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13 October 06 - Key Player Rewarded with Promotion

Vision Correction Industry Embraces Services

RefractivePartners is proud to announce that Kristen Meister has been appointed Director, Vision Correction Consulting Services.

“This is in recognition of Kristen’s many contributions to our tremendous success,” said Ron Greenberg, President.

RefractivePartners has grown 156-percent since January 2006.

As Director, Vision Correction Consulting Services, Ms. Meister will continue to work with client practices, while taking on the added responsibility of managing and implementing Refractive Coordinator training, phone skills training, conversion assessment, and other consumer communications programs offered through RefractivePartners.

“I’m incredibly excited because we know what works,” Meister said. “The skill that I provide to our customers along with the communications solutions of our OptiCall™ brand services contributes to our national conversion rates of 80% or more!

Meister also coordinates RefractivePartners’ nationwide network of outsourced specialty consultants.

8 February 06 - Refractive Partners Announces OptiCast Media Services
Infomercials Made Easy and Affordable with New Turnkey Product

Refractive Partners is introducing OptiCast Media Services, a new “turnkey” infomercial product that dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of production while providing an 85% customization level to vision correction practices – no stock footage, no generic testimonials – creating the most effective and affordable long-form television advertising available to the refractive industry.

“This is an opportunity for all refractive practices to be able to do the types of things that only the larger practices can do,” said Dr. Richard Fichman, Medical Director of the Fichman Eye Center in Manchester, Connecticut, a Refractive Partners customer. “This allows someone to be more or less part of a buying club, affording you all the latest technologies as far as infomercials and reaching the public, but you don't have that tremendous expenditure that you would have if you did it entirely by yourself.”

OptiCast Media Services has created a unique template for producing highly customized infomercials, streamlining a previously lengthy and costly process. “Infomercial production doesn't have to be as complex as eye surgery,” said Jon Crane, Director of Marketing for OptiCast Media Services. “We will save practices time and money, while generating real interest in vision correction from many new prospective patients.”

Mr. Crane is an award-winning television professional with more than twenty-five years of experience. His work has received six Telly Awards and three Emmy Awards. Most importantly, his vision correction infomercials have produced results.

“Having people that have the real business savvy of refractive surgery and having them go out and assemble this for you is a tremendous boon for all of us,” Dr. Fichman said.

Traditional infomercial production costs range from $20,000 to more than $200,000, compared to $10,000 for OptiCast Media Services, allowing practices to devote more of their media budget to buying media time. Plus, all advertising results are fully quantified through Refractive Partners' call response services, which are being discounted by $3,000 for practices signing up for OptiCast by May 1 st .

A media market analysis and direct mail piece (postage not included) announcing each new infomercial are also included in the package. Both come through a partnership with PatientBuilder.com, which specializes in customized patient development tools.

“Everything is now in place for creating consumer awareness and generating inquiries,” said Ron Greenberg, President of Refractive Partners. “We have opened the door to infomercials for all refractive practices by removing the cost barrier and the time-consuming aspects of production.”

1 December 05 - Refractive Partners Launches FirstContact

Responds to Practice Demand for Weekday Evenings and Weekends Phone Response and Vision Correction Counseling

SARASOTA, FL (December 1, 2005) – Refractive Partner's announced today the launch of its new service, FirstContact, to provide vision correction practices with expert vision correction phone response and counseling during non-traditional office hours. FirstContact Evenings and Weekends coverage will go live in the nation's Eastern and Central time zones on December 1 st .

With more and more consumers learning about vision correction via television, radio, the newspaper, the internet and other media advertising sources, the number of calls coming in to practices at non-office hours is increasing. Likewise, with the prolific use of cell phones, many consumers use their commuting hours and weekend leisure time to investigate elective procedure information. Until now, practices that were placing media advertisements had to rely on traditional answering services and voice mail to capture the prospect's contact information and then strive to reconnect with that prospect at a time convenient to both.

“FirstContact was born ‘in the trenches' from speaking with our practices and prospective clients face to face,” said Willie Harper, Director of Sales for Refractive Partners. “From day one, they have been asking for evening and weekend coverage to capture consumer inquiries about vision correction during non-office hours.” Harper is convinced that the demand has been there, and with Refractive Partner's FirstContact, they are able to meet that demand.

