Our Philosophy
The Growth Cooperative will create and serve a nationwide, affordable, high-value eye care delivery system of independent practitioners that will move more consumers to care for their eyes and their children’s vision than ever before. Come join us.
The eye care industry is under-going a quiet, sea-change. Technology and services are changing the value landscape. Eye care is now completely accessible to consumers at so many retail locations and online. Traditional eye care providers have a choice of being cut out or to compete with a new set of resources and strategies. Enter The Growth Cooperative.
Unfortunately, eye care professionals are not steering market change, but instead, appear to be victims of it. The current co
nversation in eye care is not improved care, but improved profitability for practices owned by outside entities. Time for a change.
The Growth Cooperative has a vision for improved, integrated eye care to be the captain, and the cause, of change in our great eye care industry. We seek to demonstrate that higher quality care at reduced costs (that’s call value) through increased practice size, use of technology, understanding of vision plans, and the development of new services will be the winning formula for this critical healthcare sector. We must move from a ‘Mom and Pop’ environment of small practices towards greater practice size and service capabilities or suffer the consequences.
The shift from ‘volume’ to ‘value’ is occurring every day in eye care. One only need to look at the changes in primary care medicine. In optometry, the rapid rise of corporate retail optometry that has occurred over the last 20 years to understand that value is winning. Unfortunately, the value being driven by the large entity is actually just cheap. Real value also includes quality of care. Insurance is driving more and more buying decisions and small eye care groups have little influence and negotiating power with vision and medical insurers (see our blog post on Evaluating Vision Plans). It appears that the landscape is becoming ever more competitive and soon, solo and small group eye care practitioners will no longer to be able to stay in business without significant support and a very different strategy.
Big box retailers (not the doctors within them), online providers of both goods and services, and improved technologies are a competitive threat only when the call is for protection and a flailing towards high-cost, ‘quality’ care. A quick look at what has happened in medicine (primary care) and dentistry will show the path ahead for optometry and delineate the strategy to remain competitive in light of these changes. The key is not to swim against the current (protectionism), but rather to be the captains of change. We’re here to help
Our comprehensive strategy works to provide not just what is needed for your practice, but also what is required. Cost reduction, growth, use of technology and an alignment of our participating practices into larger, multi-location practices is our formula for success.