One “challenge” for contact lens prescribers during the pandemic has been recent “rethinking” within the contact lens industry. Perhaps we needed a recalibration on the part of lens manufacturers and distributors. After all, these companies must be robust and healthy for contact lens prescribers to thrive in their practices.

In a marketplace in which purchasing power is the key to competitiveness, there was a great asymmetry that developed after the passage of the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (FCLCA). The online suppliers had a purchasing power that few eyecare practitioners had. Further, according to the American Optometric Association, “Unfortunately, many retailers are illegally selling contact lenses or using regulatory loopholes to circumvent requirements designed to ensure the safety of our patients,” (www.aoa.org/practice/regulatory-and-coding/fclca ).

The FCLCA charged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with the promulgation of the Contact Lens Rule and its enforcement. However, in December 2020, the House Appropriations Committee recognized that this was problematic when it stated, “The Committee is disappointed that the FTC’s final amendments to the Contact Lens Rule do not sufficiently address the patient safety concerns the Committee has repeatedly outlined in report language for the past four years,” (House Appropriations Committee, 2020).

These facts tilted the playing field away from prescribers when it comes to a competitive marketplace. Sellers had buying power, and many were selling lenses without valid prescriptions. None of that helped balance the contact lens marketplace.

Distributors Alter the Balance

Enter the buying groups, product distributors, and private practice networks to give small-business practitioners a chance to compete. For the past several years, the lens distributors have been a source of purchasing power for the little guys who are not part of a network. By purchasing large quantities of lenses, the distributors passed some of savings onto the practitioners. The practitioners benefitted, and the distributors thrived.

Then It Got More Complicated

However, recently, some of the lens manufacturers have decided that they can profit from the difference by offering the same savings directly to prescribers. These deals are different from what the manufacturers have offered in the past. In my experience, there are a lot of moving parts, and they are somewhat complicated to understand.

The distributors have fought back with new offers of their own that are equally complicated. These offers are usually delivered by company representatives during busy clinic time, and they are hard to digest when distracted by an active day.

One thing to consider is not just the pricing and the rebates on lenses for patients, although that is the real meat of these offers, but how trial lens policies will be affected by changing some purchases to manufacturers. Many distributors have trial lens policies that are based on purchase volumes.

I don’t know about you, but I think through these offers better when I have them on paper and I can lay them side-by-side during administrative time. In my 36 years of practice, as an average businessman, I have found that I make poor decisions under the gun. Get it in writing. It takes time to understand the offers and to decide what is best for your practice and your patients.

I love the distributors and manufacturers. We have common cause with both in creating a competitive and safe marketplace, but practitioners must do what is in the best interest of our practices. CLS

For references, please visit www.clspectrum.com/references and click on document #313.