How an Ohio eye care practice increased patients, surgeries, and online ratings with Rendia
Like many eye care practices, Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons was used to doing patient education a certain way. “Our practice was almost completely paper-based,” said COO Katie L. Greiner, O.D. “We would send mailers to educate patients, and the lobby was full of brochures on different procedures and conditions. It was very old-fashioned.”
This old-school approach extended to the exam rooms as well. “We had pictures of eye anatomy hanging on the wall, which caused our doctors to take a lot of extra time while educating patients about their condition. Patients would still leave confused,” she said.
That’s not exactly the image this high-volume comprehensive ophthalmology practice wanted to project. The practice was not leveraging technology, doing much with their website, or even capturing patient emails, said Dr. Greiner, mostly because “we didn’t have enough content to send them.”
The practice has seen an 18 percent increase in patients overall, 10 percent more cataract surgeries, and a 25 percent increase in LASIK patient visits.
That all changed when she received an email from Rendia about its visual educational software that facilitates better doctor-patient communication and empowers patients to make informed health decisions. After learning more about the easy-to-use technology and exploring Rendia’s robust video library, Dr. Greiner was on board.
Since implementing Rendia, the practice has seen an 18 percent increase in patients overall, 10 percent more cataract surgeries, and a 25 percent increase in LASIK patient visits. In addition, three times fewer patients are calling with questions, and the practice has 4+ star ratings across sites on the Internet. Here’s how they did it.
How the practice educates patients through multiple avenues
The first step was purchasing iPads for all three of their practice locations. Each iPad had the Rendia app already downloaded with educational videos covering LASIK, cataract surgery, and premium IOL options. “When a patient considering a surgery comes into one of our offices, we immediately hand them an iPad upon arrival that has a video about the surgery already queued up and ready to play,” said Dr. Greiner. “We’ve found that patients have a much better understanding of the surgery after watching the short video.”
“After using Rendia to learn about different options, we’ve found that patients are able to make a more confident and informed treatment decision.” – Dr. Katie Greiner
Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons is also using Rendia with patients who come in for their annual eye exams. If patients bring up questions about specific surgeries, the educational videos are readily available to show them on the iPad. “After using Rendia to learn about different treatments, we’ve found that patients are able to make a more confident and informed treatment decision,” said Dr. Greiner.
In fact, the practice doesn’t wait until patients are already in the exam room to educate them. Now, they do collect patient email addresses because they have content to send them. Every patient who schedules any type of cataract or LASIK evaluation is emailed an informative video beforehand, and is directed to the practice’s website where they can watch videos on other topics.
Once they come in for their appointment, patients will see Rendia videos playing in the waiting areas and dilating rooms—putting any questions they have for the doctors top of mind, explained Dr. Greiner. “We’ve found that reinforcing the information through these different avenues is an extremely effective way to educate patients about their condition and treatment options.”
Challenge: getting 10 clinicians up to speed with new technology
Introducing new technology at a practice the size of Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons—with three locations, five ophthalmologists, and five optometrists—could definitely be a challenge. “We don’t do anything in our practice without everyone trying it,” said Dr. Greiner.
After just one meeting on how to use Rendia effectively, the entire care team was on board.
After just one meeting on how to use Rendia effectively, the entire care team was on board, she said. They discovered the technology is so intuitive that you don’t need to be tech-savvy to use it. While they initially considered launching a pilot with one provider, they ended up rolling it out to everyone’s patients at once.
“Implementing was the biggest hurdle for us, but our customer success manager, Janice Mitchell, was there to provide support along the way. Once we got implementation down it’s been very easy to use,” said Dr. Greiner.
The success is measurable
The feedback on Rendia has been overwhelmingly positive from both providers and patients. “Our newest retina specialist was blown away by all of the patient education options she had with Rendia” as compared to other sources of patient education, said Dr. Greiner.
As for patients, “we’ve found that they aren’t as scared about a procedure because Rendia videos are animated, but still technical—which gives patients a good grasp of what’s going on without grossing them out,” she added. Rendia also sets Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons apart from the other practices in the area, noted Dr. Greiner.
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