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| SUPPLEMENT TO EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS, MAY 6, 2023 Going beyond: Unique technologies designed to help your patients see brilliantly 4 Physician perspective: education drives patient satisfaction and practice benefits Jeffrey Horn, MD F or Jeffrey Horn, MD, patient education is of utmost impor- tance. "My practice is dedicated to patient education … providing patients the opportunity to choose how they want to see," Dr. Horn said. Research has shown that patient education not only increas- es patient understanding, but it can also decrease their anxiety on the day of surgery. 1 While this education is for the patient's benefit, Dr. Horn said that his practice has experienced secondary benefits from a well-informed patient population, including happy postop patients and patient retention. In Dr. Horn's practice, 8 out of 10 patients choose a presbyopia-correcting and/or toric IOL. Patient Willingness to Pay research sponsored by Alcon indicated that 42% of patients are willing to pay for an advanced- technology IOL when educated on their IOL options. 2 This is in contrast to the 2022 Q4 Market Scope report, which reported that advanced-technology IOLs (presbyopia-correcting and toric) account for 18.9% of total IOL sales. 3 The gap between current ad- vanced-technology IOL penetration and patient willingness to pay presents a significant opportunity for cataract refractive surgeons. Dr. Horn has various modalities to educate the patient at mul- tiple stages in their cataract journey. This includes print materials, digital tools (like Engage Ocular, Alcon's patient education plat- form that is intended to drive conversions), and verbal education from various staff members and himself. Dr. Horn said most patients think a cataract is a membrane or growth and removing it will improve vision. This lack of under- standing, Dr. Horn thinks, is why some patients don't opt to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for an advanced-technology IOL. "The ultimate goal is to have the patient understand that they have a cloudy lens in their eye that has to be replaced, and the new lens plays a significant role in whether their visual needs and desires are met," Dr. Horn said. Before coming to the office, patients are sent a brochure, which Dr. Horn wrote. It includes information about what a cata- ract is, the solution (lens extraction and replacement), and intro- duces different IOL options. The guide includes a questionnaire to help Dr. Horn begin determining each patient's visual needs. In the office, technicians tell patients how their measure- ments inform Dr. Horn on whether they need a new lens and what they might be a candidate for. Dr. Horn also has an informational video and provides patients with Engage Ocular. Engage Ocular is a digital education tool for cataract surgery that is designed to give patients consistent pre-appointment edu- cation and preop videos on their own smartphone. Dr. Horn said it helps set the stage for patient expectations with the procedure and begins informing on different IOL options. "Engage Ocular is a tool in my toolkit," Dr. Horn said, adding that it provides the patient with information so that they know they're looking at having a lens replacement and what their op- tions are so the discussion can focus on lens selection. Dr. Horn said the time spent at various stages educating patients with different modalities is "very cost effective." When patients understand they're having lens replacement, they see the value in the potentially better (for them) lens. "It's a win-win, for the patient most importantly, as well as the practice," he said. Dr. Horn said he saw a patient recently whose first eye was done at another practice. The surgery was perfect, but the patient was unhappy, in part, due to inadequate patient education. "[The other practice] said, 'It's either this one or that one, and you choose,' but that's not the way it should be. It should be, 'You tell me how you want to see and let me tell you what the side effect profile is going to be like, what you're going to be able to do, and what you can't do.' They never did that with this patient, and they lost his second surgery to me. They had an unhappy pa- tient, and the patient was unsure what to do with his second eye." The education up front also helps Dr. Horn in postop conver- sations. He said he'll remind patients postop of the preop conver- sations they had about their lens and its capabilities, if needed. Editors' note: Dr. Horn is the founder of Vision for Life in Nashville, Tennessee. He can be contacted at jdh@comcast.net. References 1. Zhang MH, et al. A randomized, controlled trial of video supplementation on the cataract surgery informed consent process. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2019;257:1719–1728. 2. Bruney PA. US ATIOL WTP Patient Tracker Baseline Report. January 2023. 3. Market Scope. Cataract Q4 Quarterly Update. Q4 – 2022. "My practice is dedicated to patient education … providing patients the opportunity to choose how they want to see." Jeffrey Horn, MD

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