Financing for Specialty Vision Care: Helping Patients Move Forward with Treatment

Whether patients visit your practice for routine eye exams or specialized vision care, they all share one thing — the desire for healthy eyes and clear vision. When it comes to treatments or eyewear, however, costs can often be a concern. By offering flexible financing options, you can help ease these worries, making it easier for your patients to move forward with the care and products they want and need.

In this article, we will cover the benefits of offering specialty vision care at your optometry or practice, how financing can help more patients move forward with that care and strategies for having effective financing discussions.

Benefits of Offering Specialty Vision Care

When your practice offers specialty eye care in addition to routine services, patients can manage all their vision care needs in one place, saving them the time and effort of finding other providers and scheduling separate appointments. This gives you a chance to build trust and enhance the provider-patient relationship. Patients can also receive more immediate treatment, which has obvious health benefits.

All of this can contribute to a better patient experience, which in turn can benefit your practice. When you become a patient’s go-to vision care provider, you can help ensure their repeat business for the full spectrum of vision care needs for every member of the family — from pediatric to geriatric optometry or ophthalmology.

Optometry specialties

To serve patients with different needs, consider hiring optometrists with specialized skills in these areas:¹

• Contact lenses
• Sports and performance vision
• Vision rehabilitation for low vision
• Vision therapy for visual skills and processing

With a specialty in sports and performance vision, for example, your optometry practice can reach some of the 89 to 90 million Americans who may need to protect their eyes and ensure optimal vision while playing sports.²

Ophthalmology specialties

While general ophthalmologists diagnose and treat a wide range of eye problems and conditions, you may also consider hiring ophthalmologists trained in a subspecialty, such as:³

• Corneal disease
• Glaucoma
• Neuro-ophthalmology
• Oculoplastic surgery
• Retina

With a subspecialty in glaucoma, for instance, you can treat some of the approximately 3 million Americans with this disease, helping patients protect their eyes and prevent vision loss.⁴

Patient Financing Can Help More Patients Move Forward with Care

Offering specialty vision care can help your practice reach clients you otherwise might not see. But for patients who can’t use insurance or flexible spending accounts — or whose vision coverage is limited — cost for such care may be a concern.

That’s where patient financing solutions can offer many benefits. With financing for specialty vision care, patients may be able to pay for their care over time. This can make them more likely to avoid putting off appointments and comply with recommended care, which is better for their overall health.⁵

“We never want anybody’s healthcare and quality of life to be put on hold because of financial barriers,” says Meg Munro (Bjorklund), director of OVO Lasik + Lens in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. “We want to be known in the community as an approachable practice — someone that offers premium options but also that takes into consideration a myriad of incomes and financial situations.”

Additionally, with revolving credit (credit that allows someone to borrow money up to a certain limit, pay off the balance, and then borrow up to that amount again), it becomes easy for patients to keep coming back for continued care, such as when they need glasses or contacts in the future or they require additional procedures for chronic vision conditions.

Financing for Specialty Vision Treatment

Consider how financing can help patients move forward with specialty vision care services.

Myopia management

A recent American Optometric Association survey revealed that one-third of candidates for myopia management defer treatment. Of those who defer treatment, 80% do so because of costs.⁶ By offering financing options that allow patients to pay for myopia management over time — including atropine eye drops, orthokeratology and multifocal contacts — you can help people get the treatment they need or want when they're ready for it.

Dry eye therapy

There is a lack of standard health insurance coverage or reimbursement for dry eye therapies like intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy.⁷ Because of this, patients may be concerned about their out-of-pocket expenses for IPL or other dry eye therapies, such as LipiFlow^®, iLux^®, TearCare^®, BlephEx^®, NuLids™ or punctal plug surgery. With financing options like the CareCredit credit card, you can offer a way to help fit the cost of vision care into a patient's monthly budget.

Cosmetic eye surgery

Cosmetic surgeries like blepharoplasty, which has an average national cost* of $4,451, are typically not covered by health insurance, and this can create a barrier to patients moving forward with care.⁸ Your ophthalmology practice can help open doors to patients by offering financing solutions. 

