No matter your year in optometry school, or years in practice, this article is meant to encourage and offer guidance on how to bring vision therapy to an optometry practice!
Optometric intervention through vision therapy can change lives and careers, and using these steps you can learn how to implement this rewarding service.
The first thing you’ll want to do is prepare a business plan. Take the initiative to organize your thoughts and get your ideas on paper. A business plan is a great way to advocate your proposal by illustrating how vision therapy will better serve the community and outline the potential revenue you can bring to a private practice.
What else should the plan include? Talk it up! Explain what vision therapy entails, how it works, and why it adds value to a private practice. Describe the importance of vision therapy in remediating learning-related vision problems, as well as populations it can help, including patients with traumatic and acquired brain injury. Beyond this, vision therapy can benefit patients of all ages!
Here’s a sample business plan that might help you when it comes to how to bring vision therapy to an optometry practice, or start a VT practice cold!
While creating a business plan, consider future advertising and marketing ideas as well. These can include essential startup materials, cost of these supplies, and ways to build up your schedule. As primary eyecare doctors, it is our responsibility to provide the highest quality of vision care, so prospective employers should find your plan very attractive!
Now you may be thinking, “I would like to pursue this avenue, but I don’t have much experience or knowledge on the subject.” My suggestion is to take advantage of CE courses, conferences, and workshops that provide education on this subject. Especially as a healthcare professional, you should be constantly learning and growing, and these are only a few examples of ways you can do just that!
Check out these tips ondiagnosing and treating binocular vision conditions!
You can also utilize available resources like the COVD website, AAO General Practice Guidelines, and VisionHelp blog to help prepare you at the outset. For those of you still in school or early in your optometric career, I would strongly recommend expanding your knowledge by completing a residency in vision therapy and rehabilitation, in which you will receive extensive training to develop your competence in the specialty. Plus, this is another way to make yourself more attractive to potential employers!
Once you know all about vision therapy, the next, critical step is gaining support from your colleagues and staff. I would recommend providing a training session to discuss the vision therapy, how to schedule patients for evaluations, and reviewing basic techniques. In-house support is important for your success, especially if the specialty is new to the practice and community.
Lastly, don’t forget the importance of networking and community outreach. You want to build strong relationships with referral sources and make yourself well-known in the community. Start by visiting local optometrists, pediatricians, schools, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and rehab centers to spread the awareness of vision therapy. Take the opportunity to share your passion and educate other professionals on the potential benefits of vision therapy. Communication and increasing awareness are key to expanding vision therapy and making it more widely available to those that need it!
Once you consider the impact you can have on a patient’s life by enhancing his/her visual skills through optometric vision therapy, I hope you consider these tips as you work toward treating even more patients and building the private practice of your dreams!
Convergence Insufficiency is the place to start with OVT
According to the AOA’s recently released Evidence-Based Guideline – Comprehensive Pediatric Eye and Vision Examination, up to 8.3% of children have Convergence Insufficiency (CI). This makes it the most prevalent disorder of binocular vision and one of the most prevalent vision problems at large.
The beauty of CI is in the simplicity of the diagnostic battery and the profound effect that initial treatment can have on a patient’s quality of life. If a new clinician is inspired to add OVT to their list of services that they offer to their patients, chairside treatment of CI is the absolute best place to start. By starting with one of the easiest functional vision problems to diagnose and treat, a clinician can quickly gain confidence in their skills and immediately improve the quality of life of their patients.
Ultimately—Start simple, start strong
No one starts out getting a constant esotrope to see in three dimensions for the first time. Rather, the best cases to start with are the ones that you feel confident treating. In my next piece, I will begin laying out a simple, systematic approach to the diagnosis and chairside treatment of CI. In my opinion, there is no better place to start when adding OVT to your practice.
Once you consider the impact you can have on a patient’s life by enhancing his/her visual skills through optometric vision therapy, I hope you consider these tips as you work toward treating even more patients and building the private practice of your dreams!
Once you consider the impact you can have on a patient’s life by enhancing his/her visual skills through optometric vision therapy, I hope you consider these tips as you work toward treating even more patients and building the private practice of your dreams!
