FYidoctors announces
the addition of five Family Vision clinics in the Halifax Regional Municipality
(HRM).
For over 50 years, Family Vision has served the communities of
Halifax, Dartmouth, and the surrounding areas, making it one of the HRM’s
oldest, and largest full-service optometry clinics in the
province. Included in their team of optometry professionals is Dr. Stephanie
Blackmore, Dr. Miriam Debly, Dr. Marni Denman, Dr. Michael Oulahen, Dr. Sarah
Farrag, Dr. Jody Killoran, Dr. Rhett MacDonald, and Dr. Jenna Snow, all of whom
bring to Family Vision’s clinics a collective variety of skills and experience
in the optometry field. Their current offerings include eye exams,
glasses, contact lens fittings, laser refractive surgery, post-op care and
emergency eye care.
“Over the years, myself, along with Dr. Debly and our
dedicated team of optometrists and staff have watched Family Vision grow into
one of the region’s most trusted chain of optometric clinics in the province,”
said Dr. Michael Oulahen. “We have always strived to provide professional
services for all of our patients eye care needs and look forward to the additional
benefits provided through a partnership with FYidoctors.”
The
addition of Family Vision’s five clinics brings the total of number of
FYidoctors’ locations in the province of Nova Scotia to 13.
The following case study was one of the first optometry acquisitions in Ontario made by IRIS, and the experience of Dr. Christa Beverly gives some insight into the acquisition and partnering process for independent eye care professionals.
Dr. Beverly bought her Barrie, ON practice after the former owner suffered health issues that forced her to stop working. Subsequently, a new business partner purchased half the practice, and together, they moved to successively larger offices establishing themselves as a progressive practice with happy staff and satisfied patients.
A Few Twists and Turns The IRIS business model was on their minds and after talks with Dr. Francis Jean (the late founder of IRIS), the practice ultimately partnered with IRIS.
The agreement came after a a long and difficult negotiation process, and initially included a plan for two new startup practices.
The original arrangement proposed would have resulted in IRIS owning 50% of the practice, and Dr. Beverly and her partner with 25% each. After some family issues forced her partner to relocate, IRIS bought his part of the practice, and recalibrated ownership to a 50/50 position with Dr. Beverly.
With significant emotional investment on the part of both parties, negotiations were tough. At the time, IRIS had less flexible rules around their business model; in particular, there was an expectation that their doctors work five days a week, which didn’t suit Dr. Beverly: “I didn’t want someone telling me that I couldn’t take Wednesday afternoon off, or if I had to work late nights.”
She was able to negotiate with IRIS to retain her existing work-life balance, describing them as “special considerations” that she and the company ironed out.
IRIS has since become much more flexible around work-life balance in general. As the current VP of Business Development for IRIS, Dr. Daryan Angle describes it, “The lifestyles of our optometrists and partners are very important to us. Schedules are based on open discussion and consideration of what is best for the practice, business and partner. In the early days, on-boarding new practices and staff did prove to be difficult before IRIS had developed a comprehensive strategy and dedicated team.”
Hard Lessons Learned There were a few more difficulties as well: Dr. Beverly partnered with IRIS on two other new locations, which struggled to succeed.
After their failure to launch successful new locations, IRIS bought them back from Beverly. While she didn’t have the lucrative new business she expected to have, she was saved from losing money on them.
Challenges with On-boarding The acquisition was also an adjustment for staff, with new checks and balances contributing to turnover.
Dr. Beverly described the process as a “bit of a free fall,” with management assistance from IRIS in the early days being less robust than it is now: “I know that the systems are in place now so it’s a lot different, there’s actually people to onboard stores and to be there and to help.”
Barrie, ON IRIS Team – Ready to Reopen
In addition, the IRIS business model offered glasses at a high price point at the time, which was an issue with some customers used to seeing less expensive options.
IRIS has since shifted to offer more value options after it was acquired by New Look Vision Group Inc.
IRIS Partnership Offers Exit Options Ultimately, Dr. Beverly feels that the sale was the right decision for her business.
Even though it was hard for her to let the management side of her practice go, she acknowledges there’s an upside to handing over the administrative tasks: “I don’t have to do anything except be a doctor.”
Another upside for her was that the acquisition means she’ll always have an exit strategy ready if she decides to sell. As a partner, she also could continue to collect dividends as a retirement strategy as an alternative to selling her share of the practice, once she found someone to replace her.
For practitioners who don’t like handling the management side of their practices or those that need a little more time in their day, she says it’s a great solution: “as a way to sell a good practice to a company that’s going to keep your practice amazing and make your patients happy, and respect your patients and look after them and make sure they have a great standard of care, then it just makes you feel like you are sort of leaving it or selling it to somebody who’s like you.”
Any Regrets? It wasn’t an easy process, but for Dr. Beverly the experience was worthwhile: “I think they’ve learned from the things that went wrong in our acquisition. I think for other people, it’s the control freak doctors like myself that will have the biggest struggle with this. But … that’s not why they wanted to be an optometrist—they wanted to be an optometrist to look at people’s eyes and have no business portion. And to work in IRIS and be able to do that, I mean, they’ll be as happy as they could be. It’s a perfect scenario.”
Dr. Beverly continues to work, on average, less than 3 days per week at the Barrie, Ontario location, and has a 50% stake in the IRIS practice.
