NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations increased last week, May 15 – 21, when compared with the previous week at a rate of 1 index point. That places gross revenue at a level 7 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 21) when compared with last year (2022), 11 points above the same period in 2021, 31 points above 2020 (when COVID stay-at-home restrictions were in place), and 19 points above 2019, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.

Most optical sales categories were up last week when compared with the previous week, at rates of 1 index point for gross revenue, 1 index point for exams/refractions, -2 index points for frame units, -1 index point for lens pairs, and 3 index points for contact lenses. When comparing last week’s optical sales with the same period last year, all categories were up or flat, ranging from the highest increase of 7 index points for gross revenue to 0 index points for contact lenses.

The other categories increased at rates of 3 index points for exams/refractions, 1 index point for frame units, and 2 index points for lens pairs.

With most optical sales categories decreasing last week, only one of the categories still reached a level at or above an average week in 2019—the index baseline assigned a value of 100 for this Optical Business Tracker). These ranged from a high of 115 index points for gross revenue to a low of 92 index points for contact lenses. The other three categories reached 95 index points for exams/refractions, 96 index points for frame units, and 97 index points for lens pairs.

Jobson Optical Research selected 1,500 optical locations that have been operating and reporting their sales to its partners, GPN and ABB Analytics, since 2019. The index has been rebased to an average week in 2019. Going forward, this new index base will be used as an arbitrary benchmark and assigned a value of 100.

Click here to view the complete Jobson COVID-19 Performance Tracker