We’ve got some catching up to do: with each other, with new technologies and with new ideas.

After being “in absentia” for the past 16 months, we’re all very excited to finally get back to normal and have an old-fashioned, IN-PERSON meeting again! Space is limited, so now’s the time to sign up and book your travel to Las Vegas. SNAPP’s National Meeting is Sept. 22-24, and we’d love to see everyone, catch up and talk about some new and exciting things.

If you haven’t yet registered, please do so here.

Your SNAPP Board met during Vision Expo East and spent a lot of time mixing and mingling with all the vendors. Technology is moving forward at a mind-boggling pace, and the Las Vegas meeting will be all about bringing everyone up to speed.

Our vendor-partners are eager to roll out new products and share the latest in myopia management, high-tech instrumentation, nutraceuticals and much more.

More details will be in next month’s SNAPP Insider, but already we know attendees....

• Can earn 6 hours of free COPE CE;

• Can earn 5 hours of free ABO CE;

• Will attend member-only think tank sessions and educational talks on maximizing profits and improving efficiency;

• Can learn about exit strategy options, including practice valuation techniques, private equity and other valuable tools;

• And will gain free access to the Vision Expo West Trade Show Floor!

This is going to be an event to remember. So join us; it’s been a long time since we’ve seen you. Let’s catch up.

Here are five amazing speakers who will be presenting at the SNAPP meeting in September. Visit this page regularly as we update speaker information.

Speakers Announced: top row (l-r): Dr. Knobbe, Dr. Kling and Dr. Wallace-Tucker; bottom row (l-r): Dr. Parker and Frank Pigneri

Chris A. Knobbe, MD, presents Ocular Nutrition for Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Dr. Knobbe will provide an overview of evidence regarding ocular nutrition for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Nutritional risk factors for AMD will be presented along with details regarding potential nutritional causes. Evidence indicates that a multitude of factors may be at play, including smoking, lack of exercise, vitamin D deficiency, and consumption of high omega-6 and trans-fat-laden diets. The evidence for and against blue light, alcohol and other progressive risk factors will be discussed, as will the AREDS 1 and 2 studies.

Michael Kling, OD, presents Assessing the Financial Health of Your Practice. Dr. Kling explains that performing a Practice Performance Checkup is critical for determining the financial health and well-being of a business. He will review four measures of a healthy practice and how they provide crucial insight into the health and sustainability of YOUR business. He will discuss which key performance indicators (KPIs) and other practice data should be tracked, and he’ll walk through a Practice Performance Checkup with attendees.

Ashley Wallace-Tucker, OD, presents Myopia Management: Past, Present and Future. Dr. Wallace-Tucker will provide a brief overview of myopia management strategies covering current myopia statistics, projected prevalence and the implications of myopia as a health condition. Each management strategy’s advantages and disadvantages will be explored, and she’ll discuss how to implement myopia management successfully into daily practice.

Ryan Parker, OD, and Frank Pigneri, ABO AC, will present a course on leadership and management—and which style has advantages in creating effective ways to lead and manage optometric staff members. They will explore a step-by-step process that simplifies the process and makes it easy to repeat. Some focus areas include how to rate performance and use that information to develop each staff member, leading to happier staff and a more productive team.

Launching the masterminds

At the SNAPP meeting, we’ll be presenting the new SNAPP masterminds program, a one-of-a-kind program that will guide participants through an introspective look at leveraging every part of their business over time to achieve maximum performance.

The program will include a blend of live and online sessions and officially kick off during the timeframe of the American Optometric Association Optometry's Meeting in June 2022. We picked Chicago for its accessibility from anywhere in the U.S. You’ll hear more at the meeting to help you decide whether this exciting initiative can help your success.

Twenty-five percent of companies said that their onboarding for new employees does not include any training. Training is important—and critical to a successful start and retaining employees. Consider this:

• $11,000 is the average cost to fill one position.

• 60 percent of companies indicated that they don’t set any milestones or goals for new hires.

• Nearly 25 percent of the nation’s workforce undergoes some type of career transition every year.

Once you’ve hired and trained your new employee, keep checking in.

Among participants with the strongest genetic predisposition to elevated IOPs, greater caffeine consumption was associated with higher IOP and higher glaucoma prevalence. The report, published in Ophthalmology on June 1, 2021, also stated, “Nevertheless, we also observed very weak significantly positive associations between ground coffee consumption and IOP."

Nurses and physicians, in high numbers, are reporting increasing rates of burnout, as well as lack of trust and engagement with the organizations employing them. Turnover has long been a problem for the industry, though some fear the pandemic is exacerbating it.

In other parts of the industry, changes in care delivery, including the rapid adoption of telehealth, could alter post-pandemic employment, specifically for physicians' offices and dentists.

Read more.

With 14.1 percent of 2020 eyeglasses buyers using the internet to directly purchase eyeglasses throughout the year, about 30 percent of 2020 eyeglasses buyers used the internet to compare prices, find the type or style of eyeglasses they wanted to buy or find the eye care professional or retailer they bought from in-person later. These are among the conclusions of a new 2020 Internet Influence Report from The Vision Council.

Prevent Blindness has declared June 28-July 4, 2021, as Fireworks Safety Awareness Week to help educate the public on the dangers of fireworks. Whether at home or by attending professional displays, fireworks seriously injure thousands of people every year, with some injuries even resulting in death. Burns were reported to be the most common injury to hands, fingers, arms and legs. However, contusions and lacerations were the most frequent injuries to eyes, which included foreign bodies in the eye.

Prevent Blindness will post messages on its various social media channels, as well as offer free shareable materials including fact sheets and social media graphics.