Health Care Costs Climb
Topic: Optical--Sort Of
"In 2011, the combined average of premium and out-of-pocket costs for health care coverage for an employee is projected to climb to $4,386, according to an annual study by Hewitt Associates to be released this week. That's a 12.4 percent increase, or $486, over this year," according to a story posted on ChicagoTribune.

Autocorrecting Glasses Wins WSJ Tech Award
Topic: Eyewear

The Wall Street Journal  named Zoom Focus Eyewear  as one of its 10 winners of the WSJ's 2010 Silver Innovation Award. The Van Nuys, CA, company's TruFocals impressed the judges. A "wearer can manually adjust to give clear, undistorted vision whether reading a book, working on a computer or looking into the distance. The judges [also] praised the potential large-scale benefit of TruFocals. Richard S. Lang, one of the judges and a physician at the Cleveland Clinic, called the technology a paradigm shift in the way it addresses a problem 'that has been handled the same way for many years.'"

Consumer complaints on Rise
Topic: Optical

 As the number of individuals who have the eye exams in the real world and buy their eyeglasses in the virtual world, complaints are rising according to United Kingdom's Optical Consumer Complaints Service. That's the post on Optician.

 

An Overview of the US Optical Market
Topic: Optical

ResearchandMarkets has compiled the following about the US retail optical market: The market, comprising some 13,000 optician stores, annually pulls in around $8 billion, while the 20,000 optometrists' offices have a slightly larger haul, $11 billion. There are three large opticians, Luxottica Retail (LensCrafters and Pearle Vision), Eye Care Centers of America, and US Vision.

"The optician segment of the industry is concentrated: the 50 largest chains hold about 60 percent of the market. The optometrist segment is highly fragmented," says the report.  "Demand is driven by demographics, fashion, and changing healthcare practices. Most important is the aging US population, which is increasing demand for eye exams and glasses....Eyeglass purchases are mildly cyclical with the economy, as many consumers view extra glasses as an expense that can be deferred. Both segments of the industry are labor-intensive: average annual revenue per employee is about $130,000 for opticians and about $100,000 for optometrists."

New Study to Explore CXL
"A new study will explore the safety and effectiveness of corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) using Riboflavin/Dextran and Hypotonic Riboflavin in patients with progressive keratoconus and corneal ectasia," according to ContactLenses.co.uk. "The research is being carried out by the Cornea and Laser Eye Institute, with Dr Peter Hersh acting as principal investigator, and the specialists hope it will show how CXL can strengthen the cornea and decrease the progression of keratoconus."

Great Web Site by CDC's Vision Health Initiative
Topic: Eye Care

While researching the information for another blog entry, we stumble upon the Center for Disease Control's Vision Health Initiative website.

First the VHI notes that "approximately 11 million Americans 12 years and older could improve their vision through proper refractive correction. More than 3.3 million Americans 40 years and older are either legally blind (having best-corrected visual acuity of 6/60 or worse (=20/200) in the better-seeing eye) or are with low vision (having best-corrected visual acuity less than 6/12 (<20/40) in the better-seeing eye, excluding those who were categorized as being blind). The leading causes of blindness and low vision in the United States are primarily age-related eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. Other common eye disorders include amblyopia and Strabismus."

Second, it has excellent video on the eye's anatomy as well as common eye health issues, including refractive errors. Unfortunately we couldn't copy them into the blog or find them on YouTube. They could be valuable for instructing patients and new employees.

You can also access information about various states' vision health, such as Connecticut's:

Indicator	Percentage	95% CI
Visual Impairment
Distance Visual Impairment	14.2%	(13.0 - 15.5)
Near Visual Impairment	35.8%	(34.0 - 37.6)
Eye Diseases and Injury
Age-related Macular Degeneration	4.0%	(3.4 - 4.7)
Cataract	19.5%	(18.3 - 20.9)
Diabetic Retinopathy	21.6%	(17.2 - 26.8)
Glaucoma	4.2%	(3.6 - 4.8)
Access to Eye Care
Eye-care Visit in the Past Year	64.7%	(62.9 - 66.6)
Reasons for No Eye-care Visit
Cost/Insurance	17.9%	(15.5 - 20.5)
No Reason to Go	56.9%	(53.6 - 60.1)
Dilated Eye Examination in the Past Year	57.1%	(55.2 - 58.9)
Eye-care Insurance	72.1%	(70.4 - 73.7)

Data Source: CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System(BRFSS) at http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htm.
Suggested Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Vision Health Initiative. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/

 

New Health Care Rules Being Today
Topic: Optical--Sort Of
The NYTimes reports that "adjusting to the new terrain could push some insurers out of business, health care analysts say...'A lot of health plans will struggle and fail,' said Jeff Fusile, a health care partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers...The challenge for the industry as a whole will be to demonstrate an ability to oversee patient care and work closely with hospitals and doctors to find ways to improve the quality of care while trying to contain costs. To that end, insurers are making big investments in technology systems and new areas of expertise."

