← Power Hour Optometry
Power Hour Optometry
4 Industry Leaders, 4 Big Ideas: What's Next for Your Optometry Practice?
01:13:53
Forget routine exams — eye care’s future just walked off the showroom floor at Vision Expo East 2025, and we've got your VIP ticket right here. Host Eugene Shatsman caught up with top executives from CareCredit, ZEISS, Silhouette Optical, and...
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- [00:00]
Eugene Shotsman
Foreign.
- [00:07]
Gene Moody
Welcome back to the Power Hour.
- [00:08]
Robert
Optometry's biggest and longest running show. I'm your host, Eugene Shotsman, and today's show is our very unique Orlando Innovation series. So whether you went to Vision Expo east in 2025 or you did not, this show is kind of like your VIP pass to some interesting innovations that we discussed right on the show floor. So again, all of these conversations were had live at the booths at Vision Expo east and I sat down with key executives from each of these companies. Some of these companies are going to know, some of these you may not. And I sat down with them to get a sense of what does the conversation sound like in the industry around their particular offerings. Full disclosure, each of these is a sponsored segment, but the idea is that you get the inside scoop on each of these companies throughout directly from conversations with executives. And I try to ask questions that kind of help tease out not just the surface level show speak stuff, but go a bit deeper and figure out how your practice can actually benefit. So in this episode we start by talking about increasing revenue per patient. With CareCredit, we cover the latest available lens technology from Zeiss, we discuss a new approach to frame positioning and environmental impact with Silhouette Optical, and we also cover an at home treatment program that's becoming more available for ECPs that that helps retrain a patient's brain to see better. Really interesting stuff. So anyway, my hope here is that you get a compressed quality conversation with each of these industry leaders that allows you to get some insights into what's new, what's innovative, and how can it help your practice. So before we jump in, as always, a quick reminder to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your show so you don't miss an episode. And I really do want to hear your feedback on these companies and on the things that we're bringing in this type of show. If you want to connect with me, share your feedback, visit Eugene Shotsman.com I love hearing from you. And now let's go to the show. Okay, so our first innovator segment is CareCredit. And here we talk about the challenge that nearly all optometry practices are facing in today's environment. Patients spending less per visit than they possibly could. So this is why I wanted to meet with CareCredit. My question, how can we effectively present financing to drive patient value? So in this conversation we talk with Gene Moody and we talk about why financing isn't just about affordability, but it's about increasing treatment plan acceptance, making multiple Payers easier for patients and ensuring that patients don't just walk out the door because of certain hesitations. You'll hear about what it takes to integrate CareCredit, but you'll also understand some numbers behind the impact that CareCredit has in practices. So if you haven't given much thought to the deliberate role of financing in your practice, this conversation might give you something else to think about. Here we go.
- [02:48]
Gene Moody
Welcome to the Power Hour Innovator series. I'm here with Gene Moody from CareCredit. Excited to have you on the show, Gene.
- [02:54]
Eugene Shotsman
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
- [02:56]
Gene Moody
So let's just get right to it. CareCredit is here at Vision Expo. You're talking to doctors. The entire. I've seen this booth just be packed with people the entire time that we've been here. We recorded a show here. And one of the things that I'm noticing is that it's not really that CareCredit is new for anybody, but you guys are truly an innovator because you're trying to change the way that people are having the conversation about financing in optometry.
- [03:27]
Eugene Shotsman
Absolutely. We've been in patient financing for 35 plus years, so it's not innovative. But the challenge is the conversations inside the practice, from the practitioners to the consumer, to make that a smoother process and also make sure that patients are aware that they have payment options.
- [03:46]
Gene Moody
Yeah, that's. And I think that's the key, is that what we're seeing right now, and one of the reasons why I wanted to feature you guys, is that this is an innovative conversation that needs to be had because the industry is underrepresented, I think, in the way that they're utilizing, in the way that we in optometry are utilizing financing. And I say this because our listeners have heard me talk a lot about revenue per patient as a core metric. And we have some data. And the data. Thank you to the Vision Council for analyzing millions and millions of transactions last year. And the data that we have is that there's 1% more exams, but 4% fewer dollars being spent on glasses, frames, contact lenses, and 4% fewer materials by count, being purchased. So that drives revenue per patient down.
- [04:38]
Eugene Shotsman
Right.
- [04:39]
Gene Moody
And we need to drive revenue per patient up. So how do we do it? Well, we can use, like, financing to solve that problem.
- [04:47]
Eugene Shotsman
Yes, you can use patient financing so that patients can spread their payments over time and purchase the multiple pairs, the scleral lenses, the dry eye treatment, all of those things today.
- [04:59]
Gene Moody
Right. And let's separate those out. For just a moment. So we've got regular practice, you know, we'll call it like regular comprehensive exams. And the patient, for example, is only going to buy glasses or contacts. There's those patients, and then we're going to talk about specialty in a moment. So for the patients where glasses or contacts are the way that they're going to go.
- [05:22]
Eugene Shotsman
Right.
- [05:23]
Gene Moody
What's the solution? How do we bring this up in conversation?
- [05:26]
Eugene Shotsman
Well, you talked about revenue per patient, and right now across the industry, the average ticket in independent optometry is about $350. When a consumer patient applies for care credit gets approved, that first ticket on average is about $750.
- [05:48]
Gene Moody
Wow.
- [05:49]
Eugene Shotsman
So it just goes to show that consumers, patients buy differently when they know that they don't have to shell it out of their pocket today, that they're going to be able to spread that out over time.
- [05:59]
Gene Moody
And we were talking a little bit about pre show. You weren't talking about financing. When you're saying to the patient, you're.
- [06:04]
Eugene Shotsman
Saying something like, what special finance or special payment options or promotional financing. So you do, you can use the word financing or. Many people, many practices would say, would you like to take us up on our six months promotional financing with CareCredit, we have over 12 million cardholders. So many times when you're talking to your patient about this CareCredit, they already.
- [06:31]
Gene Moody
Have it in their pocket and they just don't realize that they can use it and they could get a benefit from it.
- [06:37]
Eugene Shotsman
Right. They opened it up in the dentist or the vet and they didn't even put it together that they could use it for their eyeglasses and contacts.
- [06:44]
Gene Moody
Right. Now I think the practices, the devil's advocate practice would say, well, I mean, I have a CareCredit brochure lying in a corner of my waiting room somewhere and, you know, might have been collecting dust for a couple years, but, you know, my patients know I can take care credit.
- [07:02]
Eugene Shotsman
Yeah. And they don't. They don't. And we hear that so much on the floor. It's like, oh, yeah, we got CareCredit. We're already enrolled. And we're like, well, wait a minute, you can have it or you can leverage it to help your patients and help your practice grow.
- [07:16]
Gene Moody
Right. And I think you guys are doing this at the show where you're doing like an analysis for the, for the practices to show them how much more revenue they could be capturing. And you kind of looking at their CareCredit use if they're already signed up.
- [07:29]
Eugene Shotsman
Yes. A couple of things. So we're talking about different ways that CareCredit fits in their practice and then ways to easily integrate it into the patient journey as they go through your practice.
- [07:42]
Gene Moody
Right. Now the other part of the patient journey that I find so Ripe for CareCredit is the elective specialty services that are, that are provided by the various by practices. So we're talking about scleros, we're talking about dry eye, we're talking about myopia management. All of these things are patient out of pocket expenses. And when we talk about treatment plan acceptance rates, there's an opportunity there, I think.
- [08:10]
Eugene Shotsman
Yes. You know, today people are financially stressed in many cases and so when they're at the practice and you're suggesting two pairs, it's like, yeah, let me, let me think about it, let me think about it. Yeah, when we, you have a solution right there in your practice that can help that patient.
