doing or is this something that bigger players are already playing with?

[D]

So it is fairly recent at any kind of scale. We've had optometric obs since we started. Usually it was out of necessity in a rural area. About two years ago there were some very specific things that happened that started to lean the model more towards this direction. We, you know, just, we've only officially as a company been really promoting this model since last Vision Expo in Las Vegas in October. And we've had a tremendous response. It's like nothing I've ever seen. We actually haven't talked to an optometric partner or a prospect that hasn't seen the value in this yet. So we think it's going to be extremely popular. The ophthalmology community response has been very interesting. So right before the American Academy of Ophthalmology we announced the model and I got an overwhelming response, 900 and something emails. About 5,000 of those emails were very negative, you know, death threat kind of. We had about a hundred that, that just really couldn't figure out what we were even talking about. They're like, you know, we're going to need more explanation. But for the most part, 6, 700 of the ophthalmologists were very in favor for it. We've had no issues whatsoever getting ophthalmology to endorse this model. I said, we have the partnership with modern obs partners. They are very supportive and they have a huge. So we have not seen an issue with this so far.

[E]

Okay. And you mentioned that one of the things that happens is a lot of refractive surgery. But if I'm running a center, if, let's say the referrals that I'm making right now as an optometrist is primarily for cataract surgery, can I still get an obs? Does an OBS make sense for me if I'm doing cataract surgery and maybe even some premium cataract surgery?

[D]

Yeah. So one of the. We talked about this earlier. The definition of office space is anywhere a surgeon does surgery outside of another licensed facility. Since an extension of the practice itself, it's a much lower capital barrier. So really, if you can do 30 eyes, 15 patients in surgery. We talked about eyes in optometry. We talked about patients you can cash flow. An OBS with a safe margin actually becomes break even about 20 eyes a month. But 30 gives it enough margin to make it safe because the barrier is so much lower. We're not building a separate facility. The real cost is the capital equipment. So we can develop an obs for about 10% of what an ASC would cost.

[E]

And that would be the. When you're saying 30 eyes a month, 15 patients, you're talking about possible cataract patients that I'm already referring to somebody else if I'm a typical optometrist.

[D]

Correct. And so really, it's a very low barrier of entry. Now, we also have other models where, let's say you're referring out 10 patients a month or even five. We can put up a single center and have several optometric practices, smaller practices cooperate on one center. And so really, we can put these anywhere. I think the requirement to get in would be an interest in the process program.

[E]

Yep, I got it. So if people are interested in getting started with this, tell me more about how they can learn more about this. They can have conversations to see if it makes sense. What's the easiest way for them to find you?

[D]

Sure. Contact us through our website. It's iorgroup.com ior group.com and it can take you into. We've got assessment forms. We've got lead generation forms. It'll direct you to where you. And then one of my team members will contact you.

[E]

Okay. And we'll post that in the show notes, I guess. Last question, Tony, about how. How prevalent do you think this model will be five years from now?

[D]

So that's a really interesting question. So two years ago, we were asked that question by an ophthalmology company, and we said within five to 10 years. About 25% of ophthalmic surgery would be in the office. I think that's going to change dramatically because optometry has about 85% of the annual visits, and we can extend these programs into the primary care provider. I think it's going to get much more prevalent much more quickly. Five years from now, it wouldn't surprise me if half the cases were done on obd. Yes.

[E]

Interesting. So this is a chance, if you're looking, to kind of jump on some or at least explore something that is relatively new, but at the same time is likely going to be relatively prevalent in a few years. This is your chance to get in now. Tony, thank you so much for being on the Power Hour. Thank you for your innovation.

[D]

Thank you so much, Eugene. It's great being here.

[B]

All right, and for this next conversation, we're shifting gears pretty dramatically. So a lot of innovation optometry gets talked about in the context of clinical care, diagnosis, efficiency, AI. But sometimes innovation shows up somewhere much more emotional in the patient experience itself, in the optical, in retail, and the simple question of whether glasses feel functional or really fun or fashion. Right. So in this next segment, I sat down with Nathan from Pair Eyewear, a company that's trying to rethink what eyewear can be by making it more customizable, more expressive, and maybe most interestingly, for the independent practice, more engagement long after the exam is over. You be the judge of whether this business model is an interesting one, and we talk about what that business model looks like for the ECP and whether this is a true primary pair or something else entirely, and what a product like this can do for something that a lot of practices are trying to solve right now, which is give patients a reason to come back in in between exams or just more often for their exam. You may want to look at this particular part of the episode on your YouTube link because, Nathan, demonstrate the product. You can see it pretty clearly in the video that we recorded, but if you're listening, sure, you can always go back to the YouTube thing. All right, here's my conversation with Pear Eyewear.

[A]

I am here with Nathan from Pair Eyewear, and I'm so excited because there's so much activity going on in your booth and just like the look of joy on people's faces as they see how your product works. It's fascinating. So why don't you introduce the company, why don't you introduce the innovation that you guys are showcasing here at Expo?

