Insights
Besides price, what is the most important fact to your clients when choosing a vision care plan?
- Doctor network (access, locations, quality)
- Member Customer Services
- Administrator/ Client Services
- Reputation
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Quick Poll
Thank you for taking our Quick Poll, your response has been received. Staying Connected
Thanks for a great 2008!
VSP Gives Your Clients More Choices than Ever
VSP’s 2 to 9 Employee Program—It’s all Online
Important Health Information for the Latino Market
Wellness Watch
Help Your Clients Boost Workplace Wellness with VSP’s GetFIT Program
Getting Behind Wellness
Winning at Work Noteworthy
VSP wins the Call Center of the Year Award
Successful Broker Gives Back Broker Spotlight
Does Your Medication Affect Your Eyesight?
Stop by VSP's Booth at Benefits Selling Expo 2009!
VSP Receives Prestigious LEED-EB Platinum Award
Staying Connected
Thanks for a great 2008!
*Through third quarter 2008.
VSP Gives Your Clients More Choices than Ever
We offer full-service, employer-paid plans, as well as voluntary and specialty care plans. Plus, VSP’s new 2 to 9 Employee Program offers terrific coverage for your small-business clients too. We’ll work with you to find the right solution for your clients. And with VSP, your clients will get the coverage they need and the service they deserve. From our basic plan to our premium plans, customer satisfaction is our top priority. All our plans include our Eye Health Management Program®. This program focuses on the early treatment and management of both eye and related health conditions, which will complement your clients’ wellness programs and reduce healthcare costs. To find the plan that’s just right for your clients go to the VSP Brokers & Consultants Resource Center or contact your VSP representative.
VSP’s 2 to 9 Employee Program—It’s all Online
You’ll get instant access to our Signature Plan rates, proposals, and applications. After the sale, your clients will find it easy to manage their benefits and make online payments at our Clients & Benefit Managers Resource Center. They’ll also find great tools, like our online billing demo. And that’s not all. Your clients will also have access to VSP’s unique Eye Health Management Program®, which focuses on the early treatment and management of both eye and related health conditions.
Important Health Information for the Latino Market
Diseases detected by an eye exam can be sneaky. Sometimes the signs are barely noticeable or often don’t appear at all. That’s why an annual eye exam is important for everyone, especially those with diabetes. Regular eye exams can help Latino members get on the path to early treatment and management. Wellness Watch
Help Your Clients Boost Workplace Wellness with VSP’s GetFIT Program
It’s true that eye exams can catch early warning signs of serious health conditions, like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. But we also know that these conditions can be prevented by living a well-balanced life. That’s why we’re proud to offer your clients the GetFIT Program. Plus the program strengthens our commitment to overall health and wellness and complements our Eye Health Management Program. It’s a 16-week program that clients can customize to their employees’ needs. Clients can visit the Clients & Benefit Managers Resource Center on vsp.com for:
Plus, materials for both VSP members and non-members are available at the Eyecare Discovery Center on vsp.com.
Getting Behind Wellness
Making the Revelation
“It wasn’t complicated—we just sat down and started listening to people,” says Earl, who’s spent the past 28 years advising companies on how to help their employees live healthier and more productive lives.
Discovering the Potential
“We discovered that most people really want to be healthy. They want to lose their excess weight, and they want to exercise—provided it’s part of a realistic, down-to-earth regimen they can enjoy with a few friends. What they don’t want is to be put on endless diets that don’t work over the long haul, or to face the challenge of becoming physically fit without a support system.”
Developing a Plan
“The impact has been quite remarkable. Since 2001, when we first started putting together the GetFIT Program by surveying thousands of employees around the country, we’ve seen countless examples of how people can radically improve their lives by exercising, losing weight, and reducing their health risks as a result.”