- [08:32]
Gene Moody
Right. So going back to the pair, to the multiple pair, the I think there may be a way to say something like and your, and your vision plan covers this much and your balance is X. And with our, like you said, whatever. With our six month promotional finance, promotional financing, you can just use CareCredit and you've got six months to pay it off or something like that.
- [08:56]
Eugene Shotsman
Very easy. One line to help patients get and understand. Oh, this is easy. Right.
- [09:06]
Gene Moody
It's a no brainer and it's not a difficult concept for us to understand in the United States. Right. We're consumer society. We get stuff now, we pay for it later. That's not hard for us to understand. And small monthly payments is also an interesting way to present it. Going back to the specialty services, I don't know what you've seen to be successful. And maybe we can talk about an adjacency, maybe an ophthalmology. You know, we've got Lasik practices that sell $4,000 service and they're high users of CareCredit. Why is that, Jean?
- [09:37]
Eugene Shotsman
Well, because they understand that this is an elective procedure and in order to get the patient to be able to move forward, they need to offer options to make it easy to pay for it. But it's not only that four thousand dollar ticket, it could be a thousand dollars. We know that consumers today are stressed trying. They can't take an emergency expense of $1,000. That's just what our data shows today. And we're asking them to buy a second pair to, you know, invest more in their eyes and their insurance contribution isn't that much and we need to make it easy for them.
- [10:18]
Gene Moody
Right. Now, I think that one of the ways that the Lasik practices do well is they actually break it down into an easy to follow process inside their practices. And it's not, you know, I've heard the spiel from some of our, some of our ophthalmology clients where it's really kind of straightforward. They say something like, okay, so you know, this is, this is the procedure the doctor recommended. It's going to be for $4,000. However, we also have no interest financing available for a number of months. And then your payment is going to be $249 and $249 a month. And all of a sudden the patient's going from I can't afford $4,000 to, oh, $249 a month. That's not that bad. And I challenge us to think about what our treatment plan acceptance rate is for some of our specialty services in optometry, dry eye, myopia management. Now the payment number is going to be lower. Yes, on a monthly basis. So why not potentially explore that, capturing that difference. You know, if our treatment acceptance plan, if our treatment acceptance rate, if we're lucky enough to, I don't know, 40%, 50%, 60% treatment acceptance rate. Still not 100. And oftentimes patients will cite that. The number one reason. They know it's good for them, they know they want it, but they just can't afford it. Now, they're not going to tell you they can't afford it.
- [11:45]
Eugene Shotsman
They will not tell you. Nope.
- [11:47]
Gene Moody
So what they're going to say is, I need to talk to so and so. Let me think about it. Maybe next year, you know, whatever that is. But if you make it easy for them to understand that they could have the benefit now and it's low monthly payments. I don't even have to pay this off in six months. I can just make low monthly payments towards this. That may be a real good opportunity.
- [12:06]
Eugene Shotsman
That's a really good point. Consumers buy on monthly payments, right? We buy our cell phone, we buy appliances, we buy carpet. All of these things we buy on monthly payments. And so by breaking it down to a monthly payment, they get, yes, that fits. I can afford $100 a month. Yes, let's move forward. They won't say, no, I can't afford that, or they won't say any of that. We call them silent no's. They'll just say, you know what, let me go home and talk to my wife about it. Let me go home and think about this. I have to run to another appointment. I'll get back. And that's really a.
- [12:41]
Gene Moody
My favorite's the. I forgot my credit card.
- [12:43]
Eugene Shotsman
Yeah, it's really a. I don't see the value. I don't maybe want it to put the money out right now. It's not going to work right now. We'll see that. The other thing is that people need to really, we need to break it down easy. And you said it in a very easy way. That comes from Lasik. Right. It's. Your total is $4,000 now, of course, cash, check, MasterCard or Visa. Many of our patients like our six months deferred interest with CareCredit. It'll be this much per month. I mean, it's so easy.
- [13:14]
Gene Moody
Deferred interest. That's the one. That's the one I really liked. Is that when you said it before?
- [13:18]
Eugene Shotsman
Yeah, it's deferred interest. And so it's. As long as the patient pays it off within the 12 month period, they'll pay no interest. Right. We'll waive it. And so that is a word or that's a term that we see a lot in retail. Right. Because they get. We need to make it easy for them. We need to make it easy for them to say yes.
- [13:40]
Gene Moody
Yep. And you know, I think that you, you were talking a little bit about this silent no's component. What mistakes do practices make when they try to bring financing in?
- [13:51]
Eugene Shotsman
Well, I think one of the biggest mistakes is they assume that the patient knows we have it because the brochure's back in collecting dust. They don't really know. They see the care credit, but they don't really know what does that mean for me? And they think that if someone is interested in it, they would ask. And that is far from the truth as a practice. And you want to help more patients and you want to build your revenue. You integrate CareCredit into the practice so you have touch points like you say, you know, Dr. Smith is recommending two pairs for you, one for this and one for that. Now let's pick out your frame. Your contribution from your insurance is $200. And just so you know, we now accept CareCredit. So you could put this on six months deferred interest if you're interested.
- [14:43]
Gene Moody
Yep, that's super easy as a flow. And I think that's such a simple way of presenting the option to the patient. I think I completely agree with you that I've heard practices say, well, nobody takes the financing and, you know, nobody asks for it, but they're not going to ask for it, they're just not right. No patient says, do you have financing for this? No, no.
- [15:04]
Eugene Shotsman
They don't connect it. They don't even think that it's an option. And so the onus is on the practice. And I'm going to say how important the practice team is because everybody has a part. And so just because the doctor says, yes, we have CareCredit, we're going to start integrating. Really has to be a team effort, and everybody needs to understand what it is and how it works.
- [15:28]
Gene Moody
All right, so if a practice wants to experiment more with financing, what does CareCredit do right now to help them? And what kind of what are you doing at the show? And I'm sure after the show you'll be able to do something as well for practices. So what are you doing at the show to help practices experiment and properly integrate financing into the patient flow?
- [15:50]
Eugene Shotsman
Well, not only here at the show, but also we have a practice development team that works with our practices to help integrate CareCredit into their practice. But what we find here is a lot of that scripting. Like, we've just kind of been riffing on how do you just make one statement to make it clear so patients understand what you're offering? So we do that a lot here as practice say, oh, yeah, I have it, but we don't really use it that much. So we help them with the scripting because, believe it or not, I have worked with so many optical practices that that little piece is something they don't have down. And so because they don't have the scripting down, it doesn't get talked about.
- [16:30]
Gene Moody
Right.
- [16:31]
Eugene Shotsman
So we help practices with the scripting here. We also give them examples like those specialty treatments that you're talking about. They didn't realize, oh, I could use it for the ipl, I can use it for this, I can use it for that. They practices misbelief of, oh, it's only for glasses or contacts. No, it's for any out of pocket.
- [16:52]
Gene Moody
Yeah. And it's interesting because I see this. So I see CareCredit be such a common tool in ophthalmology. When we talk about premium IOLs for cataract surgeons or cash pay LASIK procedures or refractive procedures. And I see this in the aesthetic space. Right. Plenty of patients in the aesthetic space use CareCredit for aesthetic treatments. The interesting thing is that it's easily available in adjacent industries. We just haven't really embraced it in optometry, which is why I think it was so important to cover the fact that from an innovation standpoint, what you guys are bringing is not necessarily new. Right. You didn't invent the bank, but you're just bringing the whole concept of at a time when a patient is spending fewer dollars at your, inside your practice, you're bringing the solution of, okay, leverage financing. Leverage the deferred interest or whatever that looks like to help drive revenue per patient up.
