By Staff
Wednesday, May 25, 2022 12:30 AM
MIDDLETOWN, Pa.—
MacuLogix Inc., a company founded a decade ago to support ECPs with the tools and resources needed to diagnose and monitor patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is winding down operations and has assigned its assets to a firm that specializes in working with creditors in business liquidation processes, according to a filing in the
Delaware Court of Chancery late last week. This assignment of assets includes patent rights and related intellectual property. Maculogix, which conducted a months-long search for a buyer or new investors, owes approximately $23 million to secured creditors, according to the court filing.
By Staff
Wednesday, May 25, 2022 12:27 AM
NEW YORK—
Pearle Vision announced it has named Kathleen Steele as senior vice president and general manager. Steele, who has spent the last 11 years with Luxottica Retail North America, will lead the optical retail brand with over 500 locations across North America.
By Staff
Wednesday, May 25, 2022 12:24 AM
NEW YORK—The national average for gross revenue at ECP locations decreased last week, May 16-22, at a rate of -2 index points. That places gross revenue at a level 4 index points above where it was at this point in time (Week 21) when compared with last year and 12 points above 2019. During the beginning of the pandemic, gross revenue had reached a level of 84 points by Week 21 of 2020 as it continued emerging from the pandemic-related low of 14 index points it had reached during Week 15, according to Jobson’s most recent Practice Performance Tracker.
By Staff
Tuesday, May 24, 2022 12:18 AM
NEW YORK—
Vision Monday will be publishing its signature
Annual Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers Report in its upcoming June print/digital edition. A link to the survey is posted
here. The current deadline to submit to be considered for inclusion in the Special Report ihas been extended through Tuesday, May 31. The optical industry's leading news platform's annual survey collates and presents sales and operations data for regional and national retailers for the calendar year ending Dec. 31, 2021.
By Staff
Tuesday, May 24, 2022 12:04 AM
Only a few retailers have built true omnichannel offerings, harnessed data at scale, and implemented agile ways of working throughout their organizations. To reverse the negative trajectory of recent years, bold action is needed: retailers must undertake a radical transformation of their tech function—both its architecture and its operating model.
By Staff
Monday, May 23, 2022 2:19 PM
For many, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call for practices to rethink their operations and efficiency. Doctors and staff alike have devised creative alternatives to meet the needs of the new normal. But what will ophthalmology practices look like in the near future? James C. Tsai, MD, MBA, a glaucoma specialist and president of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, says the pandemic has brought on a sort of paradigm shift in which patients have more influence on how things are done at doctors’ offices. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some pandemic-induced changes that may be here to stay.
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By Staff
Friday, May 20, 2022 4:37 PM
NEW YORK—Not surprisingly, especially given the rigors of the pandemic of the past two-plus year, most Americans value living close to their families, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Indeed, the survey found that more than half of respondents actually do live close to their family members.
Overall, 55 percent of U.S. adults say they live within an hour’s drive of at least some of their extended family members, according to Pew Research Center’s
findings. Roughly equal shares of Americans say they live near all or most of their extended family (28 percent) or near some extended family (27 percent). Another 24 percent of adults say they live within an hour’s drive of only a few family members, while one-in-five (about 20 percent) say they do not live near any extended family members.
“Only 1 percent of Americans say they don’t have extended family at all,” according to Pew’s analysis of the survey’s findings (which defined extended family as children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and in-laws who don’t currently live with the respondent).
About one-third of adults with a postgraduate degree (32 percent) do not live near any extended family, compared with 14 percent of those with a high school education or less, according to Pew Research’s report on the
survey’s findings.
By Staff
Friday, May 20, 2022 8:00 AM
This is a little bit of a retail apocalypse. It was Walmart (on Tuesday) and everybody thought it was a one-off. Now that Target missed earnings (by) a lot more than Walmart even did, they're scared that the consumer is not as strong as everybody thinks.
By Staff
Friday, May 20, 2022 12:21 AM
MUNICH, Germany—
opti 2022 concluded in Munich, Germany on May 15 after three days at Fairground Munich. From May 13 to 15, the show saw about 13,000 visitors from 71 countries, according to show organizers, with about three quarters of visitors saying their main aim at the show was to “exchange ideas with colleagues in the industry and to initiate business relationships.” This special spring edition of opti, the first time the show has been held in May, showcased 368 exhibitors from 25 countries, including a number of first-time exhibitors.
By Staff
Friday, May 20, 2022 12:04 AM
We faced unexpectedly high costs, driven by a number of factors, resulting in profitability that came in well below our expectations, and well below where we expect to operate over time.
By Staff
Thursday, May 19, 2022 11:39 AM
The Rodenstock Group has confirmed its long-term growth objectives with its results for the 2021 financial year. In the year of the acquisition by Funds advised by Apax Partners, Rodenstock succeeded in strengthening its position as leader in biometric lenses and outperformed the revenue targets ending the year with net sales of €494 million euros an increase over last year’s revenues of €401 million. Significant investments in research and development are paying off: the increase in net sales was clearly driven by the ongoing successful execution of the B.I.G. VISION strategy. Anders Hedegaard, CEO of the Rodenstock Group, said, “Thanks to our strategic shift toward market-leading lens technology, we have achieved an increase in market share in our core countries, as well as sustainable double-digit sales growth.
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By Staff
Thursday, May 19, 2022 11:12 AM
A majority of U.S. adults (57 percent) say travelers on airplanes and public transportation should be required to wear masks, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. A smaller share (42 percent) say travelers should not be required to wear masks in these situations.
In April, a federal judge in Florida struck down the U.S. government’s mask mandate for planes and public transportation. The Department of Justice is in the process of appealing the decision, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that people continue to wear masks in these settings. For now, airlines and other businesses are able to set their own rules, with most leaving mask-wearing optional.
As has often been the case on policy questions about how to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, partisans are far apart in their views on this issue. A large majority of Democrats and independents who lean to the Democratic Party (80 percent) say travelers on airplanes and public transportation should be required to wear masks. By contrast, 71 percent of Republicans and the Republican leaners say travelers should
not be required to wear masks.
Read the full story from the Pew Research Center.
By Staff
Thursday, May 19, 2022 12:30 AM
OBERKOCHEN, Germany—Despite challenging market conditions, the
Zeiss Group continued to make significant gains in the first half of fiscal year 2021/22 ending March 31, 2022. Revenue increased by 20 percent to €4.1 billion versus €3.4 billion in the prior year. At €736 million, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were also significantly higher than the €591 million in the prior-year period. The EBIT margin is 18 percent. The high level of incoming orders also continued in the first half of the new fiscal year, with incoming orders increasing to €5.49 billion versus €4.20 billion in year-ago period.
By Staff
Thursday, May 19, 2022 12:18 AM
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—
DrChrono Inc., a platform for electronic health records and medical practices, has been selected as the winner of the “EHR Innovation” award in the sixth annual MedTech Breakthrough Awards program. DrChrono worked with CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), an emergency relief non-profit organization co-founded by Sean Penn and Ann Lee, Curogram, a leading HIPAA-compliant patient communications tool and messaging platform, and the state of Georgia to operate mobile and fixed COVID-19 vaccine sites, with a goal to deliver vaccines to underserved patients throughout all 18 health districts in Georgia, according to the company’s recent announcement.
By Staff
Wednesday, May 18, 2022 10:52 AM
The federal government has opened up a third round of free COVID-19
tests for American households. Head over to
WebMD for more, including how to place your order.