Achieving Success
In the program’s early years, survey data showed the power of Earl’s common-sense approach to fitness, in which participants met frequently for exercise and weight-management sessions as part of a 90-day competition that included small cash awards for those who achieved specific goals. “When we saw the data, we were amazed,” says Earl. “In our first round, 4,400 participants lost nearly 44,000 pounds, with an average weight loss of 9.93 pounds.”
Making a Difference
“But after completing GetFIT, she was down to 149 pounds and a size 10. She had stopped missing work due to health issues and used only a single medication. And the yearly cost of her healthcare dropped from $90,000 a year to about $6,000!” The success of the GetFIT program shows that wellness programs done right can really help a company’s bottom line, and that listening to your people and then helping them toward realistic and sustainable fitness goals, is a model that really works.
Winning at Work
Designed to increase awareness of diabetes risk factors, this program provides your clients the tools to help influence lifestyle changes to prevent diabetes, and give people with diabetes the latest information to help them manage their diabetes and live a healthy life. The program consists of the Message in a Box Diabetes Awareness Kit and the Winning at Work Guide.
Message in a Box Diabetes Awareness Kit
Winning at Work Guide
For more information about the Winning at Work Program, or to order a kit and guide for your client, please contact your VSP representative. Noteworthy
VSP wins the Call Center of the Year Award
For the seventh consecutive year, our Member Service Call Center also received the "World Class Customer Service Call Center" award. In all, we won seven SQM awards! For a complete list of winners and awards please visit the 2008 Winners page on the SQM Web site.
Successful Broker Gives Back Broker Spotlight
Naranjo’s passion for working on healthcare initiatives and education for the under-served community began during his childhood, when an eye doctor provided him with an eye operation at no charge. “My family emigrated from Nicaragua to the San Francisco area when I was 5,” says the cheerful founder and partner of Scarborough Insurance Agency, “and we were extremely poor.” Naranjo, whose agency provides employee benefits insurance to 600 companies, adds that his “father worked as a fry cook and [his] mother was a seamstress.” His family was low-income, he says, and they couldn’t afford to pay for the eye surgery he needed to eliminate his severe strabismus, known as crossed eyes. “I was only 8,” he remembers, “and the other kids teased me about my condition.” But Naranjo was lucky. Thanks to a private hospital—St. Luke’s of San Francisco—that has been helping provide care to the under-served population for 125 years, he was able to get the operation done at no charge. St. Luke’s sent him to the Green Eye Hospital for the surgery at no cost. The surgery was successful, and it gave Naranjo more confidence. “It was a pivotal point in building up my self-esteem,” he says. He began doing better in school and his attitude became more positive. Naranjo went on to graduate from San Francisco State University and later earned a certificate in executive management at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where he was named “Entrepreneur of the Year.” After 6 years as a contracting specialist for a large insurance company he launched Scarborough Insurance Agency in 1987. With 13 employees and a book of business that covers tens of thousands of employees, Scarborough is now a highly regarded provider of employee benefits in the San Francisco area. In recent years, Fred Naranjo, now a member of the Board of Regents at St. Mary’s College, has spent an ever-increasing proportion of his workday on public service projects, especially involving education and healthcare. “Our company has paid for 20 low-income, minority students to attend San Francisco Community College,” he says, “and we’re also involved in several other education and healthcare initiatives for high-risk students. It’s a great feeling when you can help economically disadvantaged, high-risk, and under-served people improve their lives, and that’s a big part of what we do every day.” Naranjo, who has raised more than $11 million over the years to provide healthcare to the under-served community in his city adds that one of the things he likes most about being a broker is when he can help employees and their families to get low-cost eyecare. He says, “VSP is great for that. And their service is outstanding. Employees who join VSP plans through our agency are delighted by how inexpensive and easy VSP is to use.”
Does Your Medication Affect Your Eyesight?
Use the database to look up medications you’re taking or are considering to see if they have any visual side effects. The database even provides recommendations on how to address possible visual side effects. The Medications and Ocular Side Effects Database is brought to you by Transitions®
Stop by VSP's Booth at Benefits Selling Expo 2009!
