By Staff
Thursday, May 28, 2020 12:27 AM
NEW YORK—The optical business again experienced steady growth in all product/service categories, marking six weeks of increases. On a national level, the growth was again substantial, measuring at a rate of index points in the double digits. Business increases ranged from 10 index points for contact lenses to 12 index points for gross revenue. The three other categories being tracked (exams/refractions, frame units, lens pairs) grew at a rate of 11 index points each.
By Staff
Friday, May 22, 2020 12:21 AM
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—More ECP practices are open as states and local governments are loosening stay-at-home restrictions, acute consumer concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic are lessening in some parts of the country.
By Staff
Thursday, May 21, 2020 12:24 AM
ST. LOUIS—At considerable sacrifice, doctors of optometry continued to deliver emergency and urgent care during this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, according to a new survey by the
American Optometric Association’s Health Policy Institute (HPI).
By Staff
Friday, May 15, 2020 12:24 AM
NEW YORK—A number of positive signs for ECPs have emerged in Wave 9 of the
Jobson Optical Research Coronavirus ECP survey, including the finding that 75 percent of respondents whose practices are open have found that patient demand is as expected (49 percent) or even higher (26 percent) than expected. In addition, 91 percent of the respondents said their patients were either “eager to reschedule” (33 percent) or willing to reschedule if they are “comfortable with the safety precautions in place” (58 percent), according to the survey’s findings being released today.
Click to view a PDF of the full survey results.
By Staff
Thursday, May 14, 2020 12:24 AM
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—More than one-third of U.S. adult consumers were staying in touch with their eyecare provider in March and April, even with most offices shut down and ECPs prevented from making in-person contact or visiting with patients. This was one of the findings in April’s COVID-19 Optical Impact Consumer Study.
By Staff
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 12:27 AM
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—In another indication of the improving outlook for eyecare,
The Vision Council released a few key data points this week that show both consumer and ECP sentiment is rebounding from the low points of late March and most of April.
By Staff
Wednesday, May 6, 2020 12:27 AM
NEW YORK—ECP practices reflected an uptick in overall performance in the week ending May 3, according to the latest COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker. All optical product/service categories being tracked throughout the U.S. have been inching upward over the past month (except contact lenses) with the largest increase occurring last week, when comparing metrics from April 27-May 3 with the previous week of April 20-April 26.
Click to view the COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker for May 5, 2020.
By Staff
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 12:34 AM
NEW YORK—Slightly more than four in 10 (41.2 percent) eyecare professionals who responded to a Jobson Optical Research survey said they expect to be "up and running" their practices immediately once given the required regulatory approvals.
Click to view a PDF of the full survey results.
By Staff
Wednesday, April 22, 2020 12:18 AM
NEW YORK—The latest data aggregated across the U.S. from eyecare practices for the week of April 13-April 19 indicate that the optical business may have bottomed out following the steep decline precipitated by stay-at-home orders in most states in reaction to COVID-19. No longer in decline for the previous week, gross revenue on a national level took an upturn for the first time since this crisis began albeit only at a rate of 1 index point. This occurred as most optical practices throughout the U.S. remain shut. Hovering around 90 percent are those ECPs still impacted by stay-at-home orders, according to the latest Coronavirus ECP Survey by Jobson Optical Research, as
VMAIL reported this week.
Click to view the COVID-19 Practice Performance Tracker for April 21, 2020.
By Staff
Monday, April 20, 2020 12:31 PM
NEW YORK—An overwhelming majority (91.7 percent) of ECPs expect to reopen their practices once the coronavirus pandemic eases and reopening is permissible, but they also expect to space out scheduling, require gloves and masks for employees and establish some patient screening measures, according to the latest
Jobson Optical Research ECP Coronavirus Study. The survey of ECPs, which marked the sixth wave of the Jobson Research effort to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the optical profession, was completed during the April 16-19 period last week.
Click to view a PDF of the full survey results.
By Staff
Monday, April 20, 2020 12:27 AM
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—A new report released last week by
The Vision Council details how American’s attitudes about the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on the global economy, personal behavior, vision care and eyewear purchases are changing as the pandemic continues to disrupt daily life. Based on national studies by research organizations, results from the latest VisionWatch data and responses from Vision Council members, the report includes a detailed breakdown of consumers’ attitudes.
By Staff
Friday, April 17, 2020 4:16 PM
NEW YORK—The online media property
STAT has collaborated with tech companies to create an at-a-glance dashboard of data related to COVID-19 as the virus spreads worldwide. This dashboard offers almost a real-time snapshot of the crisis. Readers can click on a country name to get a more detailed geographic breakdown at the state, province, or county level. (The website also noted that, because of limited testing capacity in some areas, the actual number of COVID-19 cases is believed to be higher.)
The datasets are drawn from more than 15 sources and can be reviewed
here. In some cases, data on hospitalizations were not available.
This dashboard was produced through a partnership between STAT and Applied XL, a Newlab Venture Studio company. STAT says the “tool will be updated with new datasets in the future, based on additional reporting and reader input.” Readers can participate by sharing ideas with STAT (what kind of data should be explored next?)
here.