- [17:58]
Eugene Shotsman
Why wouldn't you, why wouldn't a practice want to help people? Say, yes, they're in the business to help patients. They're in the business to help patients get what they need and want. And they're in the business to keep helping more patients. And so revenue per patient is important. And how do you build that? CareCredit is one of the ways to help build that.
- [18:21]
Gene Moody
Well, now let me ask you, I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a second, Gene. Practices will say, well, the reason I wouldn't is because CareCredit charges a transaction fee.
- [18:31]
Eugene Shotsman
Yes.
- [18:31]
Gene Moody
And you know, like, I mean, obviously financing isn't free.
- [18:35]
Eugene Shotsman
Yep.
- [18:36]
Gene Moody
So CareCredit is going to charge a transaction fee. So what do you say to that practice when they say, well, you know, I just don't want to think, I think I'm going to spend, spend a lot of money on the transaction fees.
- [18:48]
Eugene Shotsman
Yeah. You know what, I think that's so short sighted because the patient would have walked in many cases. Right. So you would have nothing. And that's similar to saying, oh, I'm not going to accept credit cards because I'm going to have to pay a fee. How do Americans pay with credit cards or debit cards? And so it's. CareCredit is a business tool to grow your business. Yes, there's a cost, but the cost allows you to grow the business. It's an investment. But you're going to make more in revenue by offering CareCredit than not.
- [19:27]
Gene Moody
Yep. And I think that's the, that's the, that's the possible answer. Right. Is that, well, if the, if you could have saved yourself 2% of or 5% of something, well, you know, I would rather get 95% of something than get 100% of nothing.
- [19:46]
Eugene Shotsman
And Eugene, I hear a lot of times when I'm talking to doctors, they're like, you know what? I'd rather just give them a discount of 20% off. And I'm like, that's a big discount because CareCredit is a lot less than 20%.
- [19:58]
Gene Moody
Right, right. And I think that's a, that's A great point. So, Gene, again I'm. What I, what I think is so important for the audience to realize is that financing is a solution to a problem that we're experiencing at this exact moment in the industry. Our consumer is little bit more financially cautious, is opening up their wallet a little bit less than they did after all the free money happened in the post Covid era. And so we have to work harder to fight for that dollar. And this is potentially one of the tools and the innovation that I wanted to cover is that financing is potentially one of the tools that practices can experiment with in order to help drive that revenue per patient.
- [20:39]
Eugene Shotsman
Yes. And the patients can pre qualify. It's a soft hit on their credit.
- [20:46]
Gene Moody
How long does it take?
- [20:47]
Eugene Shotsman
It takes two seconds. You scan a QR code, you enter a couple your name, your phone number, and within a second or two it's saying, congratulations, you've been pre qualified for X amount. And then at that point you could say, okay, go ahead and apply. And then that'll take less than a minute to get a full approval. Right. So if we can approve the patient, you're going to get it right away.
- [21:12]
Gene Moody
Right. In the optical, you're saying the patient.
- [21:13]
Eugene Shotsman
Can use that money that day without a down payment. So. And then your practice is paid within 48 hours. So talk about cash flow. And if your practice is invested in equipment and you have to pay your team, you need the cash flow.
- [21:29]
Gene Moody
Yep.
- [21:30]
Eugene Shotsman
So we pay you within 48 hours and then we bill the patient according to how you process that transaction.
- [21:36]
Gene Moody
So I mean, that makes so much sense to at least again, I think that this is a viable solution to a viable problem that's in our industry today. And I think it's so important for people to at least explore the possibility of whether it's for specialty or whether it's for everyday optical solutions to at least explore the opportunity to partner with CareCredit and see what the practice development team can kind of find for you. Where's the revenue?
- [22:02]
Eugene Shotsman
Yeah, it's way underutilized and I see these practices struggling and I think, oh, just leverage CareCredit. It could help your practice grow.
- [22:11]
Gene Moody
Yeah. So Gene, thank you so much for being on the power hour, excited about what you're doing, and hopefully we get some great feedback from some of the practices you're working with, so we can publish that as well.
- [22:21]
Eugene Shotsman
Thank you so much. It was great to be here.
- [22:22]
Robert
All right, so our next innovator conversations was Zeiss. And Zeiss has been an innovation leader for something like 180 years. And they aren't slowing down when it comes to optics. From pioneering high quality lenses to pushing the boundaries of coatings and digital centration technology, Zeiss is definitely on the forefront of premium in the optical space. So in this segment, we talk with Robert and Brent from Zeiss and we kind of review their latest advancements that they've unveiled recently. We cover why their newest coatings are a game changer from their point of view, how their newest lenses are elevating single vision optics. And we also talk about the role that digital centration plays in reducing remakes or improving patient satisfaction. Most importantly, we tie it all back to what it means for you. How the right technology can improve efficiency, drive profitability, and enhance the patient experience in your practice. All right, let's jump in.
- [23:12]
Gene Moody
All right. Welcome to the Power Hour, the Orlando Innovators edition. I am joined by Robert and Brent from Zeiss. Guys, great to have you on the show. Let's get right into it. What is the innovation or what are the top tools, innovations that you guys are most excited about that you're showing here in the Zeissman?
- [23:31]
Brent
Well, I think, I think the number one thing is we started teasing a new product that's about to come out in a few months, which is actually a new AR coating and I happen to be wearing it. It's our Zeiss Duravision Gold.
- [23:42]
Gene Moody
Now wondering why I can't see a reflection.
- [23:45]
Brent
Exactly. So it's groundbreaking. It's easier to clean, super durable, and the reflectance is amazing.
- [23:55]
Gene Moody
Okay, that's awesome. And what kind of feedback are you hearing from doctors when they see you?
- [24:00]
Brent
They really like it. We have a demonstration to show how easy it is to clean. They're attracted by the color, but then we show them how easy it is to clean and tell them about the scratch resistance and they can't wait to order it. So, you know, that's the biggest question is when are we releasing it? And we're not giving that information just yet. But I'll tell you, it's secret. It's coming very, very soon. Very, very quick.
- [24:21]
Gene Moody
All right, we'll watch for the announcement, we'll post it. What else?
- [24:24]
Hartmut
I think that's actually something key because what he brings up is the cleanability. And you really don't think about how easy because prior, prior AR coatings were really easy to clean. But then when you, when you clean this one, it's, I mean, the clean cloth just glides through it. It's amazing.
- [24:39]
Gene Moody
Yeah, that's interesting. All right, so I mean, I mean, this is kind of a. Zeiss has been around for a long enough time. Right. You guys can, yeah, maybe, maybe talk a little bit about the history and also the history of innovation.
- [24:52]
Brent
Sure. I mean, you know, we're, we're about to celebrate our 179th birthday. And if you walk around the hall, you won't find anybody else quite that old.
- [25:00]
Gene Moody
I was going to say you guys might be the. I'm not saying you guys personally are the oldest guys in the room, but.
- [25:06]
Brent
You know, we're getting there.
- [25:07]
Gene Moody
Dice might be.
- [25:08]
Brent
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know, and we had the trifecta from an optical perspective of the, of people who helped create our company, which includes Auto Shot, Carl Zeiss, of course, and then Ernst Abu. So those are all well known names in the industry for a reason and why we've had the longevity that we've had. But Zeiss has been an innovative company, not just with eyeglass lenses, but in a variety of optics.
- [25:32]
Hartmut
And I think when you look at the, you know, some of the starts, right when we started in 1846, it was, it was almost started as like a, like a little shop in Vienna. And then it grew from a passion to be able to create quality microscopes from that. One of the reasons that we got into the lens business, if you will, was a collaboration between Alvar Bellastrand and Moritz von Rohr where they developed the slip lamp and then they developed lenses, you know, for post cataract surgery where they didn't insert lenses back then so they had to use high plus eyeglass lenses. And that was where sort of the innovation within eyeglass started.
