EaseVision.com – News and gossips of vision care and optical industry

Some employees and members of Clear One may be anxious due to a statement made by the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer Patricia Gibford. He announced that the company planned to realign its workforce as well as further streamline its operations, due to the current depressed economy. Clear One Health Plans, Inc. now covers a wide range of businesses, focusing on health plans catering employers, providers as well as consumers. 

Through out the West, Clear One Health Plans provides a couple of health insurance types to individual customers or companies, such as Medicare Advantage plans, commercial plans, individual plans and administrative services. Other groups of people such as self-funded employers, associations, Taft-Hartley Trusts and Chamber of Commerce can also get appropriate programs from Clear One Health Plans, including life, disability, dental, vision and voluntary benefits programs. Moreover, Clear One also pays much attention to promote benefits programs, health insurance and ancillary plans for community-based employees. 

The great firm is now under the influence of the depressed global economy. It is the weaker market conditions that force Clear One officials to make such a decision. Membership of Clear One has been significantly decreased resulted from the economic situation.

This decrease in membership directly led to the decision of staff reduction made by the management team of Clear One. According to Patricia Gibford, the implementation of staff reduction is the most effective way to deal with the current situation of the company. 

It is true that staff reduction is difficult to implement in any company. Clear One has long been promoting and maintaining its members’ peace and confidence in the company’s health care coverage. Top officials in Clear One believe that staff reduction under such an economic situation is essential to improve the company’s operational efficiency as well as maintain its financial strength. 

In detail, the staff reduction plan will cut off about 25 positions throughout the company, focusing on non-customer services roles. However, both management and executive staff will be affected. This plan will finish by December 31, 2009.

There will be a new recapitalization within Safilo. Currently the company has a total net debt of 590 million euros. What’s more serious, Safilo has still suffered falling preliminary third-quarter results that both the turnover and core profit were much lower than the numbers of the same period last year. The core profit of this third-quarter was only 3.5 million, compared to 16.7 million a year ago. In addition, orders for the first two weeks of October suffered a 12.5% decrease compared with the same period of the last year. 

During the conference call with analysts, Chief Executive of Safilo Roberto Vedovotto also confessed that the operating performance of the group was very weak in October. Safilo has been a great victim of the global economic downturn. The sales of the company have greatly decreased during the last year. The firm had been long as the world’s second largest eye wear maker. But now, Safilo needs a large funds inflow in order to guarantee its survival. 

Currently, Safilo Chairman Vittorio Tabacchi’s family owns about 40% stake of the company. After the capital reconstruction, this number will be reduced to only 10%. The big buyer is Hal Investments, which is a Dutch shareholder. Hal Investments mainly focus on optical retail chain operators such as Pearle Europe and Grand Vision. 

Hal Investments only holds 2% of Safilo but its share will reach 49.99% in the near future. Hal is the main player that it will first buy Safilo stock for 13 million euros, which triggers a further investment of 250 million euros from Hal, Banca IMI and UniCredit. Moreover, Hal will buy Safilo’s non-core and loss-making retail chains in Spain, Australia and China for about 20 million euros. As a result, Safilo will receive a total of 283 million euro funds inflow. And it is said that the company will use about 185 million to repay its debt. 

After such a reconstruction, Safilo itself is expected to concentrate on production and its licenses, while Hal would focus on distribution.

Vision Monday reported some new actions from the VSP recently. VSP has long been the largest managed vision care provider in both Washington and nationwide in the United States. VSP has maintained contractual cooperation with many independent labs across the country. However, the firm announced that it would take away contracts from certain labs. 

This action from VSP has scared many labs that they are likely to be forced out of business. However, it is unclear that which and how many independent labs will lose their VSP contracts. Officials from VSP’s Lab operations only stated that some factors of an independent lab will be considered, including the amount of jobs processes, technical capabilities and geographic locations. 

Among independent VSP labs, Nouveau Vision is a typical one that voices its complaints towards the action from VSP. As a family-owned optical lens laboratory in Redmond, Nouveau Vision is at the risk of being kicked out by VSP. Unlike other independent labs, Nouveau Vision has taken some actions that it has filled a lawsuit claiming “insurance code and potential antitrust violations”. 

