Practice Advantage

In this episode, we sit down with Will Flanagan, Head of Programs and Partnerships at VSP's Global Innovation Center to discuss the role of AI in practice, how to get started, and the best applications to improve how you run your practice.  Key Takeaways: If you're just getting started with AI, the best way to get started is to go to one leading platform and bring it one of your practice challenge...

Our guest is Dr. Patricia Poma, industry expert, consultant, and known for her success in private practice. In this episode, we discuss leadership lessons for practice growth, strategies for success implementing new technology like Sequel and Neurolenses, and the PECAA Annual Meeting.  Key Takeaways: Success in private practice depends on your own willingness to grow and change on a personal and p...

Key Takeaways: Virtual Field has rebranded to Carrot to create new opportunities for their future in delivering an expanded virtual reality pretesting platform. Carrot's platform now includes more than visual field - pupillometry, color vision, ocular motility. In the near future, the platform will include contrast sensitivity, D-15, and cover test available to be done within the platform. In addi...

In this episode, we sit down with PECAA's President Jonathan Worrall to discuss strategies for leading through uncertainty and taking advantage of the opportunities that any challenge provides.  Key Takeaways: Be change ready. Build your business strategy with possible adversaries to address and plans for how you'd respond to them.  Your business isn't the only one facing uncertainty. All of your...

It's January 2026 and time to focus on your 2026 practice goals. What do you want to accomplish and where do you want to take your business this year? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Jenn DenHartog, founder of Premier Vision Clinic in Clive, IA to ask her tips for success in growing a dry eye and aesthetics practice.  Key Takeaways: Own your role in medical optometry. Most patient cases don'...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Connor Smallwood, owner of Smallwood Eye Associates in Gahanna, OH. Dr. Smallwood has built a practice that empowers his life outside the business. His story is a powerful one.  Key Takeaways: Buying an established practice gave him a head start with the patient base especially a base that was loyal. Spending time in the practice by himself allowed the practic...

In today's episode, our guests are Saul Alvarez, found of Midbrain, and Dr. Chantel Garcia, founder and owner of Carolina Eye Doctors in Harrisburg, NC, talking about the power of marketing and how your website and external marketing drives the experience your patients will have in your practice.  Key Takeaways: While websites feel like old hat, they shouldn't. Your website should tell your story,...

We're live from Vision Expo West in Las Vegas in the buzz of the show, discussing the new direction for Newton, formerly Neurolens with CEO and co-founder Davis Corley.  Key Takeaways: Newton was inspired by Isaac Newton, one of the earliest fathers of optics and prism opening a new direction for three pillars: Sequel, Neurolens, and AI innovation. Sequel is the newest lens portfolio to hit the ma...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Brett Richardson, founder of DermaCautery to discuss chemical cauterization of benign skin lesions, who can perform it in the practice, and the benefits it brings to your business and your patients.  Key Takeaways: Chemical cauterization of lid lesions is within the training of optometrists, and is permitted in many, but not all states. The procedure is relati...

In this unscripted episode, we sit down with PECAA President Jonathan Worrall to discuss the importance of connection as a person, business owner, and with your team. No question list. No prepared answers.  Key Takeaways: Connection with yourself is critical to success as a business leader. Knowing your values, what drives your integrity, and how to be present is what sets great leaders apart from...

In this episode, we sit down with Mike Kogelis, co-founder of Big City Optical, a 20 location private optometry practice in Chicagoland. Primarily growing by individual cold starts, Mike is a wealth of knowledge in building and scaring a practice.  Key Takeaways: Having a disciplined, growth mindset is the foundation for scaling your practice as large as you want to build it. You can't grow your b...

In this episode, Dr. Manning shares some key takeaways from the 2025 PECAA Annual Meeting and the power of storytelling. Key takeaways: Humans are far more likely to remember details, facts, and information when they're wrapped in a story v. just shared individually. In fact, facts are up to 22x more likely to be remembered when they're wrapped into a narrative than shared individually. Humans pri...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Steve Faith, co-owner of Livermore Optometry Group in Livermore, CA to discuss data driven decision making with vendor partners, what a good partnership looks like, and leveraging the right data to drive practice success.  Key Takeaways:  Best advice: "Independent practice is not that difficult. You only have to do two things. Make sure people like you and con...