- [26:05]
Gene Moody
Yeah, it was actually. I had a water earlier and I used a napkin from that said that Claude Monet had a Zeiss lens implemented.
- [26:13]
Hartmut
He was fit with a control lens.
- [26:15]
Gene Moody
Yeah, that's pretty cool. Interestingly enough, I mean, obviously there's a history of both innovation and reliability. And I kind of wanted you guys to talk a little bit about how it is because they certainly when you walk the show floor at a place like Vision Expo, Zeiss is certainly not the, the only lens company on the floor. And you know, why don't you guys talk a little bit about what you guys are doing that's truly special for the optometric space.
- [26:43]
Hartmut
I mean, I think we try to think things differently. Right. So when you look at, you know, Duravision bow, we already had really good AR coatings. We had quality AR coatings, but how can we take that to the next level? When you look at our Clearview lenses Right. We changed standard single vision to elevate what single vision was. Single vision wasn't talked about for 100 years. We decided we knew we could do something better in the space, so we wanted to innovate and elevate that space.
- [27:08]
Brent
Yeah, and I. Sorry to cut you off, but that's, that's, that's really truly what makes Zeiss just a little bit different. Because we're, we're. A lot of companies have a foundation. We're owned by a foundation. After Carl Zeiss's death, that's what Ernst Abbey did to. He created the Zeiss foundation, which is our only ownership. So we're not paying money to shareholders. All the, all of the money and profits we make back into innovation and education so we can continue to look for solutions to how to make a better single vision, how to have more UV protection and lenses. So that's really at the core of who we are.
- [27:45]
Gene Moody
So let's go through some of those innovations. What are some of the innovations you guys recently released or that you're hearing the most amount of feedback from the market on over the course of the last few years?
- [27:56]
Brent
Yeah, so I think we start with UV protect. You know, that was launched a few years ago, but it's in. It offers UV 400 protection, full UV protection in all lens materials. A lot of people believe that they have full UV protection because it meets the current standards. But the standard isn't all the way to 400. It's only to 380 in a clear lens. So that's. So I think that's one example. I think Clearview, if you want to talk about that a little bit.
- [28:22]
Hartmut
Yeah, I think clearview is definitely a game changer because when you look at what we were able to do with a standard stock lens.
- [28:29]
Gene Moody
Right.
- [28:29]
Hartmut
We were able to create something that's thinner, that's flatter, and the peripheral optics are much like what you would get from the freeform lens.
- [28:38]
Gene Moody
Yeah. So. And you know, when you think about those particular lenses, that's not the only thing you guys do. You guys also have technology that practices can use and talk a little bit more about that.
- [28:49]
Brent
Sure. So we have a variety of devices to take digital centration. We also have Vision Corps, which is which, you know, if you're looking to expand your. The ability to offer full eye exams, but maybe you don't have room for a whole nother lane. A Vision Corps is a good. Is a good compact system that you can put in a smaller room to be able to accomplish that goal. And you Know, because chair time is incredibly valuable for ECPs, so.
- [29:19]
Gene Moody
Well, that's it. And you know, today what I'm seeing from a trend of technology is making the doctor's life easier, making that time that the provider spends more valuable for the doctor and the patient, and also making things more efficient. So how are you guys doing that?
- [29:35]
Brent
Yeah, so I think you threw exactly that. Right? So. Well, like digital, digital centration, for example. I think a lot of, you know, Brent and I are old school opticians. Right. So when you first start hearing about digital centration and taking manual measurements or and then has been at your core, you think it's trying to replace you and actually, no, it's trying to raise the bar for you as a professional and help you to get even better measurements so you can customize lenses in a way that we never would have dreamed of when we started in the industry. So we're trying to help make that more efficient so it's a better quality pair of eyewear for the patient ultimately. So not only can you do things quicker, but you can do them better.
- [30:18]
Gene Moody
Well, and in things like remakes are a big issue in the industry. Right. Because that's a cost that the ECP has to absorb and that's also a patient experience that's subpar. So I imagine you're healthy from that vantage point as well.
- [30:35]
Brent
Yeah, yeah.
- [30:35]
Hartmut
Well, we actually have an ordering system.
- [30:37]
Brent
Right.
- [30:38]
Hartmut
So when you look at everything from the start to the end, once you're ready to order the product, when you get to ordering the product, one thing that are caused by remixes, you forget to add something or you add something that couldn't be placed on a particular product. So our system only allows you to order what is possibly possible on that product. It helps to reduce remakes, but it also helps to build. You talked about efficiency. It helps to build efficiency in the practice.
- [31:02]
Gene Moody
Yeah. And I think that's so important for ECPs to realize that there are industry partners that are there to support them and to help them them succeed. You know, from my vantage point when I talk to ECP is, you know, right now, staff burnout. Staffing is one of the top issues. And number two is what technology. Because there's so many people and I mean, we want the show floor today. Anytime you walk the show floor, there's people with new technology, new ideas, new things, new new, new, new, new. Right. And it seems like what you guys are talking about is let's build on a foundation of what's working, but release the types of innovations that the market really sees.
- [31:41]
Brent
Yeah, that's it. That's exactly when we start to think about a new innovative concept, new innovative program project. We start with the customer, we start with the patient. Right. That's really, you know, because if we're not solving something for them, then there's no reason to pursue it. So that's really at the heart of everything we do.
- [31:58]
Gene Moody
What kind of research goes into, you know, for example, this new AR coating that you're talking about, like, talk a little bit about how that got being developed.
- [32:05]
Brent
Sure. It was at least a five year process from just developing the advanced cleanability and the advanced scratch resistant. So that's a lot. So there's millions and millions of euros poured into that type of research and it's a long term investment. And again, being a foundation owned company, it allows us some of that leeway to be able to do those investments. Because we're not just worried about this quarter's stock valuation. Right. We're looking at, you know, what, what can we do, what can we bring to market? So that's, you know, even if it'll take five or ten years to develop.
- [32:45]
Gene Moody
Yeah. And I think that's so important because it seems like you're not just investing in, you know, bigger profits tomorrow, but you're also investing in both the patient experience and the ECP's way to be a hero, ability to be a hero to the patient in the future. And, you know, what other investments do you guys have currently going on that or, or maybe, you know, talk about some of the ones that you recently launched and how long that took?
- [33:10]
Hartmut
Well, I mean, even going, you know, back to what Robert talked about, UV 400 was a long term project. When you look at Clearview, Clearview is a long term project.
- [33:17]
Gene Moody
How long?
- [33:18]
Hartmut
What was Clearview? Six years, five years?
- [33:20]
Brent
Clearview was six years. But. But UV Protect was 25 years probably.
- [33:24]
Gene Moody
Really?
- [33:25]
Brent
Yeah, because. Because the industry standard was set quite a while ago and others just were satisfied with that and it wasn't good enough for us. So we kept on trying to find ways how do we make that clear lens have more UV protection in different indices. Right. In different materials. So that's again, that just goes back to the heart of who we are.
- [33:45]
Gene Moody
Yeah. Pushing the envelope and making sure that on a daily basis the ECP has a way to differentiate. So let's now go back to the ecp. What is the feedback that practices are giving you when they're working with Zeiss? And I mean, not just here at the show, but in general, what are the kinds of things that you guys are hearing, I mean, I think they.
- [34:05]
Hartmut
I think they like the product, I think they like the quality of the product, the coatings, the options that we, that we have. You know, so we have UV protect option, but we also have bluegard. Blueguard is an end monomer product that allows you to have blue light protection, but then you also have a coating which offers blue light protection. So not everybody wants an end monitor. So it's about having choices. And I think we're really big on our choices and we offer choices across our lens design, selection. And then also with regards to digital centration, we have a couple of different options within that, within that arena. So I think it's choice and I.
