The Sentiment of Optometrists Right Now

As part of our commitment to the continued success of our customers, we believe that it is vital to get a pulse on the effects that the pandemic has brought to the optometric profession. As such, we conducted a survey last month on the recent experiences of our customers in this COVID-19 environment.

The survey determined sentiment in three major areas: current state, patient relations, and future outlook. The insight we gained from this survey enabled us to continue providing the support, service, and resources needed the most in light of these uncertain times. We’re sharing our findings in hopes that some of this information could help in your own optometric journey.

The great news we found from our survey results is that COVID-19 has not deterred all optometrists from practicing. It shows that 84% of practices are still practicing in the office. One determining factor could be that many people consider optometry an essential service.

During the downtime, many practices focused on training staff and business management and also used the extra time to work on practice enhancements and efficiencies.

Patient relations have been affected as optometrists in the survey report that the biggest challenges facing practices is fewer hours of operation making it difficult to schedule appointments, and not being able to physically see patients.

Due to this, it’s more important than ever to maintain relationships between providers and their patients. This graph shows how practices are staying in communication with their patients during these unprecedented times. The majority are using a variety of communication tools such as phone calls, social media, emails and text messages. Sending text messages to patients is a popular feature that providers have utilized even before the pandemic, and that RevolutionEHR offers with RevConnect. Learn more about RevConnect, the patient engagement solution available within RevolutionEHR here.

With today’s technology, providers are still able to provide care for patients in various ways, which probably explains why 89% of the participants in our survey viewed patient relationships to stay the same or improve once the stay-at-home order has been lifted.

The outlook of the surveyed participants is cautiously optimistic with 57% expecting their practices to operate at 100% by the end of 2020.

This pandemic has caused some challenges and uncertainties, but it has also created opportunities for practices to continue to provide for patients’ eye care needs while implementing new ways to make meaningful connections with patients and employees. at Watch our webinar, “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Pie”, with Dr. Ann Hoscheit, or read our blog for examples of how practices are delighting both patients and staff with their reopening.

RevolutionEHR is committed to staying on top of eye care industry updates on behalf of our customers. If you’re interested in partnering with us for EHR software and practice solutions, contact us at sales@revolutionehr.com or 877-738-3471 x1 or explore our solutions on our website.