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Since its founding in 2008, the ECP group PERC has gone through a few iterations in structure and ownership, but yet maintained a way of operating and thinking that rests upon the philosophy of being fiercely independent. This is still the central idea that PERC general manager Dr. Jason Lake, OD, brings to his role with the organization.

Lake, together with his wife, Dr. Susan Lake, are the principals of a five-location practice in the Kansas City, Mo., area. He was named to this GM role in August 2020, and he’s now settling into overseeing one of the larger independent ECP business groups with its more than 6,500 participating members. (Lake also in the past year was named general manager of the Opti-Port alliance, which includes ECP practices with four or more locations, and both groups are under the Essilor Alliance umbrella.)

“I was a PERC member for a very long time,” Lake said in a recent interview with Vision Monday, noting that his own eyecare business began as a one-location practice and that PERC provided “a foundation” and the community support that helped it grow to its present size. While some PERC members do operate large-volume practices, they are typically under four locations overall.

“PERC is kind of a different model, where these are the independent practices that [founder David Golden] used to say are the ones that he thought defined PERC as being fiercely independent. I’ve always held on to that. I thought that was a really cool way to say that if we can provide services for our customers at the PERC level—and we are the only no-cost model—we know that if they all lean in and grow, we’re all going to win together.”





One of the strengths of the PERC organization is the negotiations it conducts on behalf of its members so they can focus on patient care, and other elements of an eyecare practice. In addition, the PERC Advantage program provides access to a members-only inventory of top frame brands, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Coach, Michael Kors, Prada and Tory Burch, with free shipping. There’s also a centralized warehouse to prevent delays or backorders and PERC-exclusive, high-margin brands that help practices compete in a managed care environment, the group noted.

During the height of the COVID pandemic, the PERC Advantage program was helpful to practices that may have run into delivery and fulfillment issues. “One of my big pushes for the team was to [help] our members in need of core competencies. What do we do well? We’ve got the world’s largest and best lab network,” Lake said.

“When everyone else can’t get lenses, [our goal was] to make sure that our team members were getting the product to take care of their customers. … The same goes for frames, where we can leverage heavily on our Luxottica relationship to make sure that our people are getting the things that they need.”

PERC members also value the opportunity to pick the services and other offerings provided to members on an “a la carte” basis. “That’s been a real win for PERC,” Lake said, noting that the organization historically has had a good eye for aligning with the right vendor partners.

“We try to figure out—as Wayne Gretzky used to say about the puck—where the industry is going so we can be ahead of it, and pick the right vendors so our [members] don’t have to go out and look around.”

Looking ahead, Lake said he is enthusiastic about the opportunities the upcoming PERC Elevate meeting will provide to members. The meeting, scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 15, in Dana Point, Calif., has a new format for the organization and will be larger than the regional events PERC typically holds.

It also will bring in more top-level speakers. There is no COPE-approved education planned on the Saturday of the event, but rather speakers who were chosen to provide insights on how to “elevate” one’s thinking and how to approach things differently. Sunday will be more typical of PERC’s past events.

The new format part of Elevate is “more of a TED Talk format in that we are hoping to bring about discussion, and thinking that allows our members to elevate the way they think about their practices,” Lake said.

He added, “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I have a real penchant for fun. … My big thing is to infuse a ton of energy into the Elevate meeting and make it a very coveted invitation.”