Step 8. Communication to patients

The involvement of all practice personnel early in your scheme will ensure they understand what is happening and why, as well as how it works. This will provide the level of confidence for them to feel happy discussing your new payment plan with all patients – old and new. Once the team are happy with the contact lens scheme there is always the opportunity to launch an eyecare payment plan for spectacle wearers too.

Communication methods

Using a leaflet like that described in step 7 to communicate to patients how the scheme works and the benefits they may receive can be a valuable tool. It can be used to help explain the features of the scheme and to itemise exactly what their payments are for.

For a contact lens only plan

So that your practice’s new payment plan does not become a ‘best kept secret’, it must be mentioned at every opportunity. This will ensure that it is familiar to all contact lens wearers and other patients too. As well as displaying brochures around the practice, mention it in all your recall letters. A statement such as;

‘We have a new contact lens care and payment plan for contact lens wearers. Members of our scheme will benefit from a complete eyecare service and some of the lowest prices for contact lenses, as well as xx% discount off all spectacle purchases too. For more information and a complete list of all the benefits contact the practice.’

will help to promote contact lenses in general and should generate some straightforward enquiries that will provide the practice team with some good practice at handling enquiries.

Some practices choose to deal with each patient individually, when they arrive for their next scheduled aftercare appointment. At this time they introduce the scheme and its benefits. Alternatively you may wish to write to all your existing contact lens wearers immediately, explaining the benefits of your new scheme. This may be advisable if you are concerned about the loss of existing wearers because of price. A template letter has been provided for this purpose and can downloaded and amended for your purposes. CIBA VISION from time to time has available promotional ‘upgrade’ vouchers, which may be sent out with these letters. Contact your Business Development Manager for more information. Which of these two options you use will depend on the dynamics and size of your practice, and your personal preference.

Announcing your new payment plan will probably generate a number of enquiries, so let’s consider some phrases that could be useful for handling these:

• Potential new contact lens patient – Enquiries for contact lenses may take the form of a straightforward ‘How much are contact lenses?’ or ‘Tell me more about your payment plan for contact lens wearers.’ In either situation a similar answer can be given:
  
  ‘When you become a member of our contact lens payment plan you will be entitled to savings on the cost of contact lenses and all other eyewear products. For a simple monthly fee of £x you will be entitled to regular professional aftercare for your eyes and lenses and a full eye examination every two years.’
  
  Offering to give them your brochure will help to explain the scheme in more detail and reinforce the benefits. If you have the opportunity to show them your contact lens price-list, it may help them to see how competitive your prices are. For potential new contact lens wearers the whole process of being assessed for lenses will need to be explained, as well as the fact that the most suitable type of lens will be decided during the consultation with the optometrist / contact lens optician. Any initial fitting fee should be explained at this stage too.

• Existing contact lens patient – These should be quite easy to explain the benefits to. Once the benefits have been explained and shown using the brochure, the new price for their lenses can be detailed. This is when a price list showing the new contact lens prices next to the old ones works well. The vast majority will be very keen to sign up to pay a new monthly total amount. In fact in many cases the total amount paid each month may not change, but will be split differently with more emphasis and visibility on the professional care component. Do provide them with a copy of the brochure detailing all the benefits and a breakdown the fees and costs, so they know exactly what they will be getting for the amount paid.

• Infrequent contact lens wearer – Part-time wearers of daily disposable lenses for example, are often a challenge when it comes to charging them for clinical care. Your new scheme will make this very easy; because once they have joined they will receive all the aftercare they need, as well as an eye examination every two years including any additional procedures you offer eg retinal photography. In addition to this they will also receive a substantial discount on all eyewear products. They should be entitled to buy supplies of contact lenses as and when they need them at the reduced scheme price. You may even eventually consider a lower price scheme for infrequent wearers including less frequent aftercare (and lower product discounts) to make it more attractive to them.

For a complete eyecare plan

There are some situations, sometimes perceived as a challenge, when offering eyecare payment plans for spectacle wearers:

• Private patient – These are the most straightforward, as they will appreciate the discount they will be entitled to when purchasing any spectacles and sunglasses. And, of equal importance the comprehensive eyecare they will benefit from including any additional procedures you may wish to offer them.
• Patient entitled to NHS funded eye examination – There are a couple of different ways these are handled.

1. Some opticians offer a reduced monthly fee
2. Others offer to take the NHS Sight Test fee off the cost of any spectacles purchased, before deducting the plan discount.

• Patient with vouchers for eyewear. These can be handled in a similar way to 2 above.

It would be a useful exercise to get your practice team to work in small groups of two or three to develop phrases that they will be comfortable using to handle any enquiries and questions in a positive manner. It is not recommended for ‘scripts’ to be used, because it is better if all responses sound natural and genuine. However, all team members will remain positive if they have a handful of suitable phrases at their disposal. Working this way can be more beneficial than using ‘role-play’, which can cause a lot of stress for participants about the event itself, rather than the content.

The customer journey

Launching any new scheme will have an impact on the patient’s journey through the practice. Additional time must be allowed at some stage, to fully explain the benefits and answer any questions, if your scheme is to be successful. It is far more cost effective if most of this time can be spent before the patient is in the consulting room. The optometrist / contact lens optician will only have to answer any final questions before the patient signs the necessary paperwork. In straightforward cases this may be completed before the patient is in the consulting room.