- [34:40]
Brent
Think, you know, and even going beyond our product portfolio, I think a lot of the feedback we get is they appreciate the fact that we are truly an independent company and that we're not competing with them. Right. We don't own any distribution channels that competes directly with our customers. So they appreciate that because that also is rare in our industry with so much consolidation.
- [35:04]
Gene Moody
Yeah. So as an organization, what I'm hearing you guys talk about is that you have innovation at the core. You guys have been around for a while to know how to innovate with a consumer centric mindset and that you guys are constantly making long term investments and innovation and that you're also a truly kind of independent provider to the, to the ecb and you're making the ECP feel like a hero with some of the innovations you guys have coming out.
- [35:31]
Brent
Yes. And you know, a big marketing program that we've been running this last year is, or you know, the slogan for it is championing the independent. And that we've, we've opened a lot of doors because they didn't realize a lot of the things we're talking about right now about, about Zeiss and just, you know, so if people just come and have a conversation with us, we're happy to share any of this information.
- [35:53]
Gene Moody
So that's my last question is how does someone get in touch? Or what if they're not working with Zeiss or maybe if they've considered working with Zeiss, what's the best way for them to kind of experience it and maybe experiment?
- [36:08]
Hartmut
I mean, I think that, you know, we have local representation, we have a webpage, a contact form where you can fill out some information. If you wanted additional information, we would happy to send out our representative. If you're interested in equipment or if you're interested in, you know, lenses and labs and things like that.
- [36:23]
Brent
Yeah, you know, and I'll even put it out there. You can send me an email directly and I'll be happy to put you in touch with the right person.
- [36:30]
Gene Moody
We'll make sure that we put some contact information in the show. Notes. Robert, Brett, thank you so much for being on the show. Excited to have all of the information on the innovations that you guys have shared, and certainly I hope you guys have a great rest of the show here in Orlando.
- [36:46]
Brent
Thank you very much for having us.
- [36:48]
Hartmut
Thank you.
- [36:48]
Brent
Thank you.
- [36:52]
Robert
Okay, so for more than 60 years, Silhouette Optical has been synonymous with premium eyewear. And I was super excited to talk to them and check out some of the frames in their booth. And the company continue to impress people, by the way. Their booth was very busy, so they're continuing to impress people with what it means to create a masterpiece for the face. But what makes this conversation even more relevant to your practice is that your next generation of patients are more environmentally conscious than ever before. And if you want to stand out to those patients, sustainability matters. So in this segment we talked to Hartman. He is the president of Silhouette Optical and the cmo Michael, who is, by the way, the grandson of the founder of Silhouette. And we talk to these guys about how they're not just making eyewear, but they're creating high performance, eco friendly design objects. I love this approach. And their new material is really interesting because it reduces the carbon footprint while still showcasing luxury and durability that define Silhouette. So we'll also kind of discuss the broader trends in eyewear design and how opticians are using both sustainability and other factors to differentiate and why some of these movements are not just fads, but they're really more of a glimpse into the future. So here we go.
- [38:00]
Gene Moody
Welcome to the Power Hour Orlando Innovators edition. And I am here in the Silhouette booth. And I've got Michael and I've got Hartmut. And my first question to you is, how long have you been in this industry? And really, maybe not just you, but also your family.
- [38:19]
Michael
Welcome to the silhouette world. Yeah, Silhouette was founded in 1964. So last year we celebrated 60 years of our brand and of our company. So this is the 61st year.
- [38:30]
Gene Moody
You don't look like you're 60.
- [38:32]
Michael
I myself started in 2017, so the company was founded by my grandparents. It's still a 100% family owned business based in Austria. And as already mentioned, I started in 2017.
- [38:45]
Gene Moody
Yeah. And what about you, Harmut?
- [38:47]
Yair Yahav
Well, Silhouette is my birthplace in this industry. Some four Years ago, I came from hard luxury and I went to the most luxurious eyewear brand in the industry and I couldn't be happier.
- [38:58]
Gene Moody
That's incredible. So my. In thinking about a 60 plus year company, obviously a lot has changed in the eye care space. And so we're talking about innovations. But before we talk about the actual innovations, let's talk about trends over time. So how has your organization seen trends evolve over time, especially when it comes to eyewear?
- [39:22]
Michael
Of course, there was a big change like when the company was founded. We had a lot of basically black frames in the market, which only served some medical needs. And therefore one of the founding ideas of my grandparents was to create really masterpieces in terms of design and to create the most beautiful eyewear and to see quality from many different aspects. As a matter of course, the founding idea is still true today. But of course, if we take a look at the evolution of the industry, that changed dramatically in the 60s, basically they had no license. We didn't have licensed brands in the industry. That changed over the decades. And silhouette in the early years was kind of a fashion go to brand. Today we don't claim ourselves to be in fashion. We claim ourselves to have design objects that we create. Right. And therefore, yes, of course, also for us, it was quite a big evolution with the introduction of the Titan minimal art, which changed the design language and the DNA of the brand. And observing the overall market, of course, within the last, I would say decades, we can see more influence from a sustainability perspective. We can see that in the last years, Ivar is getting more lighter. We can see, especially in the last two years, that rimless is also coming back and trending back. So there are always waves in terms of trends and in terms of zeitgeist of the design that you have. That's natural, of course. And you always have to find the right answer to the. To the current situation.
- [40:52]
Gene Moody
Yeah. You know what's interesting? And I'm hearing you talk about this whole concept of moving from a medical device to, I mean, fashion accessories. And now would you call it a designer object?
- [41:04]
Michael
For us, it's a designer object. We want to create kind of a masterpiece of jewelry that sits in a very dedicated personal area of the person in the face. And therefore it's not even an object for itself. It's an object in combination of the wearer. And that's our philosophy.
- [41:25]
Gene Moody
Beautifully spoken. And at the same time, you think about, from the perspective of the eye contact care professional. Right. Of the, of the person selling that object to the patient, what kind of feedback are you getting from doctors and from opticians when they're talking about these designer objects and we're presenting them to their patients?
- [41:47]
Yair Yahav
I would just like to quickly also fill in on the innovation part that, you know, if there is a brand that is known for innovation, it is silhouette. I mean, we have, have, you know, a track record of rocking the industry. We did so in 2001 when we first introduced a rimless and hingeless piece that is by now still the only space approved IVA for, for space travel. There's a reason for that. We could go and spend half an hour just talking about that. But going back to your question about the ecp, obviously the fact that one term drives what we do and that is uncompromising, everything that we do has to have uncompromising perfection. And that goes specially also. And Michael will surely talk about more about that, about visual acuity. So for the ecp, while we do create subtle luxury, quiet luxury, elegant luxury, and design objects for the face, we first and foremost also create instruments that guarantee unparalleled vision. And our ECPs know that. That's why we call it simply the best eyewear in the world.
- [42:49]
Gene Moody
Yeah, that's, that's a really interesting perspective. And especially since you, when you're talking about innovation, I mean, we sell a lot of frames as an industry, right. And it's very rare that something is truly, truly innovative in those frames because, you know, a lot of practices and a lot of, a lot of companies focus on driving the cost down, but you guys are talking about driving the innovation up. And one of those areas of innovation that you're pretty well known for. And I know that you're talking a lot about at the show with a lot of that, I mean, this booth is packed. You guys are talking about this at the show is this concept of sustainability. So talk to me a little bit about that.