During the long cooperation with VSP, Nouveau Vision as a small lab has always been very responsive to customers. With the information of being delisted by VSP, the owner of Nouveau Vision filled the complaint. According to Vision Monday, VSP respectfully disagrees with the allegations with the state of Washington Commissioner of Insurance raised by Nouveau Vision. But VSP is willing to maintain proper exchanges with the lab of this matter. 

Actually the resistance from Nouveau Vision has more significance according to Vision Monday. The optical industry has now been dominated by several giants. Just in this year, the France-based company Essilor partnered with VSP and bought McCleod. Essilor has become a dominant player in the United States, being expected to gain nearly complete market control in many states including Washington. This control of the vision care industry by 2-3 greedy companies and their collaboration are believed to affect the interest of customers.

There is an ongoing study about LASIK surgery in the United States now. Launched by the US Food and Drug Administration, the LASIK Quality of Life Collaboration Project has three phases. With the collaboration with the National Eye Institute and the US Department of Defense, FDA launched this research with the purpose to evaluate the quality of life problems in those people who have received LASIK procedure. 

LASIK is widely performed to permanently correct patient’s refractive errors through reshaping the cornea of the eye. These patients mostly need not to wear eyeglasses or contact lenses any more after the surgery. However, LASIK is not perfect that complications such as blurry vision and dry eye are potential postoperatively. And the project launched by FDA just aims at establishing the proportion of LASIK patients suffering from these complications or side effects. 

The project was announced to have three phases. Beginning from July 2009, the first phase designs a web-based quality of life questionnaire. Phase 2 will involve some patients who have received LASIK at the Navy Refractive Surgery Center and evaluate their life quality and satisfaction with the surgery. Moreover, the third phase will conduct the study in the general popular through a multi-center clinical trial. 

FDA initially conceived this study with great expectations. From the results of the LASIK Quality of Life Collaboration Project, factors potentially affecting post-LASIK quality of life can be published. As a result, those potential risk factors can be decreased to some degree. The study is also expected to enhance the public understanding of the risks of LASIK procedure. 

FDA has also inspected many LASIK surgery centers in the country. The result is that some centers have inadequate adverse event reporting systems. These centers use improper ways to collect and report adverse events about their LASIK cases. Since there are potential risks of the surgery, ambulatory LASIK centers in US are required by law to maintain a robust reporting system. And those inadequate centers have received warning letters sent by FDA.

From April 2008 to March 2009, the number of complaints to the Optical Consumer Complaints Service (OCCS) reached 2,479, which was 35% higher than the figure in 2007. This increase in complaints has been revealed by the optical watchdog’s annual report, which was published last Friday.

 This nearly one-third higher number indicates that more and more customers have difficulty dealing with optical practices. These reported complaints include ‘buy one and get one free’ offers, failure to require prescriptions as well as refusal by eye doctors to measure the interpupillary distance. 

These complaints were made through different means, that 43% of the total 2,479 cases were received by letter, 9% by email and 48% were reported through telephone. 

The OCCS has also pointed out that some of the resolved cases have also been recorded, which collection method is different from that in 2007. In this case, the 35% increase in complaints could not actually reflect the real condition. Even the watchdog has admitted that this figure should not be considered as an indication of deterioration in optical standards. 

As an administrator of OCCS, Richard Wilshin thought that the increased number only indicated that more people were resorting to the OCCS. Those people just channeled their complaints elsewhere in the past, so that the increase of complaints as a whole in the industry may be not true. 

Wilshin also suggested that customers should keep greater awareness of the literal interpretation while taking advantages of offers. Some complaints actually came from improper expectations kept by customers. They expected to get the free frame with the same quality and price as the one that was to be paid.

www.eyeoverheard.com

It is reported that VSP and Altair have improved their efficiency by using RFID. As a VSP company, Altair has implemented RFID-based inventory management across their operations, using enterprise mobility software provided by MobileFrame, which is the leading provider of configurable mobile applications. Altair has recently acquired the 10,000 optician offices from Marchon Eyewear and its total independent offices are estimated to hopefully reach 25,000. 