Financing for Specialty Lenses

The use of digital technology has increased significantly worldwide. People spend about eight to 12 hours a day on screens, and 80% of adults report related symptoms such as headaches, eye strain or tired eyes.⁹ By offering specialty lenses to combat these symptoms, your optometry practice can help address a pressing need in some patients. This might include:

• Add-on coatings. Common options include anti-reflective, UV and blue light protection
• Avulux^® lenses. Prescription lenses that can filter light to help those living with migraines
• Neurolens. Designed to detect and correct eye misalignment with contoured prism lenses, reducing the impact of digital eyestrain-related headache symptoms⁹

These lenses may not be covered or reimbursed by insurance, so offering financing options can help your patients find the specialty vision care that fits their budget.

Financing for Additional Eyeglass Needs

Patients who wear glasses may be interested in more than a single pair of basic frames. Let’s say they find a pair of designer frames they love at an eye care center, like LensCrafters® or Pearle Vision^®, or a must-have pair of prescription sunglasses at a retailer like Sunglass Hut^®. Or maybe they just know they need a second pair of glasses for work or home.

All of these choices might incur more out-of-pocket expenses. With financing options, you can offer a helpful way for patients to pay for their additional eyeglass wants and needs.

Cost and payment plan examples

Here's how CareCredit can help make out-of-pocket costs more manageable with flexible financing options.

1. Designer frames

Let’s look at the average cost* of designer eyeglasses and see how a 6 Month Promotional Financing offer with CareCredit could work.¹⁰

Consider this scenario: Ms. Jones owes $431 for designer frames, which are not covered by her insurance plan. With a financing solution like CareCredit, she can break up that cost into six payments, which amounts to suggested equal monthly payments of $72 per month.

As long as Ms. Jones makes her required minimum monthly payments and pays the entire promotional balance within the six-month promotional period, she can pay for her designer frames over time and avoid paying interest. If she doesn’t pay the $431 in full within the six-month promotional period, interest will be charged to her account from the purchase date.

2. Dry eye therapy

Consider the average cost* of dry eye therapy and see how a 12 Months Promotional Financing offer with CareCredit could work.¹⁰

Here’s the scenario: Mr. Wilson owes $624 for intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy to treat dry eyes, which is not covered by his insurance plan. With CareCredit, he can break up that cost into 12 payments, which amounts to suggested equal monthly payments of $52 per month.

As long as Mr. Wilson makes his required minimum monthly payments and pays the entire promotional balance within the 12-month promotional period, he can pay for the IPL dry eye therapy over time and avoid paying interest. If he doesn’t pay the $624 in full within the 12-month promotional period, interest will be charged to his account from the purchase date.

Discussing Financing With Patients

Wondering how you can speak to patients about common out-of-pocket expenses for specialty eye care? Try these tips:

• During the initial call, look up the patient’s insurance coverage to help them determine their out-of-pocket expenses. Provide information about payment options to help them make informed decisions about their vision care.
• In the consultation room, use easy-to-understand language when discussing costs and financial responsibilities and answer any questions the patient may have.
• At checkout, let patients know you offer financing solutions to help them pay for ongoing eye care for chronic vision conditions, such as myopia or dry eye, or for future eyeglass or contact lens needs.

By offering patient financing solutions for specialty eye care treatments like myopia management, therapies like dry eye therapy and eyewear like specialty lenses, you can make it easy for patients to access specialized services that support healthy vision — and to return to your practice for all their vision needs.

A Flexible Financing Solution for Vision Care

If you want to help your patients or clients manage the cost of the vision care solutions they want or need, you may want to consider offering the CareCredit credit card as a payment option. CareCredit allows cardholders to pay out-of-pocket expenses over time (for needs such as premium frames, contact lenses and vision care) while helping to enhance the payments process for your practice or business.**

When you accept CareCredit, patients or clients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on every qualifying purchase.** Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bio

Robyn Tellefsen is a freelance writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience covering health and wellness, finance and more. Her work has appeared on sites such as LoopNet, Beachside Rehab, First Horizon Bank, SoFi, A Place for Mom, American Express, Chase and more.

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