VSP Receives Prestigious LEED-EB Platinum Award
We’re proud of our accomplishment, but we won’t stop there. We plan to continue to reduce our carbon footprint even more by adding recycling centers throughout our campus and continuing to make environmentally-sustainable business choices. Insights Besides price, what is the most important fact to your clients when choosing a vision care plan?
Staying Connected
Meeting the Needs of the Latino Market
Introducing the Diabetic Eyecare Program
Protect Your Eyes with VSP’s New Suncare Plan Enhancement
Wellness Watch
The Private Practice Difference
Optical Illusion
Announcing the New VSP Diabetes Discovery Center!
Noteworthy
Strategy for Success Broker Spotlight
VSP Revamps Its “In the Community” Web Pages
Marchon joins the VSP Family of Companies
Staying Connected Meeting the Needs of the Latino Market Research shows that the frequency of diabetes and other eye-related diseases is significantly greater in the Latino community than in other ethnic groups, though about 1/3 of Latinos have no health insurance. And this group continues to grow. That’s why VSP plans provide access to necessary eyecare and Spanish-language education tools. These tools help you grow your Latino client base and keep your clients satisfied, by helping them keep their members healthy and informed.
Latinos at High Risk for Serious Diseases
What VSP is Doing to Help
Check out our Latino Web site with Spanish-language education and resource materials, launching this month! Source: US Census Bureau, Census, 2000; National Eye Institute, Los Angeles Latino Eye Study, 2004; The New York Times, Health Guide, 2007; The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Diabetes in America, 1995.
Introducing the Diabetic Eyecare Program
Eye exams are especially important for diabetics. That’s why, beginning January 1, 2009, eligible clients with a VSP Signature Plan will receive additional services for their Type 1 diabetics through the new Diabetic Eyecare Program. At this time, all individually rated clients that do not have Primary EyeCare coverage are eligible for the Diabetic Eyecare Program. Contact your VSP representative to see if your clients may be eligible. Members with Type 1 diabetes, which is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, are at a higher risk for diabetic eye disease. Now, they’ll be able to get the follow-up medical eyecare they need from their VSP doctor – the doctor who knows their eyes best. With the Diabetic Eyecare Program, Type 1 diabetics still receive routine eyecare from their VSP doctor; but now they’ll also be covered for a select set of medical eyecare services specific to diabetics. Rates for risk clients will not be impacted and ASP (self insured) clients will continue to pay their actual claim costs. Given the small number of Type 1 diabetics with manifested retinopathy, we anticipate that the impact to your ASP clients’ actual claim costs will be less than half a cent per member per month. Visit the new Diabetes Discovery Center on vsp.com for more information about diabetes and caring for your eyes.
Protect Your Eyes with VSP’s New Suncare Plan Enhancement
The plan enhancement will allow members to use their materials eligibility, up to the value of their frame allowance, toward non-prescription, prefabricated, or ready-to-wear sunglasses from their VSP doctor. This benefit is especially valuable to members without a prescription and who previously may not have believed they needed to see an eye doctor for routine eyecare. The new Suncare Plan Enhancement is available on an employer-paid or voluntary basis and can be added to a VSP Signature Plan or VSP Signature Choice Plan. At this time, the Suncare Plan Enhancement is only available to individually rated clients and not to our clients participating in pools.Wellness Watch
The Private-Practice Difference
Due to the financial investment private-practice doctors make in their practice, they have good reason to make sure their patients’ experience is valuable and effortless—so they’ll continue to return year after year. They’re committed to total eye health and wellness, not just selling glasses and contacts.