Supporting independent eye care practitioners with advanced eyewear technologies and various brands, Altair has benefit significantly from the mobility software from MobileFrame. The software helps associates in Altair pick and ship orders. In addition, the firm also plans to use the RFID technology to keep an accurate inventory of all eyewear frames on consignment at optician offices worldwide. 

In the past, opticians were forced to scan consignment checklist forms in order to find frames that were in stock and those were missing. Now, the MobileFrame software frees their hands from this scanning. With the configurable RFID solution, the cumbersome checklist is turned into a user-friendly mobile application. 

Most application development tools require costly, time-consuming development to create business applications, which are always thought to be inflexible. In addition, these business applications need custom programming once business processes change. With the help of MobileFrame’s software, new mobile applications with any complexity can be provided flexibly. The flexible enterprise mobility software allows Altair to deploy its inventory management project efficiently. Any mix of business processes can be incorporated easily without expensive development efforts. The software can seamlessly deploy new applications to the field. 

According to CEO of MobileFrame, its configurable RFID software can flexibly and quickly deploy across any manufacturing operation. The company also uses the patented 100% Code Free platform architecture to easily implement the RFID technology. The RFID mobile solutions can even be simply deployed without any programming.

From: www.eyeoverheard.com

As Luxottica’s once proud retail chain, LensCrafters was considered as the jewel in Luxottica’s optical crown. However, LensCrafters is on the downturn in many aspects now, such as sales, customer number, quality personnel, Eyenet as well as moral. Some people think that the training that all LensCrafters people go through is a joke. They skip over anything important concerning the how and why of optics. 

The current M.B.E training is particularly considered as a joke that the LensCrafters executives require the associates to stand to sell the lenses to customers. A similar requirement is to take mirrors from the areas where the staff sits, in order to accelerate the process. Another stupid idea from the executives is that the associates are required to tell everyone entering to sign in. What’s more serious, LensCrafters resells returned frames. 

There are many things Luxottica can do if the company wants to turn things around. First Luxottica should return to basics by stopping all the cutesy ads. Some people do not buy at chains now but LensCrafters should do what chains do best. Chains including LensCrafters should always give customers a great deal. 

Products from LensCrafters are thought to charge over prices with old technology. Polarized and photochromic lenses at LensCrafters are also over prices now. In particular, their progressive lenses are extremely subpar. It is time for LensCrafters to lower its prices. 

LensCrafters’ staff actually needs proper training because most of them can not answer a basic optical question at all. They do not know how progressive lenses work. There are many more basic aspects of lenses that should be acquired by LensCrafters’ associates. 

Executives of LensCrafters are advised to get rid of M.B.E, which is believed to be an insult towards customers. Customers should be free to shop around. Chain stores of LensCrafters should bring in better products. Currently, many products in these stores are  outdated such as Vogue. 

Other suggestions for Luxottica include offering an ensured warranty, increasing the salary of associates as well as changing the LensCrafters executives.

From: www.eyeoverheard.com

The newly formed Sacramento Community Cancer Coalition has started to grant prostate screening for those underserved populations. In addition, most of the underserved people are black men, who are estimated to be twice more likely to die of prostate cancer than white men. As the most common cancer among American men, prostate cancer can also significantly benefit from early detection and treatment. 

This new organization is just a brainchild of Dr. Darry1 Hunter, which has partnership with VSP, a Rancho Cordova-based vision insurance provider. Through this cooperation, Hunter provides free eyeglasses to those underserved people in the means of two recreational vehicles as mini optometry offices run by VSP. The two portable clinics travel around the nation and give comprehensive eye exams as well as taking glass orders from patients. The VSP mobile clinic is airy and wood-paneled inside. There are also a wall of eyeglasses and fully equipped exam rooms. People without health insurance can receive vision exam and an additional prostate exam if they want. 

