PECAA Hosts Fall Business Symposiums in San Diego & Charlotte
PECAA, nationwide Doctor Alliance Group for Independent Doctors, held two Business Symposiums this fall, one on the west coast and one on the east coast. Business Symposium West was held October 16-17, 2015 at the Estancia Hotel & Spa in La Jolla, CA and Business Symposium East was held November 6-7, 2015 at the Le Meridien Hotel in Charlotte, NC. This is the first time the group has split their annual fall Business Symposiums into two regional events, in order to accommodate their growing membership across the U.S.
The two smaller member events provided an intimate setting and were open to both PECAA Member doctors and staff. Just under 100 doctors and staff attended Business Symposium West in San Diego and 75 doctors and staff attended Business Symposium East in Charlotte. Both events were sponsored by PECAA’s Vendor Partners, ZEISS, HOYA, Vistakon, VSP, Luxottica and Bausch + Lomb, who each had informational tables setup during the events for attendees to visit.
The Business Symposiums featured business-focused education and offered five hours of COPE and six hours of ABO, all at no additional cost to attendees.
“This was my first PECAA meeting as a member,” said Jennifer Burke, OD, from Clear Vision Eye Centers in Boulder City, NV. who attended Business Symposium West in San Diego. “I will definitely take advantage of every meeting from now on! I learned great information on clinical practice, business management, marketing and where the industry is headed. PECAA as a group made it clear that they listen to our concerns and will do everything in their power to make membership the most worthwhile.”
All attending doctors and staff began in General Session with a one hour COPE course. Kelly Kerksick, OD presented “The Nuts & Bolts of ICD-10” (COPE ID# 46015-PM) at Business Symposium West and Samantha Toth, ABOC presented “Secrets to Leading & Implementing Change” (COPE ID# 43976-PM) at East. PECAA’s Clinical Director, Dr. Paul Karpecki presented a two hour COPE course,” Developing a Process of Differential Diagnosis in Anterior Segment Disease” (COPE ID# 38156-AS) in San Diego and Dr. Scott Jens, CEO of RevolutionEHR, presented a two hour COPE course, “The ABC’s of ICD-10 (COPE ID# 46244-PM) in Charlotte.
General session lectures at both West and East included; “Optometry: A Gateway Into The Healthcare System”, by Pat Hout and sponsored by Vistakon, “(At Least) 50 Shades of Grey: Parsing the “Sex” in Sexual Harassment” (COPE ID# 46831-PM) by Josh Sears, Attorney, and sponsored by Bausch + Lomb, “Better Practice Management Using Key Performance Indicators” (COPE ID# 46834-PM) by Doug Martin and sponsored by Luxottica, “A Disease Called Commoditization” by Greg Hicks, OD and sponsored by HOYA and “Conflict Resolution: Reconciling Differences to Generate Opportunities” by Stephen Farebrother and sponsored by VSP.
Both meetings offered two workshop tracks for attending staff, including the group’s popular Optical Merchandising Workshop and the all-new Practice Management Workshop. The Optical Merchandising Track was led by PECAA’s Director of Member Services, Doug Martin and Bill Gerber, Founder and Creative Director from OMG! Optical Marketing Group.
Lectures included two, one-hour ABO courses, “Merchandising 101: The Seven Fundamentals of Great Merchandising” and “Selling Premium Products” both presented by Doug Martin. Bill Gerber presented “The New Rules of Optical Retailing”, “Selling Skills” and “The Power of Promotions.”
The Practice Management Track included two, one-hour ABO courses, “Romancing The Dispense” by Sara Campbell and “HIPAA Compliance” by Josh Sears. Additional courses included; “ICD-10 Troubleshooting Q&A” presented by Teri Thurston, “Effectively Communicating With Patients” presented by Michael Hecker and Marc Atkin and sponsored by Alcon Labs and “KPI’s: Implementing Change, Growing Your Practices” presented by Tyler Judkins and Stephanie Neilson.
All attendees also participated in Peer-to-Peer breakouts, where they were divided into small groups designed to facilitate in-depth conversation and idea exchange on the topics presented during the meeting. Attendees were grouped with colleagues who have similar practice demographics to their own.
Business Symposium West included an evening reception on the Admiral Hornblower Cruise, which toured the San Diego Bay. Bollywood dancers provided entertainment with dancing and music. Business Symposium East attendees enjoyed an evening at Charlotte’s NASCAR Hall of Fame.
PECAA is currently planning for their 2016 Annual Meeting, May 19-21 in New Orleans, LA. Member registration will open on Fat Tuesday, February 9, 2016. Details can be found at pcom.cloudroots.net/2016-annual-meeting
