Archive for 2007

Propelling Private Practice Eyecare to New Heights

Posted on April 16th, 2007 by Rob L.

Providing access to personalized vision care for all Americans and elevating the role of eye doctors in the health care continuum is a central focus for VSP. For more than 50 years VSP has been rooted in the belief that private practice eye doctors deliver the best care and value to patients. Through the years, as VSP has grown, our commitment to eye health and promoting personalized care from private-practice eye doctors has remained constant.

Why is private-practice so important to us? Private-practice doctors develop long-term relationships with their patients and their patients’ families. When patients visit the same doctor year after year, their doctor can track subtle changes in their eyes that could indicate symptoms of eye disease or systemic conditions. And our extensive network of 24,000 private-practice doctors makes it easy for members to find a VSP doctor close to where they work or live. VSP works together with the VSP Family of Companies to support our doctors’ efforts to provide complete personalized service, and educate their patients about the important link between eyecare and total body health.

Our network of private-practice doctors provides valuable disease detection and ongoing patient care through our Eye Health Management® program. VSP’s Evidence-Based EyecareSM leverages medical best practices, comprehensive eye exam standards, and coordination of care with patients’ primary care physicians to deliver a world-class patient experience. This results in the best possible outcomes for patients and yields cost savings for employers by supporting their disease management and wellness initiatives. All of these efforts reinforce the important role that eyecare plays in overall health care.

How can we sustain this level of care? By supporting and reinvesting in private practice. When optometric students are ready to enter the marketplace they can turn to EyeSeek, which enables students, recent graduates, and other eye doctors to locate opportunities with VSP private practices. In addition to strengthening our ties with optometric schools and students, VSP’s Vision LoansSM program provides funds to eye doctors for partnership buy-ins, down payments or the purchase of their first practice. Since its inception in 2003, Vision LoansSM has issued loans totaling $15 million. Additionally, VSP will continue to support legislation in all states and the District of Columbia to allow eye doctors to practice to the fullest scope of their education and training.

With all these tools, VSP will continue to support private-practice eyecare, and our doctors’ efforts to continually enhance VSP members’ vision care experience. It’s who we are. It’s what we stand for. It’s everything we do.

I’m interested in hearing your point of view on private-practice eyecare.

Rob

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Greater Access Means Better Vision

Posted on April 2nd, 2007 by Rob L.

A recent study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 61 million Americans are at high risk for vision loss from conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma. Sadly, more than half of this at-risk population fails to get an annual dilated eye exam, and some five million cannot afford the vision correction that they need.

Having vision insurance significantly increases the likelihood of getting an annual eye exam— a 2007 VSP Vision Care study reveals that 61% of Americans with vision coverage received an eye exam within the last year, while only 44% of those without coverage had an exam. But where does this leave millions of retirees, the self-employed, and those who no longer have vision coverage due to a change in employment?

I’m proud to announce that VSP is taking an important new step to expand access to proactive eyecare for all Americans. On March 30th, 2007 VSP launched the first-ever insured vision plan directly to consumers nationwide*. By offering VSP’s Signature Choice Plan directly to individuals and families, we are making quality eyecare accessible and affordable. This also addresses another current healthcare concern – making insurance coverage portable. Since consumers purchase the plan directly, they can maintain their VSP coverage and continuity of care through career shifts and life changes.

I believe that VSP’s new direct-to-consumer vision coverage will open up access to eyecare for millions of Americans for the first time. In doing so, VSP will move another step closer to our goal of delivering quality eyecare to all segments of the population. Expanding access to eyecare can deliver key healthcare savings, as shown in VSP’s work with the State of California, and I think that this step will further demonstrate the value of proactive, preventive healthcare. Really, it’s not just about the cost savings – it’s also the right thing to do for patients and their families. I look forward to your thoughts on VSP’s new direct-to-consumer eyecare coverage.

Rob

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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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Million Dollar Service

Posted on February 26th, 2007 by Rob L.

There was a time when $1 million in savings might have been considered “budget  dust” – an amount barely bigger than a rounding error to big government. But today, for a huge employer like the State of California, every dollar counts. I’m pleased to share that VSP is helping the State work towards saving that amount annually – not to mention the number of lives VSP network doctors have helped improve in the process.

The State’s $1 million in estimated annual savings is attributed to VSP’s signature Eye Health Management® program that is available to California’s employees. Eye Health Management® focuses on the early detection of symptoms of diabetes and other health conditions that can be identified through a comprehensive annual eye exam. By adding patient awareness and medical data collection to VSP’s personalized care, patients get the help they need to manage serious systemic diseases and enhance their quality of life.

According to the American Diabetes Association more than 20 million Americans have diabetes but as many as one-third of them don’t know it. An additional 54 million Americans have pre-diabetes, making it likely that they will develop diabetes within the next decade. The majority of these pre-diabetics are completely unaware of their imminent threat.

Combine these two groups and a staggering one in every three American adults suffer from diabetes or pre-diabetes! Because so many cases of diabetes are not discovered until the disease has reached a critical stage, the current price tag to treat diabetes in the United States now totals more than $132 billion each year.

But the real savings cannot be measured merely in dollars. Each potential success is a real person, who can make changes now to live a healthier and more satisfying life without the need for late-stage diabetes care.

People may not think an eye exam can be a life-altering event, but according to this first-of-its-kind program between VSP and the State of California, it is. Since October 2005 VSP network doctors have worked to help identify diabetic patients and help them receive the care that they need. One can only imagine how many more lives we could be saving if everyone had an annual eye exam.

Rob

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We're All Eyes … and Ears

Posted on February 20th, 2007 by Rob L.

Open communication and listening – really listening – has always been a guiding principle for VSP. So as you can imagine, I’m excited to launch our VSP blog and have even more direct two-way conversations with our members, clients, doctors, employees, and anyone who has thoughts to share about vision, eye health, and healthcare benefits in general.

For me, this blog is a natural next step in VSP’s commitment to a dynamic dialogue with our communities. Of course, the company was founded in 1955, long before the advent of the Internet, but throughout our history VSP has remained focused on quality eyecare with an open ear for what it takes to deliver the best service and support to our members and business partners. It is through listening and communication with our 48 million members that VSP has been ranked “highest in member satisfaction among national vision plans” for a third consecutive year by J.D. Power and Associates. And, by giving a voice to our employees, VSP has remained in the top 25 of FORTUNE Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for seven consecutive years.

In guiding VSP through our future growth and success, I plan to use this blog to share my thoughts and ideas about eyecare, total wellness, the insurance industry, leadership and managing good people. I look forward to inviting “guest bloggers” who share my passion and offer different perspectives on these subjects, and I hope to inspire an open dialogue with you.

I’m looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Rob

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