Exploring the mysteries.
I’m not positive that solo private practice has an infinite future. It’s getting harder to compete without large volume. I think multi-doctor power practices and chain opticals with buying power are the only ones with a chance of staying in the game 20 years from now. Does anyone want to defend poor, little solo private practice optometry?
If you go to a certain contact lens retailer with deep pockets to pay off Utah legislators, you will find the following quote,
The One Year Myth
Some eye care providers tell you that they cannot issue an expiration date of more than one year. This is not true. One year is a minimum, not a maximum. You should discuss your wearing habits and eye health with your eye care provider to determine if you can have a longer prescription length.
Their whole website is information on how to boss an eye doctor around. If they really want to alter standard clinical practice then they should utilize peer reviewed studies instead of trying to turn consumers into ignorant bullies.
Does anyone care to debate about this? Every time a read something by practice consultants, they invariably sneak a “raise your fees” quote in there somewhere.
I feel the cost of healthcare delivery is so high because of insurance companies. Insurance companies drive providers to set their fees higher than they would normally be because the insurance companies reimburse less than what the fees would normally be- plus they make us wait to get the money IF they decide they’ll pay at all.
Can’t we just cut out the middle man, a.k.a. the insurance companies? Then we can decrease the fee inflation so everyone can save.
And why is there vision insurance in the first place? That’s like getting haircut insurance or oil change insurance. The only ones getting rich are the insurance companies at the expense of both patients and doctors.
A funny movie could be made about an optometrist looking to open up a new practice. He goes to a convention where one of the booths has a less-than-reputable financing company from the wrong side of the tracks. Of course his practice starts slow, so he’s going to miss a payment. The mobster-backed financing company then decides to whack him, making it look like an accident, so that they can collect on the insurance and recoup the cost of the loan. The rest of the movie would be about him somehow avoiding all these “accidents” while feeling unlucky because he almost dies…a lot. Then he finds out that it’s really the mob after him, so he starts packing heat and kicking donkey.
I’ve got tons of these, and I’m going to continue posting them no matter what you say. Or…what you don’t say, I guess, since no one seems to comment whether or not they think the new Optoblog cartoons are funny. Sure, the art isn’t there yet, but you gotta admit the lines are semi-funny, right?
Did you all notice that the background is a nice sea-foam green?
I worked on my “craft” today. I’m going draw all men and women patients as stick figures with tumbling E hands. Don’t ask me why the doctor is an elephant. I figured there were plenty of cats, dogs, and even chickens, but not enough elephants in cartoons.
Introducing the optoblog comic strip. These cartoons are in their infantsee infancy. I need to get something other than a mouse to draw with.