Higher Qualifications
Continuity of Care
Continuity of care is critical when it comes to vision. For example, a patient with pre-diabetes who visits a typical big-box or mall vision center for an exam isn’t likely to be seen by the same practitioner each year. Moreover, they can’t be sure their current practitioner has access to their patient records or will know to look for signs of eyesight deterioration that may have occurred, as a result of their pre-diabetic condition, in the previous 12 months,
VSP Doctor Network
Optical Illusion
With nearly 143 million adults in the US depending on their glasses to help them see better, it’s unsettling that the main focus of many retailers and big-box stores isn’t the patient—it’s inflating their bottom-line. For the full story, read the special investigative report, Optical Illusion, published in the July/August 2008 issue of Consumers Digest. Sources: Jobson and Vision Council of America, “VisionWatch Study,” 2006; Linda Baker, “Optical Illusion,” Consumer Digest July/August (2008): 57.
Announcing the New VSP Diabetes Discovery Center!
Noteworthy
Strategy for Success Broker Spotlight
Tibbs, who’s served as the manager of MMA Employee Benefit Services since 2003, says “the biggest challenge I face in my job is helping my clients figure out the health benefits package that will serve them best in the long run.” The intricacies of health insurance are complex. That’s why clients often rely on brokers for expert advice. One way to “cut through all the complexity and get past the barriers,” says Tibbs, is to “begin by discussing vision care with potential clients.” Tibbs says his clients are enthusiastic when he explains how simple and easy it is get great vision care from VSP. “They love that they can get a free, yearly eye exam and eyeglasses or contacts for little or no cost each year,” he adds. And they also like how easy it is for their members to use their VSP vision coverage. Clients love that with VSP, there aren’t any claims forms to fill out or deductibles to meet—and their members don’t even need to bring an ID card with them to their eye doctor’s office. Because he has two children himself, Tibbs also takes this opportunity to emphasize the broader health benefits of vision coverage. “Today, with the cost of healthcare soaring, that free, yearly eye exam is worth its weight in gold,” he notes, while pointing out that early signs of many other health conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, and even potentially life-threatening arterial blockages and tumors, can be detected during a comprehensive eye exam. “By the time I’ve finished discussing the great value and ease-of-use of VSP, the ice is broken and the client is open to discussing the rest of their health insurance needs!” Outlining the strategy that’s brought him lots of sales, this savvy broker concludes: “When you combine the simplicity and low cost of VSP vision coverage with these other important health aspects, you’ve got tons of great selling-points. And when your conversation with a client begins with so many positives, good things are sure to follow!”
VSP Revamps Its “In the Community” Web Pages
Marchon joins the VSP Family of Companies
We’re excited to welcome Marchon into the VSP Family of Companies. Both VSP and Marchon will continue operating as they do today; there are no immediate changes planned. To learn more about this addition to the VSP family, visit the VSP newsroom on vsp.com.Insights Besides price, what is the most important fact to your clients when choosing a vision care plan?
Staying Connected
Recommended Frame and Elective Contact Lens Allowances Increases to $130
VSP Signature Plan® for Your Small Clients
Wellness Watch
New State Laws: Mandatory Eye Exams for Kindergartners
VSP Is Proud to be a National Strategic Partner of the ADA
Noteworthy
Introducing Our Second VSP Mobile Eyes® Clinic
New VSP 2 to 9 Employee Program Means Access to Untapped Market Broker Spotlight
Members Rank VSP "Highest in Overall Member Satisfaction."
Staying Connected Recommended Frame and Elective Contact Lens Allowances Increases to $130 Member and client satisfaction is important to us and we know it’s important to you too. Beginning January 1, 2009, VSP’s recommended Signature Plan and Signature Choice Plan frame and elective contact lens allowances will increase from $120 to $130. Because member satisfaction is directly connected to the level of coverage, we’re confident that members will find great value in their new allowances. These upgrades will allow members to be fully-covered for more than 15,200 or 56% of the frames on the market and the most popular contact lenses under the Contact Lens Care Program. Our pooled clients and a selected number of our individually rated clients will automatically have their allowances increased to $130 as their plan comes up for renewal. Other clients will be strongly encouraged to upgrade, but the upgrade will not be automatic. Clients that are automatically upgraded will be able to decline the upgrade by contacting their VSP representative. Slight rate impacts, if any, will vary by client. Look for updated rates and proposals to be available on the Brokers & Consultants Resource Center by early August.
