Centers of excellence have become a buzzword in eye care over the last five years. One company even awarded a plaque after its product was purchased because, with its product in hand, the purchasing eyecare practitioner must be excellent. But what really is a center of excellence? What does it provide that sets it apart? And, how can a practice become one?

Excellence Defined

Being “excellent” at something means that you are superior, distinct, and set apart. In other words, it means that you possess a certain merit or quality. There are certainly ways to buy yourself into this category by offering a product or service that is different from what everyone else offers. But we could argue that know-how of when to use a product or to perform a service is what makes your eyecare center excellent. For example, owning a fast race car doesn’t mean that you are an excellent race car driver. Specialist aren’t specialists because they say that they are; the proof is in their actions.

Becoming Excellent

I recently attended a trade show where clinicians were flocking to a booth to purchase a technology that would dramatically change their patients’ lives. At lunch, I talked with several of the clinicians about their interest in that technology and when they would use it. Their enthusiasm for the technology tended to revolve around the financial impact that it could provide rather than the proper selection of patients who would benefit from it.

Having completed a literature review about the treatment, I knew that it could provide incredible outcomes to patients. However, these clinicians did not seem to care about the careful selection of the proper patients who would ultimately make this technology successful. As such, many patients may be treated with the technology solely to impact the financials of the practice rather than because they were in need of this treatment.

As mentioned earlier, to become excellent, you must first investigate and then become distinct, set apart, and different with what you offer. Find out everything that you can about the technology/product/service with which you are becoming excellent. Read journals, talk to other experts, and find people who have conflicting opinions—and decide whether you can refute them.

Excellence is an internal quality that is developed when you are alone; it is displayed through demonstration and long-term outcomes. Those who are truly excellent will know how to utilize advanced tools to demonstrate their capabilities rather than using the tools to prove their capabilities.

Options for Excellence

Dry Eye Dry eye excellence is a new normal when clinicians purchase new devices. Extreme caution must be taken to identify and treat the lacrimal and meibomian gland dysfunction rather than focusing on the symptomatic improvement that patients describe.

Myopia Management With myopia on the rise, now is the time to set yourself apart as a center of excellence for its management. To do so, understand the ways that all methods are used for management. Don’t use just one method, but know when you need to use each, and become proficient with all.

Keratoconus With the simplicity of scleral lenses, many practitioners are excelling at treating patients who have vision problems. Being a keratoconus center of excellence means that you follow the disease, track its progression, prescribe cross-linking, look to long-term contact lens comfort, and know when to use which type of keratoconus lens.

In Conclusion

A center of excellence is a great thing. Patients’ lives are dramatically improved when treated by an expert who has the proper knowledge of diagnosis and treatments. If you wish to set yourself apart, set yourself apart first with knowledge, then with tools. CLS