Readership Study

Who is the Ophthalmic Professional subscriber?

In OP’s first annual subscriber study, our respondents point to key trends that shape their careers.

BY JIM THOMAS, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Recently, 665 subscribers provided Ophthalmic Professional with a snapshot of the allied health profession in ophthalmology. These subscribers responded to the first annual Ophthalmic Professional Subscriber study, which asked questions about compensation, demographics, work responsibilities, career challenges, and more. This article reports many of the survey’s key findings along with insights from ophthalmic professionals.

A general profile

OP survey respondents are as likely to work in a larger metropolitan area (population of 250,000 or more) as a smaller one. The largest percentage of respondents (22%) report they work in metropolitan areas with populations between 50,000 and 149,000 people. The majority are women. Most live in the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest (25% in each region), followed by the West (15%) and South Central (7%).

While a wide range of salaries were reported, about half the respondents said they earn between $35,000 and $60,000. The respondents educational level ran the gamut from GED to PhD (see Figure 1), suggesting that an allied health career in ophthalmology is open to people of all educational levels.

Figure 1. Highest education level of respondents

A complex concern

Regardless of their level of education or job function, the greatest career concern (54%) reported was the growing complexity of the work load (see Figure 2), a concern also shared by doctors, says Bruce Maller, president, BSM Consulting and co-editor-in-chief of Ophthalmic Professional.

Figure 2. Greatest career concerns

“Much of their time is spent doing things to ‘check the box,’ which is difficult to correlate to improved patient care,” he says. “This is becoming very difficult for our smaller practices, and the implications are many. To name a few: due to increasing burden on practice, doctors choose to leave medicine or join up with larger groups or institutions, causing adverse impact on patient care as workers and doctors suffer from lower morale and greater turnover in the workforce since the job becomes less meaningful.”

“Health care reform, meaningful use, quality measures — all these things add responsibility to our day,” says Patti Barkey, CEO, COE, Bowden Eye and Associates, Jacksonville, FL. “Everyone seems to be working hard and trying to work smarter. Keeping our staff happy is a daily part of our culture.”

The demands of cross-training

The survey data report multiple job functions — an average of 2.5 per respondent (see Figure 3). This number suggests the successful ophthalmic professional is one who is cross-trained and excels in a flexible work environment. “With nine physicians, all on a rotating schedule across four offices, it is of the utmost importance that any one of our allied health ophthalmic professionals can work with any doctor on any day,” says Bret Fisher, MD, of The Eye Center of North Florida, Panama City, FL. “The cross-trained employee is a valuable employee.”

Figure 3. Job function that best describes respondent’s work

Flexibility doesn’t mean that everyone needs to be responsible for everything, says Ms. Barkey. “Responsibility by committee never really works. But being cross-trained helps my team understand the big picture and where something can go wrong.”

The specialized training to fill positions makes it “harder and harder” to find trained technicians, says Laurie Brown, MBA, COMT, COE, administrator with Drs. Fine, Hoffman & Sims, LLC, Eugene, OR. “We are all developing our own personnel more and more,” she says. It is also difficult to find those new hires who are willing to accept an entry-level salary and commit the time and effort “that it takes to learn the profession.”

“People get a lot of education that doesn’t necessarily translate into a higher starting salary in ophthalmology,” she notes.

Ms. Brown says that even after finding candidates with all the right qualities, they “start out at zero to learn ophthalmology.” That can be a “hard pill” for this area of the workforce to swallow, Ms. Brown says, but the fact remains that on-the-job learning is a drain on the practice’s delivery of care for at least a year, in most cases, while the employee is trained.

“It’s a commitment both sides have to weigh carefully,” she says.

Those interviewed agree that potential candidates for employment must see the ophthalmic profession as a meaningful career opportunity. It is up to practices to recognize the importance of these roles and reward staff with advancing pay and growth opportunity, says Mr. Maller.

Jane Shuman, president of Eyetechs, Boston, MA, and co-editor-in-chief of Ophthalmic Professional agrees. “There is also a need for the profession and trade associations to market ophthalmic tech positions as an attractive career option.”