VSP Signature Plan® for Your Small Clients
Wellness Watch
New State Laws: Mandatory Eye Exams for Kindergartners
However, more than 10 million American school children are affected by vision disorders that could impede their learning. And 86% of kids entering first grade haven’t received a comprehensive eye exam to identify and correct these disorders. Because good vision is so necessary for effective learning, it’s essential that children entering kindergarten or the first grade receive a comprehensive eye exam from a licensed eyecare specialist, according to health researchers at the American Optometric Association (AOA). Increasingly, the AOA message about the importance of preschool eye exams is resonating among state lawmakers. Last January, for example, Illinois became the third state (along with Kentucky and Missouri) to require that all students entering kindergarten or enrolling for the first time in an Illinois grade school receive a comprehensive eye exam. Describing the impact of the new law, Illinois Optometric Association President, Charlotte Nielsen, told reporters: “We know that healthy vision is essential for learning, and all our children deserve the tools to fulfill their potential.” Although many schools provide vision screenings for students, typically a nurse, rather than a trained optometrist, performs these cursory checkups. As a result, the screenings often fail to detect conditions like acute nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), structural irregularity (astigmatism), or muscle-related focusing problems, such as amblyopia (also known as “lazy eye”). Recognizing the importance of preschool eye exams, in 1997 VSP launched Sight for Students®, a nationwide program that provides free eye exams and glasses for kids who otherwise wouldn’t get them. Since then, more than 410,000 low-income and uninsured children have received exams and glasses through the program, at a cost of more than $80 million. To learn more about Sight for Students, which today helps more than 50,000 school kids see better each year, visit sightforstudents.org. VSP Is Proud to be a National Strategic Partner of the ADA VSP has signed a sponsorship with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as a National Strategic Partner. As part of this sponsorship, we will attend ADA community events across the country, with VSP doctors providing eye exams in one of our mobile clinics at select locations. We’ll also focus on raising awareness of regular eyecare through advertising, public service announcements, educational materials, and an “Ask the Eye Doctor” chat on the ADA’s Web site, diabetes.org. This is critical since 90% of all diabetes-related blindness can be prevented with regular eye exams. VSP’s support for our diabetic members has always been strong. We offer outreach through our Diabetes Awareness Program, exam reminder letters, and educational materials. Our new sponsorship with the ADA will allow us to do even more for our clients and members. If you have any questions or would like more information about our diabetic outreach offerings, contact your VSP representative. Also, be sure to check out the Eyecare Discovery Center on vsp.com for more eyecare information. Noteworthy
Introducing Our Second VSP Mobile Eyes® Clinic
Our mobile clinic program began as an extension of VSP’s relief efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. At the time, we didn’t have a mobile clinic program, so we bought ophthalmic equipment and employed 24 local VSP doctors who lost their Gulf Coast offices in the storm. After having such a positive impact with our disaster relief efforts in 2005, we wanted to have a way to respond even faster and more effectively during times of crisis. That’s why we’ve made the VSP Mobile Eyes program a permanent part of our community outreach. As well as two comprehensive exam rooms and a full dispensary, our new clinic, offers an education center and a retinal camera. By photographing the interior surface of the eye with the retinal camera, eye doctors can screen for, and monitor, diseases. Today, we’re putting our two mobile clinics to good use in communities, giving free exams to underprivileged children and educating the public about the importance of annual, comprehensive eye exams. And to make sure our mobile clinics can respond as quickly as possible to disasters, we’ll keep our first mobile coach, on the East and our newest mobile coach out West.
New VSP 2 to 9 Employee Program Means Access to Untapped Market
“Jay-Marie,” said the voice on the phone, “we’ve been looking everywhere for a vision plan for our 5 employees. We’d love to sign on with VSP—given their reputation for service—but we know they don’t have a plan for organizations with fewer than 10 members. I guess we’re stuck, huh?” Jay-Marie smiled. “Not necessarily!” said the longtime proprietor, along with her husband Ron, of Jay-Marie Garcia Insurance, located in Pleasant Hill, California. “I just heard about a new 2 to 9 Employee Program through VSP. Let me check it out, and I’ll call you right back!” Within an hour of that phone call last spring, Garcia had confirmed that VSP’s new 2 to 9 Employee Program was indeed about to launch, and that her longtime client was a perfect candidate for the coverage. The innovative VSP program, which recently launched, allows organizations with 2 to 9 workers to offer vision coverage for their employees. According to Garcia, the plan “fills a major gap” in eyecare coverage, since “many smaller entrepreneurial firms are looking for vision care coverage and, until now, couldn’t get it.” The 2 to 9 Employee Program is also “quite convenient,” says Garcia, because brokers can get rates, request proposals, and submit applications online. Even better, their clients’ employees can manage their benefits and make their payments on the Web. For Jay-Marie Garcia, who wrote the coverage for her satisfied client, the new plan means access to a big, untapped market. “One of my specialties is providing insurance to nonprofit organizations, and many of them couldn’t get vision coverage before,” she enthused. “With the 2 to 9 Employee Program, I can help lots of clients, which is why I come to work each day. “I also think it’s important to remember that small things can grow into larger things, and today’s small client may not stay small.” To learn more about the 2 to 9 Employee Program, visit the VSP Broker and Consultant Resource Center
Members rank VSP "Highest in Overall Member Satisfaction."
Insights How often do you present vision care when presenting a complete benefit package?
Staying Connected
See Us at NAHU’s Annual Convention & Exhibition
Recognize and Reward Your Superstar Clients
May Is Stroke Awareness Month
Check out VSP’s Client Newsletter
Visit our Newly Redesigned Client & Benefit Manager Resource Center!
Industry Insights
Aging Baby Boomers Means Opportunity for Vision Benefits
Tap Into the Surging Latino Healthcare Market
Even the Youngest Need Eyecare
Tips and Trade Secrets
Keep Clients Loyal—Exceed Their Expectations
Increase Your Sales—Add a Vision Quote to Every Dental Proposal
Cash In On the Internet
Staying Connected See Us at NAHU’s 2008 Annual Convention & Exhibition The National Association of Health Underwriters 2008 Annual Convention & Exhibition will be held in San Diego, California, on June 29-July 2. The convention offers a variety of educational workshops for brokers and consultants on the latest industry topics. While you’re there, stop by our booth to learn how VSP® Vision Care can help you boost your clients’ bottom line. We look forward to seeing you. Find out about the other tradeshows and events we’ll be attending on our calendar of events. .
Recognize and Reward Your Superstar Clients
VSP and Employee Benefit News present Benny Awards annually at the Benefits Forum & Expo. The awards recognize outstanding individuals for their innovation, commitment, and professionalism in the area of human resources and employee benefits. Have a nomination in mind? Learn more about the awards and criteria or nominate someone. Hurry, the deadline to submit a nomination is Sunday, June 15, 2008. May Is Stroke Awareness Month About 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year, and it’s the leading cause of disability. To enhance public awareness of stroke, May is “National Stroke Awareness Month.” VSP has easy-to-read articles you can share with your clients about important topics like stroke on our 2008 Monthly Observances Calendar. Read May’s article to find out how one person’s eye exam led to a life-saving discovery. For more information about stroke and stroke prevention, you can share these Web sites with your clients: Check out VSP’s Client Newsletter We understand the importance of staying connected to your clients. As a courtesy, we want you to see an advanced copy of our electronic newsletter, Eyecare Connection, your VSP clients will receive next week. Visit our Newly