• About
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Newsletter
SUBSCRIBE
  • Latest News
  • All Sections
    • Ophthalmic insights
      • Policy & regulation
      • Company updates & acquisitions
      • Research
      • Clinical trials
      • Workforce
      • Product approvals
      • Conferences
      • Opinion
      • Indigenous eye health
      • Retail
    • Eye disease
      • Dry eye
      • Myopia
      • Cataract
      • Glaucoma
      • Macular disease – AMD
      • Diabetic eye disease
      • Inherited retinal disease
      • Corneal disease
      • Presbyopia
      • Eye infections
    • Ophthalmic Careers
      • New appointments
      • Industry profiles
      • Graduates
    • Ophthalmic organisations
      • Regulators
      • Optometry networks
      • Private ophthalmology clinics
      • Associations
      • Patient support bodies
      • Eye research institutions
      • Optometry schools
      • Optical Dispensing trainers
      • Medical schools
      • RANZCO
  • Features
    • Report
    • Soapbox
  • Ophthalmic education
    • CPD – Optometry
    • Optical Dispensing
    • Orthoptics Australia
    • Practice management
  • Products
    • Ophthalmic Treatments
      • Ophthalmic lenses
      • Lens treatments
      • Myopia interventions
      • Light-based therapy
      • Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS)
      • Gene therapy
      • Laser treatments
      • Supplements
      • Eyewear & frames
      • Behavioural optometry/vision training
      • Contact lenses
      • Anti-VEGF
      • Intraocular lenses (IOLs)
      • Pharmaceuticals & consumables
    • Ophthalmic equipment & diagnostics
      • Biometry – axial length
      • Perimetry & visual fields
      • OCT
      • Phoropter
      • Autorefractor
      • Tonometry
      • Topography
      • Multimodal imaging
      • Retinal imaging
      • Anterior segment imaging
      • Software & data management
      • Microscopes
      • Slit lamps
      • Lens edging
      • Stands, chairs and tables
      • Ultrasound
      • Dry eye diagnostics
      • Low vision aids
  • Research
  • Classifieds
No Results
View All Results
  • Latest News
  • All Sections
    • Ophthalmic insights
      • Policy & regulation
      • Company updates & acquisitions
      • Research
      • Clinical trials
      • Workforce
      • Product approvals
      • Conferences
      • Opinion
      • Indigenous eye health
      • Retail
    • Eye disease
      • Dry eye
      • Myopia
      • Cataract
      • Glaucoma
      • Macular disease – AMD
      • Diabetic eye disease
      • Inherited retinal disease
      • Corneal disease
      • Presbyopia
      • Eye infections
    • Ophthalmic Careers
      • New appointments
      • Industry profiles
      • Graduates
    • Ophthalmic organisations
      • Regulators
      • Optometry networks
      • Private ophthalmology clinics
      • Associations
      • Patient support bodies
      • Eye research institutions
      • Optometry schools
      • Optical Dispensing trainers
      • Medical schools
      • RANZCO
  • Features
    • Report
    • Soapbox
  • Ophthalmic education
    • CPD – Optometry
    • Optical Dispensing
    • Orthoptics Australia
    • Practice management
  • Products
    • Ophthalmic Treatments
      • Ophthalmic lenses
      • Lens treatments
      • Myopia interventions
      • Light-based therapy
      • Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS)
      • Gene therapy
      • Laser treatments
      • Supplements
      • Eyewear & frames
      • Behavioural optometry/vision training
      • Contact lenses
      • Anti-VEGF
      • Intraocular lenses (IOLs)
      • Pharmaceuticals & consumables
    • Ophthalmic equipment & diagnostics
      • Biometry – axial length
      • Perimetry & visual fields
      • OCT
      • Phoropter
      • Autorefractor
      • Tonometry
      • Topography
      • Multimodal imaging
      • Retinal imaging
      • Anterior segment imaging
      • Software & data management
      • Microscopes
      • Slit lamps
      • Lens edging
      • Stands, chairs and tables
      • Ultrasound
      • Dry eye diagnostics
      • Low vision aids
  • Research
  • Classifieds
No Results
View All Results
Home Soapbox

Where independent optometrists can succeed – Steven Johnston

by Staff Writer
February 14, 2022
in Business, Company updates & acquisitions, Ophthalmic insights, Opinion, Report, Soapbox
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Steven Johnston

Former ProVision CEO Steven Johnston says independents need to commercialise their special interests.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

After 10 extremely rewarding years leading the ProVision organisation, it is time for me to leave the wonderful industry of optometry that I’ve grown to love.

It’s satisfying to consider the fundamental shifts we’ve delivered over the last 10 years to equip independents with technology and systems that allow them to remain commercially competitive, while leveraging the clinical elements that make them unique.

Some naysayers would have you believe that independent practice is under considerable threat from other operating models and increasingly online players, however our data across 450 practices would suggest otherwise. By and large our members continue to grow.

There is also the myth that independent practice is inefficient with a cost to serve. Showing personal care for patients is good for business because there are still many consumers who crave a personal relationship with their healthcare provider.

Across my journey, many practitioners and industry leaders have impressed upon me the importance of sustaining a vibrant independent sector.

In my view, the corporates, franchises, and consolidators tend to succeed (in terms of generating profit) by homogenising the product, service, and patient experience so they can leverage their collective volume at the lowest possible cost.

As a true layman in this space, I can still observe this does not always bring benefit to everyone equally. The end user benefit of commoditisation is that patients will get the same product or service every time, and generally at a lower price, which may suit some.

But this does little to help the outliers who have unusual conditions or difficult prescriptions. I have heard too many stories of challenging patients referred to independent practitioners, likely consuming too much chair time to pass the commercial scrutiny test. Without independents, where would these patients go?

Conversely, independent practices succeed by offering the antithesis of commoditisation. They generally offer differentiated frames and lenses, bespoke services, and deliver a personalised patient experience that is hard to replicate because it includes continuity of care from the same optometrist over an extended period.

Independent optometrists have been able to determine what equipment they use, what appliances they prescribe, and what areas they might like to explore due to special interest, and nearly always with patient outcomes – not profit outcomes – in mind.

A great example was shared with me recently of an optometrist who had personally suffered from dry eye for 20 years and was therefore driven to explore all possible remedies for his patients because he could empathise with the impact on their quality of life.

Importantly, many independent optometrists have expressed to me that they particularly enjoy the clinical challenge interesting patients present. We should be thankful that they do.

Optometry has undergone a massive transition over the past few decades as the retail component increasingly generates the revenue that funds practice operations, and consequently, investment in clinical technology. The challenge for independent practitioners has often revolved around focusing on the clinical rather than the commercial, but I see that changing as the ‘mature’ clinicians see the connection between the two sometimes opposing tensions.

And for the younger brigade, it’s just the way it is. The reality is that they are joined at the proverbial hip. You can’t have contemporary clinical excellence without a commercially successful enterprise that can invest in the technology. It is a virtuous circle.

For independent optometry to continue to flourish in Australia, practice owners need to commercialise their special interests so they are famous for what they uniquely do in their local communities.

To me that is a remarkably simple thing to do.

As my good friend from Nebraska Tom Bowen, has taught me: if you want someone to know and value what you do – tell them!

Use every communication point that you have: in room, front of house, website, social media to consistently tell the story that you would want told about you and your practice.

Then embrace technology to improve your practice efficiencies and the model will continue to work, whilst generating considerable personal and professional reward.

May you all continue to do great things for your communities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Name: Steven Johnston
Qualifications: B Bus (Mkt)
Business: ProVision (former CEO)
Location: Melbourne
Years in industry: 10

More reading

Issues around same day bilateral cataract surgery

Bird-related eye injuries – swooping season a serious matter

Duty of care and urgency of referral

Tags: AustraliaAustralian independentsBusinessoptometryProVisionSTEVEN JOHNSTON

Related Posts

geographic atrophy treatments

Exploring geographic atrophy: Managing patients and progress in treatments

by Rob Mitchell
May 20, 2025

At the completion of this article, the reader should be able to: Manage patient expectations and adherence to treatment, in...

Esther Ndukwe. Image: Specsavers.

Specsavers Stories – Esther Ndukwe

by Staff Writer
May 20, 2025

When people decide to work at Specsavers, they’re joining a company with a purpose to change lives through better sight and...

The company has developed an “age-related myopia management lens solution”. Image: ZEISS.

New ZEISS MyoCare myopia lens data

by Staff Writer
May 20, 2025

The latest one-year and two-year results from the ongoing multi-centre trials of ZEISS MyoCare lenses consistently demonstrate the slowing of...

Join our newsletter

View our privacy policy, collection notice and terms and conditions to understand how we use your personal information.

Insight has been the leading industry publication in Australia for more than 40 years. This longevity is largely due to our ability to consistently deliver accurate and independent news relevant to all ophthalmic professionals and their supporting industry.

Subscribe to our newsletter

View our privacy policy, collection notice and terms and conditions to understand how we use your personal information.

About Insight

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Collection Notice
  • Privacy Policy

Popular Topics

  • Business
  • Feature
  • Research
  • Technology
  • Therapies
  • Classifieds

© 2025 All Rights Reserved. All content published on this site is the property of Prime Creative Media. Unauthorised reproduction is prohibited

No Results
View All Results
NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE
  • Latest News
  • All Sections
    • Ophthalmic insights
      • Policy & regulation
      • Company updates & acquisitions
      • Research
      • Clinical trials
      • Workforce
      • Product approvals
      • Conferences
      • Opinion
      • Indigenous eye health
      • Retail
    • Eye disease
      • Dry eye
      • Myopia
      • Cataract
      • Glaucoma
      • Macular disease – AMD
      • Diabetic eye disease
      • Inherited retinal disease
      • Corneal disease
      • Presbyopia
      • Eye infections
    • Ophthalmic Careers
      • New appointments
      • Industry profiles
      • Graduates
    • Ophthalmic organisations
      • Regulators
      • Optometry networks
      • Private ophthalmology clinics
      • Associations
      • Patient support bodies
      • Eye research institutions
      • Optometry schools
      • Optical Dispensing trainers
      • Medical schools
      • RANZCO
  • Features
    • Report
    • Soapbox
  • Ophthalmic education
    • CPD – Optometry
    • Optical Dispensing
    • Orthoptics Australia
    • Practice management
  • Products
    • Ophthalmic Treatments
      • Ophthalmic lenses
      • Lens treatments
      • Myopia interventions
      • Light-based therapy
      • Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS)
      • Gene therapy
      • Laser treatments
      • Supplements
      • Eyewear & frames
      • Behavioural optometry/vision training
      • Contact lenses
      • Anti-VEGF
      • Intraocular lenses (IOLs)
      • Pharmaceuticals & consumables
    • Ophthalmic equipment & diagnostics
      • Biometry – axial length
      • Perimetry & visual fields
      • OCT
      • Phoropter
      • Autorefractor
      • Tonometry
      • Topography
      • Multimodal imaging
      • Retinal imaging
      • Anterior segment imaging
      • Software & data management
      • Microscopes
      • Slit lamps
      • Lens edging
      • Stands, chairs and tables
      • Ultrasound
      • Dry eye diagnostics
      • Low vision aids
  • Research
  • Classifieds
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Insight
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Insight

© 2025 All Rights Reserved. All content published on this site is the property of Prime Creative Media. Unauthorised reproduction is prohibited