IRIS the Visual Group provided Eye Care Business Canada with unconditional access to four Eye Care Practitioners who completed agreements with the group. Each partner story provides an insider’s view to the the acquisition; challenges faced, obstacles overcome and the final results.
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FYidoctors announces the addition of two locations in the province of
Manitoba. Situated in the cities of Winkler and Winnipeg, the merger brings the
total number of FYidoctors clinics in the province to five.
Founded in Winnipeg in 1920 by Harry S. Nowlan; Dr.
Herbert Moore joined the clinic in 1949, forming Nowlan & Moore Optometric.
The practice opened a second location in Winkler in 1954, and welcomed current
president and owner, Dr. Ross F. Moore in 1980. Proudly serving the community
for over a century, the practice is known for its friendly, caring, and
knowledgeable staff and its specializations in vision therapy, eye muscle
imbalance and computer vision syndrome.
In addition to the new partnership with FYidoctors, Nowlan and Moore Optometric is also pleased to move its operations into the Grimard Optique Winnipeg location – a subsidiary of FYidoctors. Founded by Robert Grimard in 2010, the open, comfortable, and bright vision clinic offers high quality frames and lenses. With this announcement comes plans to merge the two Winnipeg locations and operate a newly created Grimard Optique | Nowlan & Moore Optometric, Partners of FYidoctors banner.
“Providing the highest standard of comprehensive
vision care continues to be our number one priority,” said Dr. Moore. “We’re
thrilled to now work alongside a reputable optometry-led organization like
FYidoctors and the added benefits, resources and tools this partnership brings
to our patients.”
In 2019, Statistics Canada reported a 1.19% increase
in Manitoba’s overall population growth – a number that is expected to rise
year-over-year with migration to the province.
Less
than a year after debuting its Brilliant Futures™ Myopia Management
Program featuring the MiSight® 1 day contact lens in the United
States, CooperVision is now expanding the comprehensive approach to multiple
countries, including the United Kingdom, Russia,
Spain, Portugal, Canada, South Korea, and Taiwan. This seeks to create a
new standard of care by creating the optimal environment for compliance, satisfaction,
clinical outcomes and long-term loyalty.
“Several years from now, I believe we will look back at late 2020 as an inflection point in the global myopia management movement,” said Dan McBride, President of CooperVision. “Never before has there been this degree of momentum, driven in large part by substantial investments CooperVision is making in evidence-based science, innovative products, and comprehensive clinical and practice management education in the form of Brilliant Futures™. Partnering with the optometry, ophthalmology and pediatric health communities, we have a real opportunity to change the lives of countless children in the decades ahead.”
Brilliant
Futures™ is now coming to countries where MiSight® 1 day
has been previously available, such as the United Kingdom in October. Indie
Grewal, Optometrist and President of the British Contact Lens Association
(BCLA), says myopia management “has the potential to
revolutionize clinical outcomes and can allow us to change the
trajectory of childhood myopia in practice.”
In Canada, where MiSight® 1 day prescribing has steadily grown in recent years, the Brilliant Futures™ program became available last week, A pilot study conducted by the Centre for Ocular Research & Education (CORE), the University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry & Vision Science and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind determined that almost 30% of Canadian children aged 11-13 are myopic.
“We
are experiencing a remarkable upturn in acknowledging that simply correcting
for myopia is not enough, especially when we now have proven technologies to
manage and help control its progression,” said McBride. “There’s still much to
be done in establishing myopia management as the standard of care. With
advancements such as Brilliant Futures™ and the contributions of other
like-minded innovators, healthcare professionals, government officials and
professional associations, this goal is clearly within sight.”
Dr. Brianna Rhue joins Eye on the Industry for a lively discussion about AI, practice technology, patient experience, leadership and the business of optometry.
The Fitson F1593 brings modern feminine elegance to everyday eyewear with soft pink colouring, Turtle Blue temple accents and an effortlessly versatile design.
Eschenbach launches the magno DIGITAL, a compact 5-inch video magnifier offering 3–48x magnification and customizable features for low vision patients.
Dr. Brianna Rhue joins Eye on the Industry for a lively discussion about AI, practice technology, patient experience, leadership and the business of optometry.
The Fitson F1593 brings modern feminine elegance to everyday eyewear with soft pink colouring, Turtle Blue temple accents and an effortlessly versatile design.
Eschenbach launches the magno DIGITAL, a compact 5-inch video magnifier offering 3–48x magnification and customizable features for low vision patients.
Dr. Brianna Rhue joins Eye on the Industry for a lively discussion about AI, practice technology, patient experience, leadership and the business of optometry.
The Fitson F1593 brings modern feminine elegance to everyday eyewear with soft pink colouring, Turtle Blue temple accents and an effortlessly versatile design.
Eschenbach launches the magno DIGITAL, a compact 5-inch video magnifier offering 3–48x magnification and customizable features for low vision patients.
Dr. Brianna Rhue joins Eye on the Industry for a lively discussion about AI, practice technology, patient experience, leadership and the business of optometry.
The Fitson F1593 brings modern feminine elegance to everyday eyewear with soft pink colouring, Turtle Blue temple accents and an effortlessly versatile design.
Eschenbach launches the magno DIGITAL, a compact 5-inch video magnifier offering 3–48x magnification and customizable features for low vision patients.