Redesigned Client & Benefit Manager Resource Center! On May 14, we launched our new and improved Client & Benefit Manager Resource Center on vsp.com. The redesigned site has all the same great features and functionality your clients have come to know. And now, with improved navigation features, they'll be able to access tools to help them manage their organization’s VSP benefit faster and easier. Be sure to take a quick tour of our new Client & Benefit Manager site. Industry Insights Aging Baby Boomers Means Opportunity for Vision Benefits If you watch the news, you’re probably aware that more than 75 million Baby Boomers are rapidly approaching retirement age in the US. Did you also know that more and more of them are opting to stay on the job well beyond age 65? What does this mean for the enterprising broker? It means that these non-retiring Boomers are beginning to form a major new market for eyecare coverage. That’s because age-related eye diseases that used to set in during the retirement years are now affecting employees in the workforce. So how do you respond to this trend? One way is to know the basics about eye conditions and diseases. It’ll help you communicate even more effectively with your clients about the vision issues many older workers face and why a good eyecare plan is important. You can quickly increase your knowledge. Just take a look at the easy-to-read information on conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration at our Eyecare Discovery Center®. Sources: Prevent Blindness America; US Bureau of the Census Tap Into the Surging Latino Healthcare Market With a population of more than 45 million, Latinos are the fastest-growing minority in the United States, and 1 out of every 7 people living in this country has Hispanic roots. That number is expected to grow to 1 in 4 by 2050.
Business Is Booming!
It’s helpful to learn all you can about the unique health and eyecare needs of this large ethnic group, which is now growing three times faster than the overall U.S. population. Eyecare-Related Health Issues Hispanics Face
Diabetes: Hispanics are up to 2.5 times more likely to develop diabetes. Estimates are that 50% of Hispanic children born in America will develop diabetes sometime during their lives. The related vision disorder, diabetic retinopathy, looms especially large for this population, so it’s extremely important to offer eyecare coverage that includes an annual eye exam. That way, an optometrist can detect signs of the sight-threatening disorder early, allowing for more effective treatment. Plus, diabetic retinopathy can occur up to seven years before diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Cataracts: This age-related deterioration of the lens is a major cause of vision impairment among the elderly. In addition, older Hispanics are three times more likely to develop cataracts than other Americans. According to research, 61% of adults with vision coverage get an annual eye exam, compared to only 16% who see their physician annually for preventative care. Eye exams can detect signs of disease, so it’s not difficult to convince benefit managers that offering an eyecare plan for their employees makes economic sense. You can also use your knowledge to increase their awareness of the unique needs of their Hispanic employees. At VSP, our goal is to help you develop a relationship with this rapidly growing market with information to support you in serving your Hispanic client’s needs. That’s why we’re actively engaged in creating Spanish-language versions of our education and communication pieces to support your Hispanic clients and members. Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Even the Youngest Need Eyecare It’s a medical fact: nearly 10 million American children—that’s about 1 in 5—have vision problems that could interfere with their learning and development. Even more surprising is that many parents believe that their children ought to have their first eye exam right before they start kindergarten.
Tips & Trade Secrets Keep Clients Loyal—Exceed Their Expectations It’s one of the most time-honored clichés in the world of business: “The key to success is customer satisfaction!” But, according to many of today’s most successful brokers, it’s also wrong.
Another powerful tool in the quest to exceed expectations is VSP Brokers & Consultants Resource Center on vsp.com. There you’ll find a wide array of resources designed to help you make life easier for the health-plan professionals you serve every day.
