Home Marco: Diagnostic Solutions Automated Refraction System Accelerates Practice Growth

Automated Refraction System Accelerates Practice Growth

Since Christine Bartoletti, OD, purchased Vista Eye Care, a Vision Source® practice in Green Valley, Arizona, in 2007, she has moved twice because the practice has simply outgrown its space. There are several factors that Dr. Bartoletti says have contributed to the growth that has fueled these expansions. In January, Samantha Nogales, OD, became a part-owner in the practice. There are four doctors, who together work the equivalent of three full-time ODs, while the practice is open 50 hours per week. There are always two ODs on, and on Fridays, three ODs are in at the same time. The practice flow system they use is that each doctor has three designated rooms, so with the most recent expansion, they can keep three doctors going at capacity as demand increases.

Five of the nine exam rooms have a TRS-5100, and a Marco autorefractor and autolensmeter are in the pretest room. The technician carries the data card from the pretest room and has the data loaded in the TRS-5100 when the doctor arrives. “Typically, two of us have two rooms with a TRS and one room that is used for workups or other procedures,” she says. “Having the TRS system has cut down so much on the time required to enter data into the phoropter and into the electronic health record. It shortens the time doing the refraction, and the choices are easier for patients, who often get stressed about determining which is clearer.” She says she estimates it has saved about four minutes per patient. With two doctors working a full day, those minutes allow for extra exam slots each week.

“Best of all, at the end, with a push of a button, I can show the patient the comparison between the prescription they came
in with and the one we’ve generated,” she says. That process would take so long to do manually that, prior to having the TRS system in the office, she might have made the determination that the change was small enough not to warrant new eyeglasses.

That process definitely helps sell eyeglasses, she says. With the most recent expansion, the practice now offers a dispensary with more than 1,000 frames on display. “Even for patients who have not had a change in the prescription, there’s a good chance that most
of them don’t have all the eyewear they need. So we promote primary pairs, sunglasses and computer glasses to all of our patients,” she says.

Beyond patient satisfaction and increased profitability, there’s a third benefit to the Marco TRS-5100 system, says Dr. Bartoletti.
“Those systems have saved my back. Before I brought the Marco system, I was having back problems and seeing a chiropractor regularly. I was uncomfortable all the time,” she recalls. The TRS console sits on a table near her chair, and making adjustments requires none of the repetitive motions of adjusting the phoropter. Now, her pain is gone. “For my younger doctors, they’re never going to reach the point that I was approaching, where practicing was painful.”

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