[C]

Fantastic. Yeah. Thank you for having me, Eugene. I'm Nathan, I'm the co founder and co CEO of Pear Eyewear here at Para. I'm glad you mentioned the word joy. Our whole mission is to bring joy back to eyewear. And you know, I wore glasses my entire life since I was 8 years old and had always recognized that everything in our lives, like our clothes, shoes, jewelry, they change. We get to express our personality through that. But glasses had always remained this very static medical device. And so we wanted to bring that same level of personalization to eyewitness eyewear in a way that's just never been done before. And so we developed our patented product of customizable eyewear where people could just swap on and off what we call a top frame to change the look and design of their glasses.

[A]

So I get get in close to the camera. This is going to be a plug for our YouTube channel.

[C]

You can turn glasses into a great pair of frames. I could rock a glue pair of frames all with a super easy, simple snap. And I can even turn glasses into prescription sunglasses classes with a super simple snap. And we've got thousands of different designs and styles. Leading partnerships with the major entertainment studios like Disney and Marvel, sports leagues artists like Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo. We launched limited edition collections on a weekly basis to really bring joy and accessorization to eyewear.

[A]

Okay, so the way this works is, I mean, I don't think clip ons are necessarily a new concept to eyewear, but I think what the new concept is is that you've really turned this into a ton of fashion opportunities for patients. So then they buy one, you guys call it, what is a base frame? Base frame. Okay, so they have one base frame and in that shape they have say, hundreds, thousands of thousands of top frames available.

[C]

But let me explain how it works for patients and doctors because we try to make it really simple, seamless and easy to bring an amazing experience to patients in store. And so like you mentioned, we have our base frame, which is a high quality prescription frame frame. And we have a variety of different materials. We have acetate frames, we have mixed metal frames, we have full metal frames, which range in price. And then you get to choose which frames you want out of our assortment. And then you get 10 top frames per base frame available for a patient to choose in store, which will be bestsellers. Again, we collaborate to choose that assortment and it makes it really fun for a patient. Somebody earlier today at the booth called it an optician's playground. And it is really fun. It's super engaging and it really Drives traffic into store.

[A]

Okay, so this is the part where it gets a little bit interesting for me from a business standpoint. So when I am an. If I'm an ECP and I'm trying to. Then I'm trying to. Let's say your product is this a second pair? Is this the primary pair?

[C]

This would be a primary pair.

[A]

Okay, so this is the primary pair. So then you say that I'm the UCP and I'm selling a primary pair of Pear eye eyewear. And so that's the frame. Obviously I recommend a high quality lens and because that's the lens that you know they're going to have for multiple different, multiple different frame designs. But then like how many pair top frames are. Is a typical patient walking out with and how often is it that they come back in the store to get more?

[C]

It's all great questions you're asking. You just. Gene. We basically enable the patient experience to be super simple and seamless. So a patient comes in. We've got these really amazing, beautiful merchandising fixtures we call the Tower. It's really slim, 2 by 2ft and it merchandises eight different base frame styles with a variety of different colors and then the 10 tops per. And usually an average patient walks out with at least two to three top frames on that first purchase. And like you called out, the beauty of is that we then get customers to come back in store. And that's been a huge driving selling point for the value proposition of Pear for ecps is the biggest issue is that when a customer comes in, you might not see them again for another two and a half years. That replacement cycle is so long. But with Pear, our average customer has eight top frames in their collection within a year. And so we're seeing a 25% higher customer coming back into store rate than other brands.

[A]

Okay, but let's break down the economics. So is this. If I'm an ECP listening to the show, I'm probably thinking, is this more or less attractive for me to sell than competing frames? So talk me through that economics.

[C]

Absolutely. So we've designed our frame pricing and top frames to be really optimized for managed vision care reimbursements, optimized for the doctors and ECPs and what they make, and also optimized for the consumers to take advantage of their full benefits benefit. And so we have different bundles that you can purchase as part of the opening assortment, like the pair edits, where a frame and two top frames fall into that $150 range or higher. Which really optimize for that managed vision care reimburse head.

[A]

Got it. So then is the patient picking whatever they want or is there a particular set of recommended things that you're doing?

[C]

It's a mixture. So you can really offer some preset bundle skus to really optimize for the managed Vedic care of birth. And then you let patients add on more. So we'll have some patients leave the store with four, five, six, seven top friends. And after they're done purchasing that first time, we actually really collaborate and partner with the ECP to continue to engage in that customer relationship with their patient with marketing content, niche stories of launches that we launch on a monthly quarterly basis. So they always have a reason to talk to that patient.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which makes sense. So. So have you done this in practices before? And what did you find about patients coming back? Because that seems like the new hypothesis. Right. That's the thing that doesn't currently happen is patients coming back between exams. So what have you found in the stores that you've launched when. What's been the outcome?

[C]

Yeah, it's been amazing to see what the outcome has been and the sort of impact it's had on the ECP's business. We are in stores nationwide now and what we found is that on average, a patient will come back into store 20 to 25% more often than their average patient. And it's because we launch these new collections weekly, monthly, quarterly, and it gives them a reason to come back in. And we really are focused our fair on building a truly patient centric experience. And we know that begins with the ECP and the doctor, and we want them to feel that trust of partnering with the doctor to get that new Pear top frame that they just saw come up.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And when, when a doctor, when a practice decides to start working with you, how many of these top frames do you give them? And also, by the way, what does the top frame cost for the patient? What does it cost for the practice?

