Optos Optomap

**ExpressOptical** · 04-06-2007, 03:21 PM

We have been using this technology in our office since november. I was just wondering what you guy's think about it?

**orangezero** · 04-06-2007, 03:44 PM

Decent technology. Incredibly ridiculous pricing structure by the parent company, imo. It seems you are only making money for the company, and it just plain sucks you can't buy one for a reasonable amount.

I think the biggest draw is the impression that your office is high tech and up to date. I cringe every time I see one though.

They need another company to come up with something similar or better and put them in their place financially. :)

I think a good fundus camera would do a lot more things and be just as effective as a "wow" device to have in an office.

I think another bad thing that I hate seeing is when offices sell it as a "replacement" for dilation. Its not a replacement, from a standard of care/medico-legal perspective.

What are your feelings? feel free to pm me...

**HarryChiling** · 04-06-2007, 04:39 PM

Lots of hype, the equipment is just a souped up tricked out fundus camera. The pricing makes it so you are indebted to the company and the machines cost is somewhere in the ballpark of $180,000 which has to be insured in case anything happens to the machine. You have a quota of pictures you have to meet per month as well as you pay almost half of the collected copays to the company for allowing you to take the photo. It does allow a wider field of view, but if it was such a worth while piece of equipment to have why has it not poped up inside retinal specialists offices around the country? You'd think that the company would target these doctors as the first market to exploit. We did a break even analysis some time ago and it would take us about 50-60 images a month for the equipment to make sense, the quota was somewhere in the ball park of 45 so not much margin for error there.

Also as orangezero mentioned whent he company first began offering this equipment they were offering it as a replacement to dilation, they have only recently revised their stance to a screening.

**ExpressOptical** · 04-06-2007, 05:02 PM

To be honest we do mention that in some cases it replaces dialation, BUT if the doctor see's something concerning then he will go ahead and dilate anyway. The cost is pretty ridiculous, @ 22 bucks cost per patient to us we're charging 35 to the patient, so there isn't much room for profit. Plus their customer service sucks. We were having a problem with the latch underneath that you can unlock with a key. It was popping open and when we called they didn't seem to think it was a big enough issue to send out a repair tech.

**HarryChiling** · 04-06-2007, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by ExpressOptical

22 bucks cost per patient to us we're charging 35 to the patient

Do you guys have to meet a quota? And have you?

**ExpressOptical** · 04-06-2007, 05:17 PM

we have to meet a quota to break even, but not so we can keep the optomap in the office.

**scograd** · 04-07-2007, 01:40 PM

We've had the Optomap for about 4 years now. In a commercial setting sometimes this is the only way I'm going to get to see any of the peripheral retina. I tell each of my patients everytime that I recommned that they be dilated or at least have the Optomap. Most of my patients think that because we're in a mall that we don't dilate. I do, but I also can't force patients to be dilated. Also, a lot of people come in during their lunch break, so it's difficult to send them back to work as a presbyope. Even with the Optomap, it's sometimes difficult to get patients to agree to it, let alone agree to dilation. I just make sure with everyone that I document that I educated them on the importance of Optos/ DFE, and that they refused. Ideally I'd like to dilate one visit, Optomap at the next and keep rotating. My BIO skills are adequate, but it's also nice to have a photodocument, I'll admit that I might not always get a full 360 degrees out to ora everytime! And with kids, Optos can actually be better! We charge $35 for it, and we're averging around 200 patients a month. It's $22.50 for the first 125, then drops significantly to $7.50 for each one after that, or something give or take that. It's still rough though when that bill comes in!

**HarryChiling** · 04-07-2007, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by scograd

We charge $35 for it, and we're averging around 200 patients a month. It's $22.50 for the first 125, then drops significantly to $7.50 for each one after that, or something give or take that. It's still rough though when that bill comes in!

I really can't talk about it's effectiveness, not my place, but given your figures you are paying out 48% of what you earn with this equipment and the company shares very little risk for essentially becomeing a 50/50 partner. You pay to insure the equipment (cost), you work the equipment (time and labor), and you sell and collect the fees (time and labor). They share in the spoils and if you don't meet their monthly minimum they still share in the spoils. Just sounds like a bad business deal to me.

**ExpressOptical** · 04-07-2007, 02:49 PM

as far as the high resolution goes, I thought that the Optomap Plus took higher resolution pics than just doing the regular opto map pictures. You can focus it on the periphery, or central etc.. I'm not a big fan of it. Mainly because of the technical problems. It has to be practically broken down to get a tech to come and look at it.

**kdog2020** · 04-08-2007, 09:04 PM

We are watching optomap with a cautious eye. It certainly has a wow factor for patients, but our doc has doubts about it as a replacement for a DFE, and of course the pricing schedule is outrageous. Maybe if they would change their business model we would be more interested.

**Oedema** · 04-08-2007, 09:50 PM

I had an optomap done on me once - I was not impressed. First of all, it took about five trys to get an image that wasn't completely obscured by lashes. Second, I did not appreciate having my face shoved into the instrument, nose squished and bent up against the soft ring pad thing (and my nose really isn not that big). And third, the image quality sucks, equivalent to about 1.2 megapixels I last heard - NOT impressive at all, I mean my cell phone has better resolution.

**Russ in Texas** · 11-27-2007, 11:28 PM

In 2006 I happily ended my 3 year lease with Optos. In my opinion it is not a good deal and I would advise against leasing it. The pictures are sometimes fantastic and sometimes terrible which bugs me. I have caught things that I might have missed on a DFE just because not all patients are cooperative during dilation. I do not think it is a substitute for dilation even though that is how it was marketed to me 3 years ago.

We paid over $2,000 per month for the privilege of having the Optomap in the office whether we used it or not. In addition to that we were charged about $2,000 in property taxes last year just for leasing the machine. We started off using it quite a bit in the beginning which offset some of the costs but we gradually became somewhat disillusioned with it and began using it less and less. In addition to these expenses you have to maintain insurance on the machine while it is your office.

You have to notify the company 90 days in advance in writing of not renewing your lease or you are automatically renewed for another year. (1 day late and you get another year, and they stick to it.) Ugh!

To sum it up, they have a good start on a product that is not perfected and is sold using an extremely lucrative pricing model (for Optos that is! :angry: ). Final opinion: Don't do it! :finger: