SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—Professional Eye Care Associates of America (PECAA), a national alliance of independent optometrists, held its business symposium here at the Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, Nov. 8-10. In addition to a two-part continuing education course, a two-day general session on a variety of topics, and new peer-to-peer breakout sessions, PECAA also announced partnerships with Luxottica, 4PatientCare and Glimpse during the three-day event.

The meeting began Friday afternoon with a two-part CE course on “Building a Medical Billing Foundation,” presented by Jason Miller, OD. The general session, which began on Saturday morning and continued through Sunday, included topics on “Meeting Not Exceeding Patient Expectations,” “Are We Living in an Experiment?” “Enhancing Your Practice, Today & Tomorrow,” “Elevating the Dispensary Experience,” “Wavefront Optimization: Is this the Future of Refraction?” and “Growing Your Practice Revenue.”

“This year’s business symposium continued to build on the principles and strategies that PECAA has been implementing on behalf of its members for the past three years,” said Lance Anderson, OD, one of PECAA’s three founding doctors. “We will continue to be a strong resource for our members as we work together to navigate the many changes in our industry.”

The meeting concluded with the Industry Leadership Discussion Panel on upcoming challenges and opportunities for independent optometry, product innovation, and strategies and plans for future growth through acquisitions and industry consolidation. Panelists included Gregg Fowler, VP, sales & marketing, Hoya Vision; Steve Mitrakos, senior VP, U.S customer development, Zeiss; Terry Koritz, VP, marketing, Vistakon; Dan Schauer, senior VP/GM, client & broker business unit, VSP Global; Mark McKenna, VP, sales, Bausch + Lomb; and Nicola Perini, VP, sales, eastern region, Luxottica.

“I’ve been in practice for 30 years and am still learning,” said PECAA member Granville Lawrence, OD, from Calhoun Vision Center in Minneapolis, Minn. “This was my first PECAA meeting, and it was timely, relevant and interesting. I am looking forward to the next five years!”

PECAA’s 2014 Annual Meeting will be held May 2-4 at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort & Spa in San Antonio, Texas. ■
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PECAA’s founders are (l to r) Bradley Smith, OD, Lance Anderson, OD, and David Wolf, OD.

The two-day general session began on Saturday morning and continued through Sunday.

Jason Miller, OD, presented a CE course on “Building a Medical Billing Foundation.”

The PECAA Business Symposium welcome reception was held outdoors at the Camelback Inn Resort & Spa.

At the welcome reception, (l to r) Bryan Hoban, PECAA’s member business analysis manager, met with Mauri Bauer, OD, Greg Schober, OD, Tom Barreto, OD and Sandra Sabo.

With PECAA’s COO, Chris Millet (c), Industry Leadership Discussion panelists (l to r) were Gregg Fowler, Nicola Perini, Terry Koritz, Mark McKenna, Steve Mitrakos and Dan Schauer.