[C]

Yeah, so a top frame for the patient, it ranges from retail 25 to $30. And the frames, the base frames range in retail from about $70 up to $130. We've got some higher price point frames coming very soon as well. And then for the ecp, we try to make it super simple. And so we have an opening assortment where you get that beautiful merchandising fixture and tower included in your opening assortment buy, which ranges from $1,800 to $2,500 depending on the assortment of frames you choose. And it's a really great price for the ECP and optimized again for the managed vision care reimbursement.

[A]

Yeah, and it sounds like lips. The, the key part for me is that you guys have so many different options for the patient. So the patient feels like they're getting a ton of value from the one frame that they're buying.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

And you can kind of say like, hey, this is, it's almost a multiple pair play without a multiple pair play. But you know, traditionally, at least in our data, we know that in the average practice is generally their multiple pair percentage is less than 4 or 5%. And the ones who are really good are actually selling multiple pair. Not because of the fashion component, because of the lenses.

[E]

Right.

[A]

So it's the functionality. So you could still actually do multiple pairs and you could have multiple functionality. You could have your computer, your work glass, or you could have your, your night vision, your night driving glasses. But the reality is that you could have multiple styles of those. So if you are looking for something more conservative, you have one version. If you're looking for something more, more fun, you, you know, or for going out, you could have a different version.

[C]

Absolutely. No, you're, you're absolutely right, Eugene. Basically what we find found is that patients do really feel that value proposition of basically having multiple pairs of glasses all for the price of one. And that was our original vision is let's make personalization and the ability to switch up your style more affordable and accessible for consumers. And we've seen that prove out without a doubt. And the other added benefit that we've seen on the lens side is that our patients are spending more on a total average order value and more on lens upgrade upgrades than an average frame. Because the patients are seeing it as we're investing in this base frame because we're getting all the top frames we're excited to accessorize and personalize. And so I'm going to make this my primary frame. I'm going to get the best progressive lenses, the best blue light coatings and transitions, et cetera, and then really invest in it.

[A]

Do you have a data on how much more they're spending?

[C]

It's on average about 20% more, 20%

[A]

more on lenses because they're really committed to the frame, which, which does make sense.

[E]

Right.

[A]

This is the thing that I'm going to have five or six of these, of these tops for, for this, for this one frame. So the shape is the thing I can't change. But the look and the presentation is I Think I can. And that gets exciting for a patient. Now I have to ask you, because this show is about asking CEOs the hard question. The part of, the. Part of my research, I, I saw that you guys sell some of this stuff online directly to patients. So how does, how does that fit

[E]

with your partnership with ecps?

[C]

Yeah, no, it's a really great question, Eugene. We're really focused on making the experience where ECPs the best experience possible, truly being a partner to those ECPs, building trust. And what we've done is we try to collaborate with ECPs more than just offering product in store. Right. And so we're driving traffic in store, and we really want our, our patients and our customers to go in store and have a great doctor experience because we know that's ultimately the best I word reading experience that you get in store. And we're really focused on that. So we'll actually drive a ton of patients in store through our store locator on our website, where we get over 5,000 clicks weekly. And we really push people to our ECPs, and then we really share in the economics of customers coming back. We allow, you know, we really push customers to come back into store. And that's what we see creates incremental impact.

[A]

And if they don't come back in store but buy online, do you guys track that and could get ACI involved in it?

[C]

Exactly. We're creating a system that basically gives credit to the ECP for if a customer goes back online, if you give them a discount code, we'll give you percentage of that revenue back. So you're essentially making more dollars without needing to do much work.

[A]

Well, so that's.

[E]

That.

[A]

That. That kind of closes the gap for me to some extent, which is that,

[E]

you know, at the very least, I

[A]

am getting credit from my patient who went onto the website and got excited about a frame that or a top that I didn't have in store because I can't imagine that the would carry a thousand tops in their store. And is it, by the way, if I am carrying some tops in my store and somebody wants something else, do I just order it for them?

[C]

Great question. So, yeah, we actually enable the ECP to also have that flexibility and full assortment through a B2B platform that we've developed with the ECP in mind. So we give them access to all of our top frame assortment and allow customers to basically buy what's off the fixture and then see some designs on the B2B platform in order directly from there. And all of the Freedoms and tops will be shipped directly to your practice.

[A]

Got it. So this back to the practice, which then gets the patient to come back.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

And gets the patient to shop more, potentially.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

What I would encourage, by the way, for practice is when. If a patient is coming back for something like a top frame or really any reason, one of the data points that we've gathered is that is a great time to ask for a patient.

[B]

Referral. Referral, yeah.

[A]

Hey, how do you like this thing that you got from us? Oh, you like it a lot. Oh, that's awesome. Who else in your. You know, we find that the way.

[E]

If you.

[A]

If you position it the right way, if you position at the point of either dispensing or when somebody comes back and you ask them about their happiness level and if they are truly happy at that point, that's a great time to ask for a referral. Who else do you know who needs an exam?

[B]

How can we.

[A]

And then, you know what I like about your top range is that it's not that expensive.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So I would love to give you

[E]

a free one of these.

[A]

These in exchange for a referral. If you've got a patient that you'd like to send me or if. If you know somebody who could also benefit somebody who's fashion and also smart, like, just like you. If you. If you'd like to invite them to part. To. To be part of my practice, I'd love to gift you one of these free top. Or I'd love to gift you one of these top frames for you.

[C]

Absolutely. And there's a. There's a bunch of real benefits from Pear that are so subtle and nuanced. So one is. Is our customer base and patient base is really diverse. And so we have patients that range male, female, all ages from 18 up to 65 plus. And it's a really socioeconomic, geographically diverse customer base. And that's been really amazing because patients know about Pear and they want to come in store and are asking ECPs for, hey, can I get Pear here? And it's been really amazing to see that. And the second part of Pear that's really nice is it's almost like a walking advertisement. Right. The styles are really chic, unique, interesting, and fun. Our partnerships with Disney and others are really unique. And when you see a patient swap on and off a top frame in real life, you're instantly asking the question, oh, what's that?

[A]

Where.

[C]

Where did you get that pair of glasses? Can I. Can I get those as well? And that's driving Patients into storage. Yeah, I see that natural word of mouth.

[A]

It's such a unique take on clips because really, like, I think most people get just the sunglasses component of clips. And then, you know, it's, it's never really an impressive experience, but it's here, like I could, if I got five, I could change my glasses every single day if I'm going to work or something. And then you're the person with super unique glasses every single day. And then, you know, people are asking you, where did you get those? And hopefully they say, oh, my eye doctor has this really unique thing that, that I have. So I understand that from the patient experience. I also kind of understand, and this is the part that I really encourage you guys to continue to prove out is that what does this do for patient loyalty? How often are patients. Because the part that I don't know if you know this yet, but, you know, if I now am super committed to this pair of glasses, I'm really committed. Does that mean that I'm delaying my next eye exam or am I coming back more frequently?

[C]

You're definitely coming back more frequently and that's what we're seeing. And you're absolutely right, Eugene. We'll build more data interface, but we typically see seen across the entire brand that basically 50% of customers will come back within the first 180 days, half a year of their original purchase. So it's really incredible how sticky and engaged our pair consumers are. And it's really amazing to bring them back into the practice.

[A]

Well, if they're coming back into the practice, the other thing I would then challenge the ACP to think about is, okay, and what else, what else? While they're there, can I get them to consider a dry eye or can I can we do. If you have a myopia management program, can you ask the patient about that for their kids? Or if you have a scleral lens program, could you potentially talk to them about that? And this is, you know, all of these recommendations that happen in the exam room during the exam that, you know, oftentimes have 10%, 15% adoption rate or treatment acceptance rate when they come back for their top frames, this is a great time to remind them that, hey, by the way, I noticed that while you were here, did you want to schedule that appointment the doctor recommended for your dry eye? Absolutely. And it seems like this is again, anytime a patient is in the open office, those are opportunities to engage that patient to get referrals, to get them into the treatment plan that they absolutely need. To be part of and other things that ultimately lead to them, just more to greater association with the office and the od.

[C]

Yeah, no, absolutely. And ultimately, you know, I think what's so unique about Pear, you were talking about clips before is that these truly uniquely differentiated our approach to, you know, clips, Chris say, has been much more focused.

[A]

Right.

[C]

We bring so many different styles and designs to patients. We work so hard on the technology where it's extremely seamless to swap on and off our top frames. You can, you really can't even tell that I'm wearing a. Oh, yeah, no,

[E]

I cannot, I cannot tell.

[C]

It's so seamless for consumers. And I think that's what's really made it, you know, a leap far and beyond what's been available in the past. Because a lot of those clips in the past have been clunky. Like you said, this sun clips, it doesn't quite work perfectly. And we really focused in on this experience being amazing. Amazing for.

[A]

Yeah, and they're beautiful. I mean, anybody who's watching the video can see over your shoulder the, the, the frame board. And I mean, they really are beautiful. And it's easy, I think, to, for a patient to picture themselves. Okay, I'm going to invest in one, you know, really nice pair of glasses because I can then add, for 30 bucks, I can keep adding and making those glasses more and more unique for whatever mood or occasion I absolutely need. So really cool innovation. Nathan, how do people find out more about Pear? And we'll post this in the show notes, whatever to want you just saying.

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. You know, come find us at retail.pear eyewear.com to become a partner. You can find out a ton more information there. We've got an amazing team of really passionate people that will talk to you about Pear and how we can make an impact for your practice. And again, we're really focused on being a partner, helping you where it matters most. So retail.paireyewear.com to become a partner.

[A]

Yeah. Congratulations and thank you so much for being part of the show today.

[C]

Thank you again, Eugene. Thanks for having me. Okay.

