Ophthalmology’s Top 7 Trends in 2024

Amidst a shortage of ophthalmologists, practices are also facing challenges due to inflation, higher staffing costs, and Medicare reduction, making it harder to be successful. Given the current state of the industry, Clearwave, a patient platform and revenue assistance service, outlined the top 7 trends they foresee this year. Here’s a breakdown of each one:

1. Increased demand for laser & refractive eye surgeries – As the world returns to normal post-Covid, people are wanting laser & refractive eye surgeries, such as LASIK, at an increased rate. We’ve all grown accustomed to staring at our computer screens for hours on end, and this can cause both eyesight decline and dissatisfaction with the physical appearance and sensation of eyeglasses.
2. Increased time in accounts receivable – Increased time in accounts receivable suggests that offices are taking longer to collect payments from their patients. This could happen for a variety of reasons, such as slow-paying customers or a rocky economic climate.
3. Increased healthcare worker minimum wage leading to increased practice costs – An increase in minimum wage for healthcare workers means your practice may have to shift more spending toward your employee base. It’s important to pay workers fairly to retain them for the long haul, especially during the ophthalmologist shortage.
4. Lowered Medicare reimbursement means lower profit – Medicare physician payments continue to decrease, meaning that many people will find it more challenging to access high-quality medical care, and many practices will find it more challenging to accept these patients.
5. Increased Ophthalmology demand – Due to the lack of supply of ophthalmologists, there is an increased demand. As more people require eye surgeries and more technologies become available, we are seeing a severe lack of physicians available to treat patients.
6. Increased desire for compassionate collections – Compassionate patient collections encourage your practice to be more personable, taking an individualized approach and helping the patient to understand the payment process. This usually encourages more timely payments and better client retention.
7. Increased demand for modern clinical intake – As technology advances and the world becomes more fast-paced, patients want clinical intake procedures to become faster and easier. Perhaps it is time to consider restructuring your practice’s intake procedures to fit the desires of the customer base. Check out the latest software for your field of practice.

Want to know more about this year’s trends in ophthalmology and how your practice can attract and retain physicians? This is where a recruiting service specializing in ophthalmology comes into play. Give me a call, and I will explain how my team has earned an 88 percent success rate in bringing quality candidates to our clients in the first 90 days of the recruitment process. Allow us to assist your practice in navigating the current trends and retaining great practitioners.