Pursuing Efficiency
It’s easy to feel cloudy on the subject of cataract surgery. In fact, it’s appropriate, given it’s a dense topic. When it comes to this conversation, Navigate clears things up and helps individuals find confidence in their decision-making capabilities.
For one such Navigate practice, they knew that nailing their workflow was well worth the effort and would reap exponential benefits for patients, staff, and their overall practice. They specifically targeted their cataract evaluations, as those appointments often require extra time for patients to absorb a lot of new information.
Many tools had been implemented to begin patient education in advance of cataract evals, but most had only been effective at increasing the staff’s workload. With their dedicated team handling a high volume of patients, cataract education wasn’t as effective as leaders knew it could be.
“Cataract patient education doesn’t fully work without a human touch. Our literature and videos are a good start, but adding a human touch alongside those materials helps bring it all together for a more effective outcome.”
Operations Manager from a Navigate Practice
Two-Way Conversations Are Crucial
The ophthalmology industry has long upheld the value of patient education and its benefits to a practice’s overall surgical and financial performance. The development of digital platforms has offered many efficient solutions; however, most don’t allow patients a two-way conversation with a compassionate, knowledgeable human beyond their in-clinic appointments. It’s those back and forth conversations that yield the most positive benefits for practices.
“Patients who come in educated are able to have higher quality discussions about their options. Those patients are also the most willing to invest more in their vision.”
Cataract Surgeon 6 months after using Navigate
A Human Approach to Patient Education
Our patient educators — called Navigators — facilitate education for cataract patients on behalf of your practice. Navigators are:
- Knowledgeable professionals with surgical backgrounds in ophthalmology or optometry.
- Timely and proactive. Patients respond well to a counselor who contacts them to discuss their surgery and is available when they need to initiate conversations.
“Navigate took the time to understand our goals, internal processes, and preferences. After going live, we were surprised by how quickly we were able to see call details and data, which have been insightful and exciting. Navigators make clear, concise documentation of each patient call and it has expedited premium discussions.”
Operations Manager from a Navigate Practice
Quality Relationships Produce Valuable Results
Since 2022, this Navigate practice has partnered with Navigate Patient Solutions to educate its cataract patients. In that time, the practice’s surgeons have noted that patients now arrive at their evaluations more familiar with the pros and cons of each lens category with a clearer understanding of their value. Because of this, more patients are investing in premium lenses.
| Provider | Educated Sx | Pre-Navigate pIOL Rate | Navigate pIOL Rate | Est. Revenue Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 97 | 10.34% | 19.12% | $27,511.56 |
| 2 | 169 | 11.32% | 17.24% | $38,460.38 |
| 3 | 168 | 2.50% | 15.63% | $80,115.00 |
| 4 | 465 | 36.94% | 52.54% | $309,362.16 |
| 5 | 285 | 7.95% | 31.98% | $265,045.45 |
| 6 | 123 | 9.30% | 15.00% | $25,525.58 |
| 7 | 224 | 1.39% | 7.24% | $49,777.78 |
How It Works
Navigate’s patient educators use proprietary technology to facilitate discussions via phone, video, and text with patients and their loved ones in an efficient, compliant, and effective manner.
Education begins at the time of a cataract diagnosis and continues through the upcoming cataract evaluation.
Our Process Is Simple:
- Patients schedule a cataract evaluation with your clinic.
- We connect the patient with one of our expert Navigators.
- Our Navigator educates the patients about options for their upcoming surgery, answers questions, and builds a relationship with the patient.
- Navigators document what they learn from patients with surgeons and their teams in advance of the evaluation.
Our Goals Are Clear:
- Become an extension of your practice. We use your practice’s name and talking points so that patients never hear “Navigate Patient Solutions.”
- Focus on education. Navigators focus on building a trusting relationship, not pushing a specific lens.
- Ensure patients are comfortable selecting a new lens during their evaluation and that they arrive more confident and less worried about their procedure.
- Provide detailed information from Navigator/patient interactions that helps practice staff lead patients through the surgical process.
- Remove some of the headaches of recruitment and retention from your practice.
Connect with us to learn how our customized, human approach to patient education can benefit your practice.