[B]

And for our final Innovator segment, we're moving from patient facing side of innovation to the operational side. Because let's be honest, a lot of practices today are buried in software. Too many tabs open, too many systems that don't talk to each other, too many staff members wasting time bouncing around on platforms or not getting, not being able to get things done, training issues. And when all this happens, it's not just inefficient for the team, it creates a worse experience for the patient too. So for this next conversation I sit down with Jared from Aurelio to talk about what an actual all in one optometric technology platform looks like. Now when you listen to him talk, you're going to realize that he's taken taking on some pretty big well known names in patient communication or phone handling and insurance related workflows. So listen in. There's a lot of positive feedback that I've heard about this organization up until the show. So I was excited to talk to Jared. What I found interesting here is that Aurelio seems to be building from the perspective of the technician and the front office team. First because happy staff makes it easier easier for the for the owner to run a practice. And then if you realize how the people who use the technician at the technology most often leverage it, then you can start realizing how the technology can make the entire experience smoother for everyone else from patient to practice owner. So here's my conversation with Relio. Love to hear your feedback.

[E]

I am here with Jared from Relio. Jared, what is the innovation that you guys are showcasing at the the show?

[F]

Yeah, thanks Eugene for the introduction. Super excited to be here here in Orlando, but we are showcasing our Aurelio all in one technology. We are truly the first third party tool that integrates with your native EHR practice management system that does all of your patient engagement and supply chain in one platform.

[A]

Okay, that sounds like a lot.

[E]

Let's break it down.

[A]

So what, let's just back up for a second. I had heard of Aurelio as a

[E]

contact lens management sort of platform.

[A]

I think that's where you guys started. So maybe let's just, just start there. What is the, what's the roots of the company?

[F]

Yeah, so we started back in 2022, 2023. I kind of grew up in the industry, started teching for my dad at 12 years old and really what I did at my family practice is I built a rellio into the contact lens solution that we're mostly known for. We work with about a thousand offices across the country and what we do is we integrate into their existing practice management system and we automate all of their contact len ordering their patient e commerce and kind of all of the reordering and exam walkout technology to make sure you're capturing all of your contact lens patients and driving revenue back into the four doors of the products.

[E]

And so for the thousand or so

[A]

practices that are working with you, what is, what's their experience?

[E]

What are they seeing from working with you?

[F]

Yeah, honestly it's been awesome thus far. We've only again been around since our first customers January 1st of 2024. And of our 800 offices on average they're seeing double digit year over year contact lens sales growth, which has been fantastic. And a lot of them are seeing a lot of lost revenue at their approval. Previously seeing go out the door to Costco, 1, 800 contacts, other big box retailers and so really focused on putting the money back in the wallet of the ECPs as well as alleviating a lot of their staff. You know, a lot of the focus is on the doctor and all the clinical workflows, but in reality the staff is spending so much time manually ordering everything and doing all of these kind of, you know, monotonous workflows that should be automated in the age of AI and technology today.

[A]

Yeah, and I've heard your story a

[E]

little bit before and one of the things that's fascinated me is that you start from the position of the tech because you realize that and I, I

[A]

talk about this a lot on the

[E]

show and, and in my speaking engagements is that people solving people problems is one of the, is alleviates so many issues for a practice today because those

[A]

are some of the biggest problems in our practice.

[E]

People are overwhelmed, the good people are, are stretched too thin and oftentimes they're frustrated. So how are you solving people problems with the technology that you guys offer?

[F]

Yeah, I think this all goes back to, to my roots, Eugene. I started pre testing from my father's businesses when I was in middle school. And in high school I was, you know, edging glasses in the back, being an optician. And I just grew up being a tech. It's really all I know. So I was the one answering phone calls for patients, trying to place contact lens orders, checking your voicemail, realizing someone wanted to order last night. Then you get the fax from 1-800-for- prescription verification quest. So again, I cut my teeth being a tech. It's really all I know. I'm not a clinician, will never claim to, you know, understand what they do on a day to day basis. And so I built Aurelio because I was like, okay, my family, we have 90 different offices across the country. A bunch of my colleagues were also technicians and I wanted to make their lives easier. And kind of at the crux of that was automating orders for them, sending patient status updates, helping with rebates and quoting patients and really kind of taking that same ethos for making it easy for the technicians and bringing that same level of efficiency to the patient side. I think what a lot of platforms do is they're focused on the doctor's point of view and, or the manufacturer distributor, which is fine. Again, all platforms are good. Rising tide raises all shifts, shifts. But really I think the focus of all software technology should be getting staff adoption which guarantees the outcome in a result.

[E]

And so you know, the typical staff member has a lot of tabs open on their screen when they're, when they're helping the practice go through its day to day. You guys are solving part of that problem, right?