In this Tales From The Trenches episode, we sit down with Dr. Emily Ridge, owner of Elite Eye Care in Hernando, MS. Emily started her practice nearly 3 years ago and has learned a lot along the way, growing faster than she planned. Key Takeaways: Emily knew she wanted to be an optometrist in elementary school and as she worked her way back to her home town, knew that starting her own practice was...

In this episode, we sit down with the founders of the 2 Blind Brothers apparel company Brad and Bryan Manning to discuss the positive impact their wildly successful clothing brand has had on blindness research and treatment advancement for Stargardt's maculopthy, a condition both brothers have.  Key Takeaways: 2BB has a powerful origin story. Brad and Bryan were shopping in Bloomingdales when they...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Danny Clarke, Chief Business Officer of Amplify Hearing USA to discuss the demand and opportunity of offering audiology and hearing care to your patients.  Key Takeaways: Only 20% of Americans who have hearing loss use hearing aids. In Europe where audiology and optometry are close partners, it's more than 33%. In the UK and Denmark, it's over 45%. In Europe,...

The light sensitivity and photophobia associated with migraines can be debilitating for many of the patients who walk through our doors. In this episode, we sit down with Derek Johnson from Avulux to discuss the role Avulux's lenses play in alleviating the symptoms of migraines.  Key Takeaways: Avulux is a light filtration system that filters out specific wavelengths of light that have been shown...

In this episode, we sit down with Shelley Paxton, Chief Soul Officer of Soulbattical to discuss an inward look at ourselves as leaders and business owners to make our work, the why behind what we do, more fulfilling.  Key Takeaways: A "Soulbattical" is a time to take a step back, realign the work you're doing with what matters most to you, and living it out each day in your work. It involves livin...

In this episode, we sit down with Catherine Bornbaum, PhD, MBA, Chief Business Officer at RetiSpec, an AI company that uses fundus photography to detect Alzheimer's disease risk and development.  Key Takeaways: RetiSpec's technology works with most standard fundus cameras and uses AI to assess and detect the retinal changes associated with amyloid deposition - the biggest risk factor and key diagn...

In this episode, we're continuing our focus on the Future of Eye Care with frequent Practice Advantage guest, Shelby Wade, PECAA's Marketing Business Advisor to discuss how marketing will evolve in the future and what things we'll need to pay attention to as we communicate with our patients in the future.  Key Takeaways: Word of Mouth will always play a key aspect of marketing, but we must continu...

In this episode, we're continuing our focus on the Future of Eye Care with Jim McGrann and David Spear, CEO and President and Chief Strategy Officer, respectively, of Advancing Eye Care to discuss the future of equipment technology.  Key Takeaways: Diagnostic equipment plays two critical roles both today and the future - it provides the clinical insight needed to take great medical care of patient...

In today's episode of the Future of eye Care Series, we discuss the opportunities within dry eye management with dry eye implementation expert Michelle Schnabel.  Key Takeaways: The dry eye disease market will grow from $6 Billion to over $7 Billion in the next five years. While many optometrists have expanded dry eye management within their practice, there will be so many more patients to treat f...

In this episode, we sit down with the CEO of Visibly Brent Rasmussen to discuss the future of eye care and the role remote vision testing could play, especially in private practice.    Key Takeaways: 35% of individuals who take Visibly's online vision test fail the exam - resulting in a recommendation of referral to a provider. From a standpoint of private practice, this type of technology has the...

In this episode, we sit down with the founder of Digital Optometrics to discuss tele-optometry and the role of a patient-in, doctor-out model, today and as part of the future of care.   Key Takeaways: Digital Optometrics was born out of both a patient demand for access, especially in rural areas/ healthcare deserts and solve the gap in provider demand. DO has performed over 1.8 million remote eye...

In this episode of the Future of Eye Care series, we sit down with PECAA's Kathy Long to discuss strategies for success in implementation. The future of eye care will bring all sorts of new technologies, new services, and significant change to how we take care of patients. Implementing these changes successfully is key.  Key Takeaways: Kathy's Four Steps to Implementation Identify the need for cha...