Like its legacy service, OptiCall, FirstContact's Vision Correction Counselors expertly handle prospect inquiries and increase patient conversion rates. They are specifically trained to handle calls from potential vision correction patients, and to guide them through understanding vision correction surgery and the individual practice strengths and expertise. Using web-based patient scheduling tools, they can book an initial consultations and offer financing solutions to make the procedure more affordable.

A 2004 national survey showed that over 70% of vision correction practices had no evening or weekend phone coverage for prospective patients, beyond an answering service for emergency calls. FirstContact extends beyond answering the phone to booking an appointment.

“With FirstContact, the calls are professionally handled,” added Harper. “The counselors not only learn about the prospective patient and help educate them, they can book an initial consultation when the office is closed.”

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28 September 05 - Complimentary ‘Consumer Services Assessment' Offered to Vision Correction Practices

SARASOTA, FL (September 28, 2005) – Refractive Partners, a Sarasota-based business focused on consumer communication and marketing services for vision correction practices, is offering a special promotion for the upcoming American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). Practices that contact Refractive Partners by October 7 th , will receive a complimentary CSA – Consumer Services Assessment - and are then invited to meet with Refractive Partners at AAO to discuss the findings.

“This assessment allows us to call your practice anonymously, posing as a prospective patient, to experience and evaluate the level of customer service provided,” said Ron Greenberg, President and Founder. “Our goal is to evaluate your practice's consumer communication strengths, and identify areas for improvement – with the goal of increasing consultations and ultimately, practice revenues.”

During the assessment, Refractive Partners contacts the practice anonymously, posing as a prospective patient to experience and evaluate the customer service provide. The types of information collected are:

•  Front desk greeting

•  Average wait time to reach a refractive counselor

•  Refractive procedure knowledge of counselor

•  Technology knowledge of counselor

•  Counselor's knowledge of doctor's experience and expertise

•  Number of calls that go to voice mail

•  Counselor's attempt to schedule a vision correction evaluation

•  Caller/prospect data collected by counselor

The Refractive Partners Business Advisor team, which has over 100 years' cumulative experience in ophthalmology, marketing and business solutions, will meet with the evaluated practice management during AAO to discuss possible goals and implementation plans that will address the findings of the assessment.

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6 August 2005 - Ron Greenberg Invited to Speak on Trends in Consumer-based Inquiries

Ron Greenberg, President of Refractive Partners, has been invited by Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) to speak at their upcoming course in September, prior to the OSN Symposium. Ron will be discussing trends in consumer services and communication management of inbound consumer inquiries, particularly as they relate to the introduction of refractive implants and the opportunities for cataract surgeons to enter the refractive surgery arena.

Presenting to both physicians and refractive coordinators, Greenberg will be sharing his expertise and data based on national studies conducted over past 3 years, and reviewing actual national case studies of practices who are currently uitilizing Refractive Partner's consumer communication solutions. "Before and after" data with be presented, with Greenberg fielding questions on how to integrate services and evolve practice infrastructure to best respond to consumer demand. For more information on this seminar, contact Refractive Partners.

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Resource Center

Placing a Premium on Quality
How our practice placed first in a national survey of refractive telephone counseling.
by Ming Wang, MD, Phd
Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, June 2006

"All staff members—administrative, marketing, and clinical—play a crucial role in the success of a premium LASIK practice. They need consistent training, because the field of refractive surgery is rapidly changing with new technologies and standards in care. Here lies the challenge: how can we keep our staff abreast of the surgeon’s current knowledge base in the face of such rapid technological and informational change?" Read more (pdf)...

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Good—The Enemy of Great
Why refractive surgeons must adopt a philosophy of continuous improvement.
by Shareef Mahdavi
Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, April 2006

"This past fiscal quarter, the refractive surgery industry in the US reached a milestone: 10 million eyes have now undergone laser vision correction since the first excimer lasers received FDA approval 1 decade ago. That’s 5 million Americans who are ambassadors for LASIK as well as for the new generation of refractive procedures available to surgeons and their patients. That’s good, but it’s not great." Read more (pdf)...

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Addressing the Weakest Link in Refractive Surgery:
Measuring and assessing telephone skills.
by Shareef Mahdavi
Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, August 2005

"Procedural advertising, although expensive and often subpar in quality, has created consumer awareness and can make the telephone ring with inquires......but most telephone counselors struggle with being able to effectively convert a caller's initial interest into a scheduled consultation." surgeons." Read more (pdf)...

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