By Cathy Ciccolella
Senior Editor

ORLANDO, Fla.--Managed vision care--and its role in promoting overall eye health, not just good vision--got special attention here last month during Transitions Optical’s annual Transitions Academy. For the first time, the Academy included a special program devoted to managed vision, put together in cooperation with the National Association of Vision Care Plans (NAVCP).

 

Transitions’ Pat Huot welcomes participants to the Academy’s first managed vision care track.

 

Joe Wende, OD, of Davis Vision and Essilor’s Pauline Yan take a break during a managed-vision dinner in conjunction with Transitions Academy.

NAVCP executive director Steve Ingram (l) networks with John Kilday of Superior Vision Services over dinner during Transitions Academy.

Richard Sanchez of Advantica Eye Care participates in a managed-vision session during Transitions Academy.

Paula Newsome, OD, reviews eyecare trends during the managed vision program at Transitions Academy.


As Pat Huot, business manager, managed vision care, for Transitions, said in kicking off this special program, managed vision plans can be a vehicle for bringing potential eye problems to consumers’ attention. “We need to educate through managed vision,” he declared, pointing out that “more than 50 percent of all eyeglass prescriptions are touched by managed vision care.”

Huot said Transitions is working to assist its eyecare-practitioner partners--as well as both employers and employees participating in vision plans--in increasing awareness of the importance of eye health by providing a variety of tools, including downloadable brochures and eye-health flyers outlining the value of vision benefits.

Before an audience of more than 60 managed-vision participants, Paula Newsome, OD, president of Advantage Vision Center in Charlotte, N.C., also stressed the importance of eye exams as a means of detecting hidden eye-health problems. “Most people believe good vision means seeing 20/20,” Newsome said, “but consumers need regular exams to detect vision changes and check for eye disease.”

Sander Domaszewicz, of Mercer Health & Benefits Services, outlined trends in employers’ health-insurance policies, including a movement toward giving employees greater choice in selecting the benefits they expect to use most. “This provides a huge opportunity for vision benefits to become more important,” he noted. Domaszewicz said 66 percent of large employers and 30 percent of small companies now offer some kind of vision plan.

According to Philip Haberstro, executive director of the National Association for Health and Fitness, opportunities also exist to integrate vision care into a growing movement in the workplace toward promoting good health. “Going forward, I see proactive action to correct and/or prevent future eye issues,” Haberstro said. Noting that vision disorders cost the business community $8 billion a year in health costs and lost productivity, he said, “Eye health must be a regular part of the worksite wellness dialogue.”

Following the formal program, a number of NAVCP members and the group’s executive director, Steve Ingram, met to continue the work begun during a Transitions-sponsored task force that met in conjunction with the association’s 2007 annual convention. The NAVCP is considering development of an industrywide message to encourage consumers to schedule regular vision exams to promote eye health; member companies are being asked to provide input on the content of the message.