UC Davis medical school students also run another program weekly in the Oak Park neighborhood, which is known as Saturday’s clinic. In conjunction with the free Imani clinic, Saturday’s clinic also cooperates with 11 organizations including the African American Prostate Cancer Initiative and 100 Black Men of Sacramento Inc. 

Organizers of Saturday’s clinic also make use of the common sense that most people trust message from a neighbor, a friend or a congregant. They have been finding connection methods that a particular community can relate to. However, all nonprofit organizations are hurting now and the staff of Saturday’s clinic has to share resources with others. It is also ensured that the benefit to the community is actually increased. 

These private efforts are expected to bear much of the brunt of health care for uninsured individuals and please those people.

From: www.eyeoverheard.com

A variety of challenges can be caused by white cataracts during an eye surgery. People with cataracts always have dense lens nucleus and suffer more risks of surgery complications. The good news is that modern techniques and devices can help cataract patients lower surgery risks and improve outcomes. 

Examination of the retina and optic nerve is often impossible in cataract patients because these white cataracts cover the posterior pole of the eye. Fortunately, ultrasound imaging can provide a clear view of the posterior segment. In addition, flashlight testing can be used to detect gross pathology of the optic nerve or retina. 

White cataracts also bring opacity in the eye, which precludes biometry. An A-scan ultrasound is usually used to measure axial length in cataract patients. Cataract patients are unable to fixate to locate the visual axis, so that keratometry measurements should be centered over the pupil. Cataract patients are always accompanied by uveitis, narrow angles or vascular disease, which can be detected by careful slit lamp examination of the anterior segment. 

However, white cataracts can block red reflex from the surgical microscope so that visualization of the clear anterior capsule is quite difficult. A method to solve this problem is the use of trypan blue dye, which will be applied to the anterior capsule under air or viscoelastic. Visualization of the anterior capsule thus can be enhanced by the dye. One side effect of dye administration is that the lens’s elasticity may be deceased. 

Capsulorrhexis creation in cataract patients also involves more risks, because the white cataracts can sometimes by liquefied and lead to leakage of white, milky fluid. This leakage can even impair visualization at the time of the opening of the capsular bag. This fluid may also bring pressure gradient, which leads to severe radialization of the rhexis edge.

Free-form PALs from Pro Fit Optix cost nearly the same as standard progressive lenses. Compared with other leading free-form progressive lenses, Pro Fit’s PALs are 30% to 40% cheaper. The company claims that these lenses use the full range of digital free-form technologies. Customers are granted with the lowest prices and greatest value at each technological level. Pro Fit Optix has now maintained an experienced management team, some members of which are pulled by Pro Fit from other eyewear firms such as Essilor. 

Steve Brewer is the Executive VP of Sales and Business Development of Pro Fit. During his 34 years of experience in the optical industry, Steve has ever served Bausch & Lomb, Cooper Vision, Alcon, Essilor of America and United Healthcare. He was ever a board member of National Association of Vision Care Plans. As a notably senior level executive and industry consultant, Steve can always keep clearly in mind both the industry’s challenges and opportunities. In his opinion, vision customers are undergoing certain changes in expectation towards vision products and the developing Free-Form technology is exciting that it can offer more vision benefits. 

As Vice President Sales-Independent Markets of Pro Fit now, Bruce Winslow has also stayed in several optical companies such as Bausch & Lomb, Unilens as well as Essilor. During the past 30 years of experience in this industry, Bruce has mainly focused on the field of sales. He has gained valuable experience dealing with distributors, buying groups, MVC and the emerging network of IPAs. As a result, Bruce provides more suggestion in sales. According to Bruce, the current Pro Pit model is quite unique in the lens market. Regardless of geographical differences, Pro Fit is structured to support independent ECPs in the channel in which they purchase. In another way, the firm has consistently focused on building good relationship with independent ECPs. 

The management team of Pro Fit also includes Tom Lyon, who has 40 years of industry experience including customer service, lab and sales management. Most of Tom’s working experiences are associated with laboratories, so that he maintains a great understanding of new technologies including free-form and progressive lenses.

From: www.eyeoverheard.com