[F]

Yeah, absolutely. So again there's, we did a survey for this across our existing customer base and the average Practice uses over 14 tabs a day just to get their job job done. Some of those could be, you know, their eyeglass lab or their contact lens distributor manufacturers, you have insurance portals, your ehr, your patient engagement software and the list just goes on and on and on. And so contact lenses for us was always just a start. It was something I worked on to get in my family's practice spun it onto its own thing now. And now with 800 or so offices we work with, we're super excited because we have our patient engagement and insurance verification modules releasing. We're super excited to debut here at, in Orlando at the innovation kind of village over over here is our all in one tool. So instead of you having to pay a third party service that does all of your phone calling, your texting, your scheduling, intake forms and then paying a separate service to do your contact lens automation in e commerce like us currently, and then another software to do your insurance verification, a lot of times what that results in is not only the tabs for the staff, but if you put yourself in the shoes of a patient, let's say you book an appointment at Dr. Noble's practice. If I'm texting you for your intake pay paperwork from a separate phone number, that's texting you to confirm your appointment from a separate phone number that's following up with you to buy contacts and a separate phone number that's going to tell you your insurance benefits are expired. That's very spammy. And in today's age, you know you're getting texted and called all the time. We want to streamline and make that not only eliminate the tabs across the top, but really focus on the patient experience too.

[E]

Yeah, I think that that's an important part of this is to say there's one tool that can do a lot More than the collection of all of the different tools. And again, you guys kind of designed it from the perspective of the patient, so. Or sorry, from the perspective of the tech and then ultimately looking at the experience of the patient now, you know, I guess if somebody comes to you and says but I already have these things.

[A]

Yeah, how hard is it for you

[E]

to say okay, but like first of all, some of the things that you have are underserving you. But also what's the pushback that you get that you get when patients or when practices come to you and, and

[A]

say hey Jared, but I already have

[E]

a whole bunch of software and I already know and love and use that

[A]

software on a day to day basis.

[F]

Yeah, I always like to put the question back on the doctor or whoever's doing the demo, whoever it may be. Right. And say, okay, well walk me through your patient journey. Right, so let's talk about how each of those softwares plays into your overall practice experience. And kind of what happens is the doctor or staff member naturally sees the problem they're in by going through that exercise, right where they say, okay, well this software does this, this software does this, this software does this, does this. And when they realize, wow, my patients are being spammed and now my staff have to, has to remember logins for all 17 websites. You know, it's unintegrated to typically their system of record, which is, you know, the great ehrs that are all here at the expo, you realize how dilapidated that experience is. And so when you put it back onto them to kind of educate them and walk them through the flows, you'll see, you know, it's mundane, they're doing a bunch of things, entering, you know, 10 different systems. It's spammy for their patients, it's annoying for the their staff. And kind of the key metric or you know, vector of success that we look at is if you were to hire someone, let's say you're at Texas Roadhouse, it's her family, right? My dad would always say, hey, I want to be able to do this. I want to be able to hire my waitress at Texas Roadhouse. She's super bubbly, she's great, she's awesome. How can I make her, you know, a super awesome technician or optician here in optometry. Most new hires, as you know, they take a two to three month ramp up before they're truly independently complicated competence. And so the goal of our software is to say, well we can lower that burden so you as a doctor can hire staff quicker get them up to speed and ultimately make their lives easier so they can just focus on caring for the patient. That's what leads to higher conversion rates inside of the clinic and just overall better experience, which makes patients less likely to go online to purchase.

[A]

Okay, so let's go back to the.

[E]

You said all in one.

[F]

Yeah.

[E]

And you kind of already talked a little bit about these features, but so the contact lens management piece, that's one I heard you say phone calls. Talk a little bit more about that.

[F]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So honestly, one thing that I've been super excited about, we've been working on this for a long time now, as a lot of our existing customers know. But we are introducing VoIP technology into our platform. So we'll send you the physical hard phones. You can also use soft phones, you know, or like headsets, if you will, for your virtual assistants. But we will port over your phone number. So all of your existing phone calls, you can set up call trees, you know, all the call routing and flows you want for your practice. But all of your phone calls and traffic goes through our software now. So in one single system, you'll see not only your text and emails like you can in a lot of softwares today, but you'll also see your faxes as well as your phone calls. So I can show you, you know, hey, on this day, this employee talked to this patient. Here's the full transcript, here's the sentiment score. And so you really have your full patient view in one platform. And we're really geared towards optometry. There's other phone providers, but a lot of times they're focused on, you know, dentistry or chiropractors and just a bunch of different other software verticals. So we can really go a mile deep as opposed to, you know, a mile wide and an inch deep to care for our practices and staff alike.

[E]

Well, and that's the one part that I think, you know, and maybe you can elaborate on this a little bit.

[A]

Bit is like, what are some of

[E]

the things that you do that are optometrically focused that aren't necessarily available in other platforms because they're not necessarily serving optometry? Because I like the sound of that. Right. Like, logically, it's like, okay, you know how practice works. You're out in any other industries, you're just the optometry. But really, when it gets down to when. When the rubber meets the road, like, what are the things that you actually

[A]

do that truly facilitate a better experience

[E]

for the optometric practice?

[F]

Yeah, I think a great example is something as simple technologically as recalls, right. Every software under the sun is going to claim, you know, hey, we're going to recall your patients when it's been longer than 12 months, which is the typical, you know, how long prescriptions last here in optometry, depending on your state, they're going to recall your patients to get them back in for your exam.