Feds Nab Millions in Fake Sunglasses
LA Times Now reported that "federal agents at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex seized thousands of pairs of knockoff sunglasses estimated to be worth more than $12 million...The 78,600 pairs of sunglasses...from China look 'confusingly similar' to designer brands such as Coach, Gucci and Emporio Armani."

New Research Center Studies Eye Health among African Americans
Topic: Eye Care

Rates of eye disease and vision impairment among older black  Americans are two times higher than for older whites, particularly for glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, due in part to less access to proper medical care, according to an announcement from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

With a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the university created the Translational Research Center (TRC) that will work with Cooper Green Mercy Hospital/Jefferson Health System to find ways to remove barriers to eye health care.

Nouveau Kicks Poor Vision
Topic: Eye Care
Nouveau Eyewear kicked off a series of vision screenings for children in rural South Africa. In five months, the campaign, called Bona Bolo (See the Ball), has brought vision care to more than 650 children. The Bona Bolo goal: Screening 2020 youth by the end of the year. To sustain the program's momentum, Nouveau recently teamed up with Dreamfields Project, a non-profit organization that helps rural schools restore their soccer fields. Read more.

"Teacher, Teacher! I Can't See!"
Topic: Eye Care

The state of Maine  surprised eye care providers when it raised its MaineCare dispensing fee to $14.40,  less than half what other states pay, reports the Portland PressHerald. To help children, "Portland school officials have raised more than $4,000 for a fund" to buy glasses for as many as 500 students who cannot afford them. The Portland Regional Chamber raised $1,000. Maine is not the only state in financial crisis and looking to  cut costs, including Medicaid coverage.

Avoidable Blindness Should Become a World Health Priority
Topic: Eye Care

TheStar, a New Zealand newspaper, reported that avoidable blindness had to be included in the broader development agenda to receive the necessary attention from policymakers, according to speakers at the World Congress on Refractive Error. Almost 700 million people in the world are vision impaired. Why? They can't get an eye exam or glasses. The World Health Organization has noted that the world economy annually loses $269 billion in productivity because of correctable myopia. 

Myopia in Individuals of Asian Decent
Topic: Optical
"Myopia affects many people around the world; however, it has shown to affect people of Asian backgrounds at an alarmingly higher rate. In countries such as Singapore, the rate of myopia is estimated at 90%," according to a posting  on AsiaWeek.

B&L Gets Miochol-E
Topic: Optical
BusinesWeek reports that Bausch & Lomb has finally acquired the drug Miochol-E from Novartis AG. Novartis had to stop selling Miochol-E if it were to buy Alcon, according to a Federal Trade Commission ruling. Why? Novartis and Alcon are the only two companies that sell injectable miotics, drugs that stabilize the iris during cataract surgery. Now Novartis will finalize its purchase of Alcon.

Old before Our Time
Topic: Optical--Sort Of
The UK's Mirror reports that "Wearing glasses ages people by at least three years, a survey claims.  Those who use spectacles are also regarded as "geeky" compared with people who do not. On average, glasses-wearers were put at 3.3 years older than they actually were, while specs aged people over 45 by five years."

Raising Mac D Awareness
Topic: Eye Care
Affecting more than 10 million Americans, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) remains the leading cause of vision loss in the United States. The global cost is higher. According to a recent report by AMD Alliance International (AMDAI), the dollar amount totals $343 billion.Sept. 18 to Sept. 26, AMDAI, along with  other eye-care organizations from 25 countries, has challenged doctors, patients and caregivers to learn more about AMD. The National Institutes of Health projects the number of AMD diagnoses to double to 20 million by 2020. Losing vision has devastating consequences to an individual's daily life and those affected by the disease often suffer from severe depression and loss of independence. During AMD Week, from

Aussies See Genetic Connection in the Case of Blindness and Have a New Way of Seeing the Ocular Fundus
Topic: Optical

"Researchers from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research's Genetics and Population Health Division have tapped into data collected from more than 1,000 sets of twins to discover genes that affect people's eyesight," according to a story posted on MiVision.

The website also reports: "A new imaging system using six different wavelengths to illuminate the interior of the eyeball (ocular fundus) may pave the way for optometrists and ophthalmologists to easily screen patients for common diseases of the eye, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy." The system is described in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments.

 

Gorilla Cataract Surgery--Yeap
Topic: Optical--Sort Of

NCNW & Transitions Optical Team Up
Topic: Eye Care
Recognizing the increased risks African Americans face for a number of eye health issues, Transitions Optical, Inc., a supplier of photochromic lenses, launched  "Healthy Sight for Life: Focus on African-American Eyes" campaign at the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)'s 25th annual Black Family Reunion Celebration in Washington, D.C.

IEI Launches Eye Care Program for Needy
Topic: Eye Care
The Illinois Eye Institute (IEI) has launched Chicago Vision Outreach, a pilot initiative providing eye care for patients in need. The program will connect optometrists to underserved patients who suffer from visual health problems asociated with chronic illnesses such as diabetes.