- [43:32]
Michael
Sustainability is really a matter of heart for us as a family. And you have to know that the factory and the headquarters based in the water protection zone of Austria, of the home city Linz, and therefore since 60 years we proudly over fulfill the highest standards, the strictest standards in the world, I would say in Europe and even in Austria, where they are stricter. And now this year we are proud that with our industry revolution, the SPX material which we brought to market in 1983 and today, from our perspective, is the go to standard for high tech material, for high tech plastic material. Why? Because it's so superb in what it does for the end consumer. It's super lightweight, it's resistant to sweat, it's resistant to UV radiation, and most important, it has optical integrity. Optical integrity means that the frame itself, it doesn't move over time. So once it's done, it's injected molded material, it stays for 10 years or 20 years, just like on day number one. Something that you cannot achieve with other materials. And that's of course important because the basic need is a visual need. Beside the aesthetic and all that stuff, the visual need is really basic and. And today, this year we are happy to present SPX ScreenPlus and SPX Green plus is the next level of SPX. Because today we are happy to present SPX out of bio circular materials. Bio circular materials. This means that we no longer use any fossil fuels or oils by sbx. Green plus is now produced out of wood chips, out of algae, out of bypass, out of old material that's not used any longer. And this is mastered into oil. And after this we can do the polymer, the SPX stands for silhouette polymer and some secrets, so to say, how we use it and how we treat it. And now we can create SPX Screen plus, which means that also on the material side, we can reduce the CO2 impact of the material by minus 60%, which is huge. And the main innovation is that it's invisible because if you take an old SPX frame and a new SPX screenplus frame and it's the same model and the same color, you cannot see the difference anymore. As in consumer, we know when we talk about sustainable materials for the last decades, the one or the other thing had some pro and some cons.
- [46:02]
Gene Moody
There's a compromise always here.
- [46:04]
Michael
We didn't make any compromise. The quality is superb. It's the same level of high tech standard quality. And therefore this is really an above the industry revolution I would like to call it. And we are happy to bring it to our industry.
- [46:17]
Yair Yahav
So that's very important to note. It's really. So we have these superior product properties in SPX plus and we took those and exactly at the same level. Translated that now in the bio circular material 1 just quick note also because you mentioned cost and I love that as Michael briefly mentioned, our entire manufacturing is vertically fully integrated in Austria. So we are one of the very few brands in our size. We are the largest independent iron manufacturer in the world. In the luxury space. It is unheard of that everything is done in Austria. So of course that also has huge impact on costs. So while others might try to reduce cost, we certainly have increasing costs and yet we focus relentlessly on the uncompromising product quality.
- [47:01]
Gene Moody
Well, so that's interesting. And when you talk about the concept of sustainability and you know, this whole bio circular designer object that somebody is putting on their face, how are ECPs reacting to this? And more importantly, how are they letting their patients know that this whole sustainability movement is something that they're participating in?
- [47:24]
Michael
I would start even one, one step earlier because sustainability starts not only with a perfect premium product with high quality and durability, but then sustainability also means that if something is happening, you get a spare part not only in year number one, but also in year number three or four. And I think we are known for our high service standards and level across the globe. And this also means sustainability. And therefore, of course, it's appreciated. And ECPs love to work with us because they know, you know, what, if I have a problem, we cannot solve it together. Right. And yes, ECPs also love to sell and work with products of high quality. Of course, those are of course, nice stories that you need to also engage and tell. And sometimes it's not obvious when you see a product. Like I mentioned, the Aspect Screen plus is one of the biggest innovations ever, but it's an invisible innovation. Right, but at the end, yeah, I think there's also a very clever way to do, to improve life.
- [48:25]
Gene Moody
But do you think there's demand from a patient standpoint, like, do patients really care about the environment?
- [48:31]
Yair Yahav
That is certainly. I mean, it's a very good question. And there's a huge differentiation. So yes, the younger patients are very interested in it. The urban patients might be a little bit more interested than the suburban patients. It goes across a variety of different geographic areas too, so. So, absolutely. But there is an increasing need, and that's the important part, that we also want to be the drivers of increasing that need to recipes.
- [48:59]
Gene Moody
Well, and I know that obviously we communicate with millions of patients from my vantage point. And one of the things that we find is exactly that, this generational push, especially the younger patients. But we've got a whole generation of people that are very cause focused and, you know, environment focused, cause focused. And it is a decision driver for them and oftentimes they'll pay a premium.
- [49:23]
Michael
If you just take a look at our spokesperson of the January collection, Arizona Muse, I think she's a good example. She is a model, she's a spokesperson for the whole sustainability topic. And I think society already knows a lot about how the problems are in fashion and of course our industry. It's a mixture of fashion Design and medical demand, of course. But people are aware what fashion does to the world. And we always say we want to create beautiful products, to see a beautiful world. And also, business should basically serve mankind to create a better world. And sustainability is not a trade off. Sustainability means you need to be sustainable on economics, you need to be sustainable on environmental issues issues and on social issues. And it's not an either or. You need to deliver on all those aspects.
- [50:15]
Gene Moody
And so you have obviously a strong opinion on the fact that consumer preferences around sustainability are a very real thing.
- [50:23]
Yair Yahav
Absolutely. There's also one thing that I need to add. Why is Michael speaking about it so emphatically and with so much passion? It is because he's grown up in, you know, an environment that already focused on sustainability long before anybody spoke about it. Sustainability and corporal social responsibility is in the DNA of silhouette since the founding in 1964. So we didn't jump on the bandwagon, you know, some 10 years ago, and so said like, okay, this is something that we have to cover because everybody's talking about it. We talked about this on day one in 1964.
- [50:58]
Gene Moody
It's not a social fad for you guys. It is in fact that the core foundation of the business. Exactly.
- [51:04]
Mark Kramer
Yes.
- [51:04]
Michael
But I think it's time that you engage others to join the way, because sustainability is a mindset and it's a constant journey. And I think if you're honest and transparent, nobody's perfect. We also not perfect, but we strive to get better every day and we challenge ourselves each year. What can we do better this year? What hasn't been possible last year? And with that mindset, you make progress.
- [51:27]
Gene Moody
And so we're sitting here at Vision Expo 2025. If I had to ask you, what is your vision for What? Vision Expo 20, 35 years from now, what does the industry look like and what is your vision for how you want to participate in it?
- [51:46]
Michael
Our vision today. Today we are producing Austria in the production with CO2, with a CO2 neutral production. And we.
- [51:55]
Yair Yahav
Sorry, if I add that we reduced.
- [51:57]
Michael
50% of our CO2 emissions already. Some of the emissions we have, we still need to offset because we have 700 employees coming to our factory. So we still have some offsetting. Yeah. And we are super transparent with external certificates on that because we want to be proofed on that, not to have any green washing. So our vision is, of course to be CO2 neutral without any offsetting. So that's the next step. But the current status, which we reached already in 2022, is a status that multi international companies are aiming for. 20, 30, 2035, whatever. So our personal wish is, of course, that the materials we just started to work with, with the generic collection will be all across our assortments. We will be 100% CO2 neutral. That's our vision. We will have found even new aspects where we can get even more sustainable, which we today maybe even don't know. And for the industry and basically for the whole world. Well, as a young generation, I wish to follow because I want to have better products for a better world. That's what we deserve as consumers.
- [53:03]
Gene Moody
And getting ECPs to understand that their patients care about the message of these designer objects. And then also the fact that there's sustainability at the core foundation of those designer objects, I think is not news. I think getting the. Getting the ECP to take part in the message and kind of in your movement is really exciting. And obviously you're doing that here at the show. Like I said, your booth is packed with people and there's lots of doctors looking at the products that you're offering. If somebody is not here at the show, how do they get in touch? What do they need to do to make sure that they can participate or experiment?
