Archive for March, 2007

Company of Firsts

Posted on March 12th, 2007 by Rob L.

As a 30-year veteran of the employee benefits industry I never tire of "selling" VSP. From my start as a broker I’ve always been proud to connect clients to a VSP vision plan that delivers great value and guarantees satisfaction. And more recently, as the managing director and chief operating officer for Buck Consultants, I was able to demonstrate to colleagues across the nation how regular eyecare through a top-notch VSP eye doctor can be an integral part of a comprehensive health program.

Today, as VSP’s president & CEO, I wake up everyday still eager to sell VSP – not just our plans, but the way we practice business. VSP is truly a company of "firsts," setting new precedents in the industry for service, quality, and innovation. We’re proud to be breaking new ground, being the:

· First vision plan to align – and stay aligned – solely with private practice eye doctors

· First to develop a national eyecare benefit plan

· First to form a nationwide network of eye doctors

· First to establish a quality standard for an eye exam

· First to educate consumers about the importance of eye health

· First to introduce credentialing requirements for a national doctor network

· First to provide practice-management services for eye doctors

· First to be recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as ranking the "Highest in Member Satisfaction Among National Vision Plans"

· First to create an Eye Health Management® program to help patients proactively monitor and manage their eye disease or systemic conditions

· First to develop an insured direct-to-consumer vision plan to help consumers budget for eyecare

Why are these "firsts" so important? VSP has always been at the forefront of the benefits industry. Given our past performance, we hope that what we’re starting today will become tomorrow’s industry standard.

As a company of firsts, I can tell you that our vision for the future includes carving out new, uncharted paths. It is this pioneer spirit that allows VSP to stay in front as the nation’s largest eyecare provider. I look forward to your thoughts on how quality vision coverage has made a difference in your life.

Rob

P.S.: Thank you for the comments many of you have submitted to the VSP blog. We will post comments related to the blog topic, and if the comment is not related to the topic, we will respond to you directly.

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Your Window to Wellness

Posted on March 5th, 2007 by Rob L.

I recently wrote about how VSP’s Eye Health Management® program helped the State of California generate significant healthcare cost savings (Million Dollar Service). This program focuses on VSP doctors identifying their patients’ symptoms of serious diseases such as diabetes. Then VSP shares HIPAA-compliant data with the patients’ health plan or disease manager to help ensure that they can proactively manage their disease.

A key reason for the importance of annual eye exams is that the eyes are the only part of your body that provides an unobstructed view of your blood vessels.  During a comprehensive eye exam your eye doctor can observe abnormalities in these tiny blood vessels that may indicate symptoms of eye disease or systemic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. VSP network doctors have received advanced training and certification to diagnose symptoms of many medical conditions and treat some medical eye conditions.

Preventative care offers a path to early detection of serious health conditions -a key factor in managing disease, achieving the best outcomes, and ultimately reducing healthcare costs. Combined research from VSP, the U.S. Census, and the National Center for Health Statistics clearly demonstrates the important role of eye exams in preventative care. While 54 percent of the U.S. adult population has an eye exam each year, only 16 percent of the population visits a physician for preventative care. Since eye exams are three times more prevalent than physical exams, they represent an important opportunity for early detection and are a critical component in preventative care.

The eyes are truly windows into your health and a comprehensive eye exam involves a lot more than vision correction and picking the right glasses or contact lenses. As a nation looking to save every dollar we can on healthcare expenses, an annual eye exam for every person seems a reasonable and cost-effective way to make sure that we’re proactively addressing diseases before they result in major costs. Even more important than these cost savings are the lives we can make better along the way.

Eye Health Management® offers a tremendous opportunity to uncover a number of life-threatening conditions and I’m proud to say that VSP is the only eyecare provider that’s tackling this issue head on. I’ll look forward to your thoughts on how we can get more people connected to a comprehensive annual eye exam and identify other ways to generate healthcare savings in America.

Rob

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