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What ECPs Are Saying About Apps

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Matt Alpert, OD, Alpert Vision Care, Woodland Hills, Calif.
“I put apps in two categories: things that help me medically, and things that help from a retail/sales standpoint. There’s not always a direct ROI from what you’re trying to sell. Instead, it’s about a feeling the patient has, the impression that you embrace technology. That leaves the patient feeling like they’ve had the best eyecare experience possible.”



 
Kyle Kravick, retail manager, Davis Duehr Dean, Madison, Wisc.
“We have 19 locations in southern Wisconsin, and we’re using iPads with apps in about 99 percent of our locations. We have three or four iPads in each location. We have found that we can use the iPads like a pupilometer, so we’ve gotten rid of pupilometers for the most part. We also use the iPads for frame selection.”

“This technology is keeping us ahead of the competition. These days, if you’re not on some kind of digital measurement system, you’re falling behind.”



Eric White, OD, Complete Family Vision Care, San Diego, Calif.
“I have embraced apps and other technology in my office over the last few years by investing in the best possible technology. It has made a big difference. Every patient that leaves my office says ‘wow’.”






 
Steve Vargo, OD, MBA, Eagle Eye Optique, Crown Point, Ind.
“The opportunity to attract patients and the ability to stay connected to people is more important than ever. Apps relate to the transition to mobile as a way people seek information, on the same level as a lot of practices now have a mobile version of their websites to be more succinct, more compact and provide the quick information that you need.”

“The last couple of years I’ve been using apps a lot more. It’s improved my efficiency. I don’t have to look up stuff. It’s nice to have things in one source, to have it right here. We use apps more for clinical. I use them to make contact lens adjustments, to look up pharmaceutical information, and to help with diagnosis. You can show patients the different clinical diagnoses. You can show a picture of what you are trying to explain. You can show an image of what AMD would look like if they had it.”



 
Dennis DeLee, OD, Dean Optical, Chicago
“People love apps. Patients can contact us anytime they want, look up their information, in the middle of night pick up the phone and send us a message, order more contact lenses. It’s another way we can keep our face in front of them. Having your own app is something cool, something different than just doing Yelp and Facebook.”





 
Mary Anne Murphy, OD, Broomfield, Colo.
“The flexibility of having multiple apps on your iPad and be able to move from app to app in front of the patient increases the experience. We can switch to cross check medications, an education video, and to be able to do it right from the iPad is simple and straightforward. Apps narrow it down to exactly what you want to use without having to search through a bunch of windows.”




 
Paul Harris, OD, FCOVD, FACBO, FAAO, FNAP, professor, Southern College of Optometry, Memphis
“I probably have at least six apps that I could name that I use almost daily. As a health care professional, apps for reference are so nice to have, providing fingertip references to drug classifications, pricing on various medications, and various other references to how to design lenses. There are a ton of reference apps that I find quite helpful. One example is a demonstration app that shows what someone with a color problem would see. You point your iPhone at a scene, and it shows you what’s normal and what the color blind person sees. It won’t help the person with a color problem, but you can show their family members how they see.”