- [53:46]
Yair Yahav
Of course, Zillow.com is really all within source, and we have an amazing team of account executives, regional managers, and Celeste Voss, our VP of sales. We are all at the ready to help. Our vision here, specifically in the United States, is that over the next five years, we really have the trade. And through the trade, our patients and consumers understand really what silhouette is. And silhouette is simply the best eyewear in the world. We are the benchmark and premium luxury eyewear in all segments. We have frames, complete eyewear with lenses. We have an amazing sun offering, and we have an amazing sport, professional performance, sport program. So all of this is the world of silhouette, and we're very proud of that.
- [54:31]
Gene Moody
Yeah. Well, thank you guys for all of your innovation, for pushing the industry forward, for pushing preferences, for pushing the industry to conform to preferences that consumers are already following. And of course, really excited to see what you guys have in store for the years to come. Thank you guys for being on the Power Hour.
- [54:49]
Yair Yahav
Thanks, Eugene.
- [54:50]
Michael
Thanks for having us.
- [54:51]
Robert
Okay, so this last innovator is really interesting, and most people have not heard of revital vision. Let me ask you this. What if there was a way that you can improve your patient's vision not with a new prescription or with a surgical procedure, but by training their brain to process images more effectively? And by the way, all done in the comfort of their own home. So it's happening right now with Revital Vision. And in this segment we talk with Yair and Mark about how Revital Vision is helping patients improve contrast sensitivity, visual acuity and even night driving. All prescribed by the doctor, but done as an at home therapy. We'll explore how this could fit into your practice, the clinical research behind it, and also why ECPs are seeing some strong demand for it. So if you're potentially looking for some higher margin, lower effort, ways to expand your services, this is definitely a segment you'll want to watch.
- [55:43]
Gene Moody
Welcome to the Orlando Innovator series. I am here with Yair Yahav and Mark Kramer. We are talking about an innovation called Revital Vision. It's the first, first time it's ever at a Vision Expo event and this is a really exciting innovation. Yair, give us a little bit of insight as to what Revital Vision is.
- [56:03]
I
Well, revital vision offers ECPs, a very powerful and easy to use tool to improve patients vision beyond optical correction by stimulating the brain visual cortex.
- [56:18]
Gene Moody
Okay, so explain how that works and what it actually is.
- [56:23]
I
Revital Vision is a prescribed vision training app, home based vision training app that effectively stimulates the brain visual cortex to improve vision. It improves contrast sensitivity and visual acuity.
- [56:37]
Gene Moody
Okay, and has this been done before anywhere in the world?
- [56:43]
I
Yes, we have been working with it in Europe for the past two, three years and we are just launching in the us.
- [56:52]
Gene Moody
Okay, and what kind of. I have so many questions about the flow, but just so that the audience understands what we're talking about, this is a home based training solution for a patient to improve their vision. Talk about the science behind how this works.
- [57:10]
I
Okay, so of course the way we see it depends, the quality of our video depends both on the image capturing and image processing. And while most of the eye care industry focuses on bending light rays and restoring the anatomy of the eyes, we do something completely different. We train the brain to see better and by enhancing the brain ability to process visual information.
- [57:40]
Gene Moody
Okay, so how do you do like what's the process, what does the patient see and how does it actually train them? And also the whole at home thing, how does that work?
- [57:52]
I
So following a standard vision exam, if the patient is found suitable with the relevant vision criteria, the clinician would offer this home based treatment. And if the patient would like to proceed, all they need to do is to set them up on a cloud based portal and an automatic email will be sent to the patient. The patient goes home to the welcome email they Follow a simple instructions. They need to train at home in front of their PC three to four times a week. Every session takes approximately 30 minutes. And they need to complete a series of 30 to 40 training sessions on average. So it will take them to complete two to three months. At mid, they are recommended to come back to the clinic for a quick follow up exam where the clinician would measure the improvement in vision and would enter the new data to the cloud based portal. Most of the patients experience significant improvement by this point, by mid and they go home to complete the second half and back for a final vision exam.
- [59:07]
Gene Moody
So what kind of results can a patient see from this whole 30 to 40 sessions?
- [59:14]
I
The average improvement is two and a half lines on the visual acuity chart, on a log mark chart and a 100% in contra sensitivity function. So for example, patients with amblyopia, adult patients with amblyopia that starts below normal range, the average patient would reach normal range of contrasensitivity function. And many of the adult amblyopic and nystagmus patients who are lacking stereopsis and binocular vision improves both stereo and binocular vision.
- [59:48]
Gene Moody
But there's lots of patients who need help with vision, who need help with contrast sensitivity and visual acuity. I mean, what are the types of patients that you would recommend that would be a perfect fit for something like this?
- [60:05]
I
So we divided to three main groups of patients. We have the program to improve best corrected vision in amblyopia and stable pathologies beyond nine years old. The second program is to improve contra sensitivity and facilitate neuroadaptation post cataract and laser refractive surgery. And the third one is for patients with a minor refractive error on the verge of the need for glasses who would like to see better without their correction. We know, for example that patients after cataract surgery, especially with the premium lenses, multifocal lenses, some of them struggles with neuroadaptation with low contrast sensitivity even when they are emmetropic and with good va. So this is the ideal solution for those patients.
- [61:02]
Gene Moody
Mark, you want to add?
- [61:03]
Mark Kramer
Yeah, I think one of the things we're seeing with a lot of the customers so far in the US is that excitement around almost three main patient groups, the amblyopes and the pathologies. That's an obvious one. The one that I think that they're surprised by how many patients they have that are very interested in this are that post cataract patient who spent a lot of money to do the multifocal IOLs and they still can't drive at night because of the halos oncoming lights. That contrast sensitivity improvement is what's helping those patients now return to be able to drive at night. The second one that has a lot of excitement from the patient groups is that patient that made their one line, one and a half lines away from having a driver's license or losing their driver's license. And if this can restore their vision, give them that two lines improvement on the visual acuity. They keep their license or get their license and then. And third, is that sports vision patient or performance vision? One of the best analogies I heard the other day from one of the doctors that the patient said it's making a baseball player making a 92 mile an hour fastball look like it's 82 miles an hour because of the improvement in contrast sensitivity. That's pretty impactful.
- [62:15]
Gene Moody
Yeah, that's interesting. And there's a lot of. I think the sports vision subspecialty continues to grow. So that's kind of an interesting one. You mentioned driving at night. There's lots of people who have trouble driving at night. This is really helping. Is this the feedback you're hearing from patients?
- [62:33]
Mark Kramer
Yes, because it's a contrast sensitivity issue. And by improving that, it's restoring their ability to drive at night. And look, in the winter when the sun goes down at 4:30, you have a lot of people that are homebound by 4:30, 5:00 and they can't do anything. This is allowing people to restore to some normalcy in their life.
- [62:53]
Gene Moody
Okay, so let's go back to the patient experience in clinic. How are providers explaining this to patients? Because this is completely new and we've never given patients homework before. And it's kind of time intensive homework, although I guess it's time intensive for two to three times a week and it's time intensive for, you know, I guess you said 10, 12, 14 weeks, but then you get a lifetime of benefit, right? Or do you have to keep doing this every once in a while?
- [63:24]
I
Clinical studies shows that the improvement is stable after one year and two years. And in the next American Academy for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus meeting in Salt Lake City in March, there is a study on a five years follow up on adults with amblyopia with stable vision.
- [63:47]
Gene Moody
Okay, I'm going to come back to my question momentarily about the flow and the practice. Let's talk about the studies because do you guys have, what kind of clinical research do you have supporting all of this?