[E]

Right.

[F]

Ultimately, the messaging there is like, hey Eugene, you know, you're due for your appointment, click this link to book. It's kind of flat, you know. And so something we do specifically within optometry is we'll weave in the expiring insurance benefits. So imagine a recall message could instead, instead say hey Eugene, you know your vision med benefits are expiring soon, right? Tap this link, use it before you lose it. And so obviously that unique vision insurance doesn't exist with a lot of these other platforms and softwares that have the phone systems and everything integrated into one platform. So that's an example of something simple that to your question earlier, when doctors say, I already have this, why do I need your software? Well, you might have the basic, most, you know, rudimentary function of that feature. What if you could make it ten times more effective? If I could improve your recall, you know, recap, capture rate and reduce that time between exams from 18 months to 12 months, that's a 33% increase, right. On your overall patient turn, which is essential to obviously the cash flow and viability of a business.

[A]

We talk about this a lot on the show.

[E]

So I totally, I think the audience is totally tracking with what you're saying.

[A]

But the. So just to clarify, the feature also

[E]

exists to say I know when my patients benefits are going to expire. Which means that, you know, whether because for many insurance or many vision benefit plans or insurance providers, that's what they know of the year. But for many it's also not. I think I've heard the stat that like maybe 20 to 30% of patients, their benefits expire at something other than December 31st. So you're able to communicate to those patients about that?

[F]

Absolutely, at the unique plan level. So we'll be able to know, hey, you know, this patient has XYZ plan, it renews on this date. Let's say we're 20 days away, 30 days away. All of this is customizable at the practice setting because every doctor wants to run their practice and patient experience different. Right. And so, you know, not only can we recall them at the right time, but imagine if you had a software, software that could Say, hey, your vision benefits are expiring. We noticed, you know, haven't reordered your contact lenses. Why don't you just use them now together? Right. If you still have six months left on your insurance and you know, you haven't bought your second reorder or supply. So again, all of that under one hood allows for a unified patient experience. So then the patient just feels like, this is my doctor, I trust them, I know it's time to use them or lose them. So yeah, it's, it's, we can do all of that regardless of, you know, what day it resets on. It's all configurable to the practice and it works with most of the major vision plants.

[A]

Got it.

[E]

So the, then you're talking about patient communication as one of the components. But the phone thing is a big one because, I mean, everybody has phone calls coming into their practice and there's lots of different platforms that kind of manage those phone calls. And you know, like you said, there's some that are multi industry focused, but

[A]

they're here at the show.

[E]

And when people compare the features, you're saying one of the things is this insurance, one of the features is that it's integrated into everything else that you're doing.

[A]

What else?

[E]

What other things make your phone system better?

[F]

Yeah. So one thing we're super excited that we're working on is again, uniquely tailoring even AI agents to the optometry vertical is like, you know, imagine any phone call that comes in, you have your own individual practice agent that's trained on all of your own SOPs, your FAQs, what insurances you're in network with versus out of network with. You're, you know, all of your operational supply chain, you know, unique things. You have your framework boards. What we're really, really excited about is being able to go that mile deep to bring all those customizations to practice. So that's something we're really excited about working on. But even beyond that, again, all the features of someone calls right on your screen, it shows you what the patient is. Right. So, you know, you don't have to figure, hey, who is this? You know, this is Jared at Pro Vision, Tuttle or whatever the practice may be. Right. Who I have the pleasure of speaking with. You'll be able to know exactly from your practice management system who that patient is when their next appointment is right, do they have an outstanding balance, balance all of those kinds of informations when their last contact lens order was. So you have the context, which then speeds up the time to resolution, which gets your staff back on the floor to sell more glasses and take care of patients. Right. So we're all about really giving the staff all the context they need in one system where they can see, hey, someone's calling, look at their communication log. Right. What if as a staff member I could show you, here's my patient Eugene, here's every communication, touch point via email, via email, fax, if they had it right, text message and phone calls over the last six months. You know exactly what they're calling about before they even open their mouth on the phone. That's really the goal is all about efficiency in the workflows to provide time back to the staff, focus on revenue generating behaviors. Yeah.

[E]

And you know what's interesting and I

[A]

heard you say a little bit about

[E]

the sentiment score and the transcript, is that available now? Is that in the near future?

[F]

Yeah, absolutely. So that's something that's available. Right on day one. We're going to reach out to all of our existing customers when they sign up for our all in one platform beyond the contact lenses, as I said, because we have about 800 or so practices is using our contact lens platform today and everyone's kind of in the process of upgrading to our all in one. But yeah, unique sentiment score and kind of saying, hey, Eugene, you had six phone calls where the sentiment score was X, Y and Z. Based on the conditional rules that you set up, we think you should review these phone calls, so on and so forth.

[E]

Yeah. And I think you're, you're onto something there because I bet that I could be able to do some reporting in

[A]

my practice to be able to say,

[E]

hey, anytime Jared's on the phone, he's great, he's got a higher sentiment score. But every time that Eugene's on the phone, not so good. And unfortunately he needs a little bit of coaching.