Two-thirds of survey respondents reported their age to be older than 46 (see Figure 4) and 84% of the respondents were women. While observers acknowledge most non-physician workers in ophthalmology practices are women, they note that these percentages both appear larger than what is typically associated with ophthalmology practices. Rather than represent the true age mix of ophthalmic professionals, in general, the OP survey “might just simply demonstrate who subscribes to the publication,” says Ms. Barkey. “In my dealings with administrators, most are in the 40ish to 60ish age bracket.”

Figure 4. Age of respondents

Derek Preece, MBA, senior consultant at BSM Consulting, agrees that the data might not represent the entire ophthalmic professional workforce. “That number feels like it’s skewing too old compared with the age distribution I typically see in practices,” he says.

Salaries

Among all survey respondents, salaries ranged from under $35,000 to more than $85,000 (see Figure 5). Fifty-two percent of respondents reported a gross annual income between $35,000 and $60,000. Another 35% report earning more than $60,000. These data appear to be in line with data from other salary surveys of ophthalmic practices.

Figure 5. Gross annual income

Observers are quick to point out that salary is rarely an accurate indicator of total compensation (see “Compensation: When $17 is greater than $20,” page 10). Depending on a practice’s location and its benefits package, which might provide anything from employer-paid insurance benefits to uniform allowances to tuition reimbursement, ophthalmic professionals might easily earn greater compensation at practices that offer lower salaries.

In general, salaries were reported higher from respondents in larger metropolitan areas (see Figures 6 and 7), which also have an associated higher cost of living that can offset gains in salary. For example, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Cost of Living Index, in which the national average equals 100, the town of Cookeville, TN is indexed at 85.7 while Boston is indexed at 132.5, based on 2010 data.

Figure 6. Income of those who work in a metropolitan area of 50,000-149,000 people

Figure 7. Income of those who work in a metropolitan area of 1 million-2.5 million people

In general, salaries rank higher for respondents with higher levels of education. For example, of those who earned a bachelor’s degree, 61% report earning more than $50,000 (see Figures 8 and 9).

Figure 8. Income of those who earned a high school diploma or GED as their highest level of education

Figure 9. Income level of those who earned a bachelor’s degree as their highest level of education

Another finding: Those ophthalmic professionals who were involved in equipment purchasing, from product and vendor evaluation to ordering, earned more on average than those not involved with equipment purchases. For example, 50% of those respondents who were involved in purchasing diagnostic equipment reported salaries of more than $50,000, For those without these equipment purchasing responsibilities, 35% report earning more than $50,000. There is a benefit to including the staff on equipment selection issues, including return on investment, says Ms. Barkey. “If staff are part of the decision-making process, they will be part of the success in implementation, she says.

At the very least, staff must be well-versed in specialized equipment. The staff member who is untrained or slow to learn on diagnostic equipment can “slow the clinic down,” causing doctor and patient frustration, says Dr. Fisher.

“With the field of ophthalmology constantly evolving, using more diagnostic equipment every day, the well-trained staff member is an asset to the clinic,” says Dr. Fisher.

Ms. Barkey tells her staff members that if they worked at McDonald’s, they would need to know what is on a McDonald’s hamburger. “At Bowden Eye, the staff must be well versed in our technologies. The staff must always know more than the informed patient.”

Connecting with social media

Forty-nine percent of respondents report they use social media to remain in contact with their peers. Facebook (72%) and LinkedIn (54%) are the two most popular sites. Noting the potential for HIPAA and confidentiality concerns, The Eye Center of North Florida implemented a Social Networking Policy and Procedure two years ago. Each employee undergoes HIPAA training and each new employee is advised of the social networking policy on arrival, says Dr. Fisher. The practice asks all employees who have Facebook pages to “be mindful of what they post and share, as they are ambassadors for the clinic.”

Due to Bowden Eye’s relatively young staff, “social media is huge,” says Ms. Barkey. It is a regular topic at staff meetings. Because staff represent the organization, Ms. Barkey says, “our providers and management team are friends with all staff and expect professionalism and class in posts.” OP

Also contributing to this article were Zack Tertel, Chris Bahls, René Luthe, Andrew Mathis, Jen Kirby, and Alicia Hoglund.