If you follow our blog regularly, or touch base with us on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know that one of our primary goals is to make eyecare important, immediate, easy and fun.
For current members, that means taking advantage of existing benefits and making sure that vision care is a part of your family’s overall healthcare plan. If you are thinking about becoming a VSP member, we’ll show you how you can save money with VSP and different ways improving your vision can lead to a healthy lifestyle.
We’ve relaunched our interactive Web site SeeMuchMore.com! Check it out to see the new look and feel, plus videos, tips, and testimonials!
Here are a few of the highlights:
A fan of “Jay Walking” on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno? You’ll love our new EyeQ video series! Also included is the VSP EyeFiles series and videos about benefits enjoyed by VSP members.
Show your creativity with our fun, interactive features including the make your own eye chart app
Jill N. is a member of the VSP Global Public Relations team.
Recently VSP announced the launch of VSP Eye on Diabetes, a five state campaign created in response to the increasing spread of diabetes across the U.S. A lot of people (did you know?) are unaware that diabetes can be detected through an annual eye exam, sometimes as much as five years earlier than through a Fasting Blood Glucose (Blood Sugar) test!
It’s been found that 61% of Americans with vision coverage go in for their annual eye exams vs. just 21% who get an annual physical! This provides an opportunity for optometrists to be the first to detect a variety of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, in a patient. With new information pertaining to diabetes continuing to be introduced, it is important to realize that your VSP private practice eye doctor is being provided the most recent information available pertaining to diabetes and eyecare and is a key component to a patients diabetes-care team. You can find more information at the VSP Diabetes Discovery Center.
Check out the video of the day of outreach in Little Rock, narrated by the Mayor of Little Rock, Mark Stodola.
Jill N. is a member of VSP's Corporate Public Relations team.
The title of the event alone provides insight into why VSP Vision Care is aligned to the esteemed Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) located in Atlanta, Georgia. The dinner, emceed by CNN Weekend Anchor, T.J. Holmes, was the third annual for the Hugh M. Gloster Society and VSP is proud to be a supporter of the Gloster Society since it was established in 2007.
Founded originally as a part of Morehouse College in 1975, MSM became an independently charted institution in 1981 and was the first medical school established at a Historically Black College and University in the 20th century. MSM is among the nation’s leading educators of primary care physicians. Notable MSM trustees and alumni include former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, and current U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin, who appointed Dr. David Rutstein, another MSM alumnus, as Acting Deputy Surgeon General.
MSM is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of individuals and communities; increasing the diversity of the health professional and scientific workforce; and addressing the primary health-care needs through programs in education, research, and service, with emphasis on people of color and the underserved urban and rural populations in Georgia and the nation.
With VSP’s mission aligning so closely it makes for exciting opportunities for the two organizations to compliment and support each other in their commitment to increasing Americans’ access to quality eyecare and health education through raising public awareness that preventative care, knowledge and thorough care are keys to staying healthier.
Remember that post with the self-adjustable liquid frames? Not really? Was it because you didn’t want to read too much or because you were tired from all the reading and typing you do on the computer all day? Guess what – now you have NO excuse not to know about this.
Joel Kestenbaum O.D. is a VSP provider in Long Island, NY.
In recognition of Diabetes Awareness Month, Dr. Joel Kestenbaum has shared some thoughts regarding diabetes and eyecare. VSP is a proud National Strategic Partner of the American Diabetes Association. Join the fight. STOP Diabetes.
One of the first lessons I learned in optometry school was that diabetes was a leading cause of blindness. We were taught that early diagnosis was the key to preserving good eyesight. We were also taught that educating our patients about the effects of diabetes on the eye was extremely important. So here are a few tidbits to think about.
There are many early signs of diabetes, many of which are common eye complaints. Styes, double vision, light sensitivity, fluctuating vision, glare and frequent changes in eyeglass prescriptions are just a few early signs. These and other signs can also affect people who have had diabetes for a long time. Getting annual eye examinations by a qualified specialist can detect problems that may be vision threatening. Early detection can lead to early sight saving treatment. Read more »
Studies show that diabetes accounts for about 24,000 new cases of vision loss each year. The most prevalent eye disease in patients with diabetes is diabetic retinopathy, a condition in which blood vessels in the eye leak fluid and cause vision impairments including: blindness, blurred vision, floaters, shadows or missing areas of vision.
Throughout the month of November, you’ll see multiple posts on the VSPBlog educating about the impacts of diabetes to millions of Americans affected by the disease. Read more »
Last week, The Sacramento Bee published an opinion editorial article regarding the impact healthcare reform could have to stand alone benefits.
In the article Rob says:
Whether you are for or against the current health care legislation soon to go to a floor debate in Congress nearly all can agree that the current health care system is broken and needs to be fixed. What to fix is where the debate lies. But what about the things that aren’t broken?
Amazingly enough, there is a vital component of our national health care system that not only provides top-notch services, but actually has an incredible 90-plus percent approval rate by those who are covered. This component is America’s vision insurance system. Vision insurance and eye care not only deliver vital health care services but actually lower the cost for treating the chronic diseases that are bankrupting America’s health care system. It is a shining example upon which Congress should base the reforms they are now examining. So this begs the question: Why are they trying to change a part of the system that’s not broken?
VSP Global CEO Rob Lynch was featured this week on the CEO Show, a radio program which goes “in depth with business leaders who have reinvented industry by creating customer experience organizations.”
During Rob’s segment, he discusses VSP Vision Care’s not-for-profit business model and the importance of not-for-profits in healthcare. Listen now.
Are you flying American Airlines this month or US Airways in November or December? If so, tune into Sky Radio’s in-flight programming to hear an interview with VSP Global CEO Rob Lynch about a recent study undertaken by Human Capital Management Services, Inc. on behalf of VSP.
The study found that for every dollar invested in VSP’s exam services, clients saved 94 cents in medical, lost-time, and human capital costs from the early detection of diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol through an eye exam.
Not flying anytime soon? Click below to hear the interview.
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To read more about the study, click here for Vision Monday’s coverage.
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The comments from the public expressed on the VSP Blog do not necessarily reflect the views of VSP or the VSP Family of Companies. By posting comments, VSP does not endorse or approve of content.
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If you follow our blog regularly, or touch base with us on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know that one of our primary goals is to make eyecare important, immediate, easy and fun.
Last week, 
Are you flying American Airlines this month or US Airways in November or December? If so, tune into Sky Radio’s in-flight programming to hear an interview with VSP Global CEO Rob Lynch about a recent study undertaken by Human Capital Management Services, Inc. on behalf of VSP.
See much more