By Cathy Ciccolella
Senior Editor

PLAINVIEW, N.Y.--In his first few weeks as president of Davis Vision, the managed-vision operation of Highmark’s HVHC subsidiary, Steve Holden has seen both significant changes and significant similarities in the managed vision care arena since he formally left that industry in early 2005.

 
Steve Holden
Holden, who was president of Cole Managed Vision (now incorporated into EyeMed Vision Care) before Cole Vision was sold to Luxottica Group in late 2004, became president of Davis Vision early in August; he succeeded Joe Carlomusto, who retired. A 32-year veteran of the health care industry, Holden has experience in optometric education, disease management, medical devices, home healthcare and healthcare systems and services.

In addition, Holden is a past president and founding board member of the National Association of Vision Care Plans. Since the Cole Vision acquisition, he had been working as a consultant.

What changes has Holden seen in the managed-vision arena since returning to the industry on a full-time basis? “The biggest recent change has been the impact of the tough U.S. economy,” he told VM in an exclusive interview. “It’s been pretty hard for a lot of employers, although vision care still has a lot of opportunities.”

Holden said that while many large and small employers are cutting back on employee benefits to reduce overhead, “vision care can be a high-value addition to the benefit package at a very small cost compared to medical, dental or prescription drugcoverage. It’s still something a company can give its employees while it’s taking away other things.”

The Davis Vision executive also noted a more competitive marketplace within the managed-vision business these days. “Most of the larger employers interested in providing a vision benefit already have one, so it’s become more a question of the vision-plan companies taking business away from each other,” Holden said. Also because of the increased competition, “pricing is under pressure--there hasn’t been room for a significant increase in the marketplace like the medical industry has had. Vision care has been held to low single-digit increases only.” The increased emphasis on eyecare as an element in a person’s overall health picture has been noticeable over the last year or two, but Holden said that’s nothing all that new.

“When I joined Cole Vision eight years ago I came from the health-care industry, and I saw integrating eyecare into health care as the number-one opportunity back then,” he told VM. “I do see today that some large health-care plans are offering more provisions for vision care than they used to; however, many are still trying to figure out how to make that happen. But including vision can provide a good differentiation for their clients if those plans say they can reduce health-care costs through things like diabetic screening by an eyecare practitioner. After all, an eye exam is a non-invasive view into the human body.”

Holden added, “Everyone in managed care--not just managed vision care--is trying to figure out how to make patients really better, and how to integrate the different coverages they offer. We’re closer to it than we were eight years ago, but nobody’s totally figured it out yet.”

Davis Vision, which has a network of more than 30,000 total providers--consisting of more than 21,000 optometrists, 2,500 ophthalmologists and 6,500 retail locations--got two boosts in recent years. The company was chosen as one of three managed-vision firms (along with VSP Vision Care and Spectera) allowed to offer vision-care benefits to Federal employees and retirees beginning Dec. 31, 2006. And Highmark’s acquisition in August 2006 of the Eye Care Centers of America (ECCA) chain gave Davis better access to the chain’s 417 stores and their eyewear/eyecare customers. (Davis currently provides vision benefits to a total of more than 20 million funded lives.)

“Having that retail presence with our sister division ECCA allows us to be competitive in ways companies without that couldn’t be,” Holden declared, “Of course the independent practitioner has an important role to play in consumers’ eyecare, but so does the retail segment. Our strategy at Davis Vision is to have a blend of the two--that gives us additional opportunities and more flexibility.”