- [63:57]
I
So this Is something which is our biggest strength. We have so far 28 clinical studies, 12 of them published in peer reviewed scientific journals. Eight of them are control randomized. We have additional five studies ongoing. One of them was just published in American Journal of Ophthalmology on patients with keratoconus who are intolerant to contact lenses. So the goal of the treatment was to see if we can improve their best spectacle, corrected vision and the Average improvement was 1.7 lines. This was a control randomized, double blind study.
- [64:38]
Gene Moody
Wow. Wow. So this has really been heavily studied. Why am I not here? Why, why am I only hearing about this now?
- [64:47]
I
Well, interesting history. This technology was introduced many years ago when. So the technology was premature with no ecosystem to support it. I'm talking about prior to digital health. I had the opportunity of being involved at that time. And despite these challenges, I was amazed to see the impact it made on thousands of patients with amblyopia, which was considered and still considered untreatable. And this technology had transformed to a web based technology recently and it's now available. We made it very accessible to the market and we are relaunching it.
- [65:34]
Gene Moody
Okay, so what's interesting now let's go back to the patient flow. We're giving patients homework. Patients, you know, the eye doctor doesn't usually give you homework. So how do you get over that? And how, what is the. I guess, I mean, in some cases it's the, what's the adoption path for the patient? What percentage of patients say, okay, yeah, I want to try it. And then once patients say yes, how many of them actually go through with it?
- [66:02]
I
So we have our statistics from our database. We have, I think the 33 sessions is the average amblyopic patient. So there is a high compliance among patients with amblyopia who purchased the program. So in general, the highest the need for the vision improvement, the highest is the compliance if you have a low vision from whether it's amblyopia or retinal or corneal disease, and you are just one or two lines away from being able to drive the chance that you will comply is very high. So people would make the efforts to do it.
- [66:51]
Mark Kramer
But I think you mentioned it as homework and I think that's actually one of the things that, number one, the doctor is enjoying that they're not having to take up more chair time or staff time and they don't have to buy any equipment for their office to be able to provide this to patients. And the patients like it because when they're told, do this three times a week, 30 minutes each session at your own path. Convenience. So if you want to do it before dinner, do it before dinner. If you want to do it after dinner, do it after dinner. If you have to put the kids to bed, do it after you put the kids to bed. But you can do it whenever is convenient to you. As long as you can complete the 30 to 40 sessions. You do it on your pace and on your schedule, you're all going to see the same benefit in the end. It's all a matter of how quickly do you get to the end. But it's up to them. And one of the other things we were talking about here is the doctors are enjoying this conversation because it's all. They're simply asking the patient is would you like to see even better than you do today? And these patients, when you ask it that way, every patient that's coming into a optometrist's office, they're going there because they want to see better.
- [67:58]
Gene Moody
Right.
- [67:59]
Mark Kramer
So asking that question, it's like everybody is a candidate to see even better and want to see even better. And they're not having to go into five minutes of chair time asking and explaining to patients. They simply ask that question and then they offer them a home based therapy.
- [68:16]
I
I would also add that it's different from physical exercise. When you go to the gym and when you stop training, you lose your fitness. It's acquiring skills on the neural level which retains fears. Imagine that you would have a diet that you just need to stick with it for 60 days and you're good for life. Or when you just go to the gym for 30 times and you're fit forever.
- [68:41]
Gene Moody
So that's pretty cool. I would love that. If you, if you figure out how to do that. Yeah, you let me know.
- [68:47]
I
So we do this with vision.
- [68:49]
Gene Moody
Yeah, you know, so let's go back to that conversation that the doctor's having with the patient. What's the best way to explain this home based therapy and kind of the science behind it without really, kind of over, without confusing the patient and also without necessarily overdoing it.
- [69:09]
I
I'll take the smartphone analogy. You have the lens of the camera of the smartphone and you have the processor so you can improve the lens, but if you neglect or if you improve the processor capability from 10 megapixel to 20, you'll have better vision. That's exactly what we do to the brain.
- [69:28]
Mark Kramer
Well, and some of the doctors also explain to the patient, like you remember when you learned how to ride a bike Once you learned how to ride that bike, your brain knew how, your body knew how you didn't have to retrain yourself five years later when you went out and you put tire or air in the tires. It's the same thing here. We're just teaching your brain how to see images more clearly again. And once you're retrained, you're there.
- [69:52]
Gene Moody
That's awesome. So what kind of feedback are you getting from providers and what are they hearing from patients?
- [69:58]
Mark Kramer
I think they're surprised in a way how easy it's been to simply ask the patient, would you like to see better? And then the number of patients that then say, yes, I would love to try to see better in all the different categories we talked about. That's the thing that I think is surprising them and how little time it's taking them and how little effort almost it's taken them to identify patients that are coming in their door every single day already.
- [70:24]
I
It's an another service to improve their vision in a very easy way.
- [70:31]
Gene Moody
Yeah. How does the economic piece work? Is this a billable thing? Is this not a billable thing? Do patients want to pay for it?
- [70:40]
Mark Kramer
Yes, the patients want to pay for it. The doctors that we're talking to, 8 out of 10 patients they offer it to are saying yes on the spot. And the other thing that in the U.S. you know, optometry market, the eyemed reimbursement or VSP reimbursement for a vision exam has not gone up in 20 years and it's not probably not going to. This is a service that they can offer to their patient to do at home to get better. And it's a revenue stream for the optometry practice because it's not getting billed through insurance. So it's a patient pay. It's a very high margin for the optometry track samewhere from four to four to six times.
- [71:19]
Gene Moody
Interesting. So, and the roughly how much would a patient pay for the, for the service?
- [71:26]
Mark Kramer
For some, as Yair said, some, some of the ones that some of our customers say the higher blur, the tougher patients that keratoconus, the low vision, the, the amblyope, they're going to pay about $599.
- [71:38]
Gene Moody
Okay.
- [71:39]
Mark Kramer
Some of these refractive, the, the early presby up, the low mystery, the post LASIK 499 to the patient. And then for the sports or performance vision and the post cataract, it's. We're recommending anywhere from 199 to 299.
- [71:55]
Gene Moody
Okay. And what's the cost to the. What's the cost to the practice, I guess, to deliver the service?
- [72:04]
Mark Kramer
The easiest way to probably put that would be it's going to cost them basically $100 per patient.
- [72:09]
I
Okay.
- [72:10]
Gene Moody
Yeah. So this is an economic model with high margin that doesn't require more chair time that seems to be getting some really impressive early results. How do people learn more about this? How do they get in touch?
- [72:22]
Mark Kramer
Yeah, so Launchpad Vision is who we're with and we have representatives out there. So you can contact your local representative. We can go to the Revital Vision website. There's a four doctors section that they can register their practice. And whether they're registering because they want to sign up today or they want more information, we will get in touch with them right away. But again, come see us at this show, come see us at any time or contact us or through Revital Vision to learn more.
- [72:48]
Gene Moody
Okay, great. Well, thank you so much for the innovations that you're bringing to the marketplace to the ability to change patients lives and give optometrists a new revenue stream with really impressive results.
- [73:01]
Brent
Yeah.
- [73:01]
Gene Moody
Thank you guys.
- [73:02]
I
Thank you very much. Thank you.
- [73:04]
Robert
Thanks for listening to today's Power Hour episode. The Power Hour is actually owned by the Power Practice. Power Practice is a premier consulting group who helps practices achieve freedom of time, confidently solve practice issues and grow their practices. They do this by having coaches and OD consultants, people who have actually done it, been there, and they're ready to help. You want to learn more, go to Power. There's a bunch of free tools there. You can also get a whole bunch of information and decide whether it's right for your practice. Again, if you're looking for more time, you're looking to solve complex practice issues or grow the Power Practice might be right for you. Go to powerpractice.com to find out more.