[F]

Yeah, and exactly correct. So there's a huge staff training element. But then also, you know, there's on the revenue side, which is again, one of the major focuses of our software is to free you up time to make you more revenue and drive the efficiency in the practice on that side. You can also say, well, how do we get all of our training optimized so that everyone behaves like Jared on the phone? And how do you train even an AI agent who can converse like Jared? Because guess what, Jared's a human, right? He's got to go home, he's got to get some sleep. But what if you had an after hours attendant that could answer the Same to the same, you know, veracity and accuracy as Jared. And then so that way your patient, you know, what you're providing them in terms of service levels is the same 24, 7, 365. You don't got to worry about if Jared leaves for another job or if Jared's sick that day. Right. Your business can operate the same way that you want. And that's really what the fundamental VoIP technology and all the communication channels allows us to build the framework to do for you in your practice.

[E]

And I imagine as I'm thinking about this, this is that when somebody is paying for six different pieces of software, they have six different bills and they're not getting a cost savings associated with having all these features together. So what ballpark percentage savings?

[A]

I know it's probably hard to answer

[E]

because there's a million different pieces of software, but if you combine everything all in one, as you say, what kind of savings can a practice experience by bringing all of those types of things over to Aurelio?

[F]

Yeah, we'll take it beyond theory, Eugene. We'll give you exact examples.

[E]

Right.

[F]

So let's take a practice that's using a popular regular insurance recall software that's north of 6 or 700amonth, right? There's system number one. If you're using another software that's doing your patient engagement and phone systems, that's typically anywhere from 4 to 5 to 600amonth, use all the AI features, give you upwards of a thousand dollars. Right. And then if you use some kind of independent third party contact lens software that's typically billing you, that is not a manufacturer software or something of that nature, that's another 2, 300amonth. Right. So if you just add up, let's say 600 bucks, 500 bucks and let's do 200 bucks, right? That's 1300 hundred dollars. Okay. We'll save you more than half of that by bundling everything into one software so that way you don't have three parties trying to scrape and grab for your margin. And again, it makes sense for you not only financially to bundle those, but our core contact lens product will then also make you money. So then with the railway, you're not only saving cost, but we're also going to be a revenue generating engine to make it one of the best investments you can make into your practice and people.

[E]

And it seems like your, the experience that your staff are going to have is something that you guys are banking on being better as well.

[F]

Oh yeah, like night and day. That's My favorite part about my job is getting on calls with our current customers and everyone, you know, being super happy that this is awesome for their practice. And, you know, we got everyone knocking on our door, just waiting to get upgraded for the all in one. So delivering a good experience at the practice level allows your employees to feel like they have time to do stuff, take care of patients. If your employees are in a good mood, they're going to be treating patients better. If your patients are getting treated better, they're going to be happier. If they're happier, they're spending more money. Which means the practice owner and doctor happy. It's a lot of people just view these things as very isolated. You know, part seven of my 17 step patient journey, like, that's great. You need to optimize each step, but in totality, you need to make sure you have a good environment that fosters the fact that a patient wants to be there. We need all of these technologies that are popping up or patients are going to be refracted through glasses, right? Or there's kiosk now that can take your prescription, and then there's online vision test and online ways to order. Your true competitive advantage in most that you have as an independent practice is that patient's coming to you for the exam.

[E]

And so you got to capitalize.

[F]

Exactly. You got to capitalize because everyone can sell the same, you know, frame board, everyone can sell the same lenses. Of course, you might be able to explain it better, right? But the end of day, the product could be the same. So your only unique advantage is how do I feel as a patient when I'm at your practice? Because guess what? When I go home or between that 12 months, my next exam, you know how many times I'm being spammed from ads from all the online big box shops or online retailers. And DT you want your patients to feel confident enough that when they see those ads, they say, you know what? I don't need that. I'm super happy with my experience with Dr. Eugene today. So that's what we're focused on.

[E]

And you know, Jared, if somebody wants

[A]

to see you at the show, they'll see you at the booth.

[E]

But if somebody is listening to this episode after the show, what's the easiest way for them to find you, to talk to you and to find out more about Aurelio?

[F]

Yeah, easiest way to find out would be go to our website. It's just Aurelio.com book a demo with us. You can talk to myself or someone on our team that'll give you a full experience and demo the software so you can be confident on what you're signing up for. You can also email me directly@jared aurelio.com I'm available for anyone that ever wants to talk. Happy to talk shop and see what we can do for your practice.

[E]

Yeah. And, and Aurelio will, will include some links and things in the, in the show notes, But Areli has two Rs,

[A]

two Ls for everybody who is a

[F]

R R E L L I o dot com.

[B]

What does it mean?

[F]

What is. Yeah, great question. I get that a lot, actually. So Aurelio in Latin means the golden one. And you know, I always thought that when I was younger, in a steaming pile of, you know what that is, optometry software, I wanted us to be the golden look, you know, I thought that there was a clear opportunity in the market for someone to go out and do this and become the best. And that's just how I was right. You want to be the best at everything.

[E]

Love your passion. Jared, thank you so much for being on the Power Hour edit.

[F]

Thanks for having me.