Increase Your Sales—Add a Vision Quote to Every Dental Proposal
The correct answer is “D.” Yes, one half of the US population lacks eyecare insurance. That’s a huge problem for the US public health system, since vision-threatening eye conditions affect millions of Americans. Even more significant is that this lack of eyecare coverage costs the national economy more than $57 billion a year. These days, there’s no doubt that eye health looms as one of the greatest unmet healthcare needs. But that need also represents a major opportunity for brokers—you have the chance to make a powerful case for eyecare coverage to your clients. If you’re like most brokers today, you’ve probably seen recent surveys showing that more and more employers are opting to provide dental coverage to plan members. At the same time, according to researchers, budget-conscious employers are often cutting back on other ancillary benefits. However, savvy benefit managers are beginning to recognize the preventive aspect of a vision plan and its connection to overall health. Given that eyecare coverage typically costs only a few dollars a month, it’s easy to see how adding vision coverage can help employers enhance their benefits packages at a low cost. At VSP’s Brokers & Consultants Resource Center, we’ve made it easy to put together eyecare plan options and price quotes that will help you make headway in this potential market. Sources: American Optometric Association; US Department of Health and Human Services
Cash In On the Internet
One way to leverage this powerful tool is to make sure you know about the latest and greatest sites that can help you grow your business and keep your current clients happy. Want to quickly learn about the most current information on health plans you might not be familiar with? Visit www.ProducersWeb.com and find an array of helpful information on different health plans (including what they have to offer) and other insurance-related topics. Plus, there are daily video “newscasts” with stories that detail emerging business and health insurance trends. Also, maybe you’ve heard that industry experts are expecting small companies to begin looking for ways to make health coverage a voluntary benefit, instead of covering at least part of the cost for their employees. Check the facts to see how your bottom line could be impacted. Visit Yahoo’s business and financial sites to get the latest insurance updates from the gurus who study daily health insurance and business trends. Plus, you know it pays to find out what your competitors and clients are saying and doing, Log on to www.technocrati.com to find out what the leading bloggers in your industry are saying. This site has commentary from health insurance insiders, government regulators, and benefit managers alike—and you can join the dialogue with the click of a button. There’s also tons of business and industry specific information at sites like Fast Company.com, BusinessWeek, and All Business—free Web sites that focus on business news, ideas, and innovation. Source: Internet World Stats
Staying Connected
Benefits Selling Expo
VSP’s Electronic Newsletter for Your Clients
Broker Rates and Plans
Industry Insights
Help Clients Better Manage Their Plans
Is Our Lack of Financial Literacy Making Us Sick?
New Illinois Law Mandates Eye Exams for School Kids
Tips and Trade Secrets
Computer Spring Cleaning Can Save Big Bucks in Increased Productivity
Get Closer to Clients: Walk in Their Shoes
Staying Connected Benefits Selling Expo This year, the Benefits Selling Expo will be held in Atlanta, GA on April 2-4. It’s a great way to network with other brokers. And it’s jam packed with ways to help you increase your bottom line! While you’re there, make sure to check out VSP’s session on ancillary benefits and ROI. We look forward to seeing you. To find out about our other tradeshows and events, check out the Calendar of Events.
VSP’s Electronic Newsletter for Your Clients
Broker Rates and Plans Did you know we offer custom broker pricing to agencies that sell VSP products? You work hard to help your clients understand the value of purchasing the best eyecare available, now you can enjoy the best too. Experience, first-hand, the excellent eyecare coverage you offer your clients. Call your VSP representative to learn more. Industry Insights Help Clients Better Manage Their Plans Is the following statement true or false? The Web has grown from 16 million regular users in 1997 to more than 1.3 billion users in 2008, and one-fifth of the planet is now logging onto the Web each day. If you said, “true,” go immediately to the head of the e-commerce class. As Internet usage continues to skyrocket (it’s now growing by 200 million users per year), brokers who know how to make it easy for clients to receive the vital information they need are positioned to reap the most benefits from improved communication. Those who don’t keep up by providing clients with the latest and most powerful communications tools will face a competitive disadvantage. Make no mistake, knowing how to keep it simple and easy for busy clients is the key to increasing client satisfaction and loyalty. Many successful brokers have found that making sure their clients know how and where to go to find their benefits information, membership lists, and communication tools keeps clients happy and coming back year after year. Resources For additional help, sign on to our VSP Broker & Consultant Resource Center to take advantage of several different selling and client-communications tools that can help you offer your clients simplicity in managing their plans. Source: Internet World Stats Is Our Lack of Financial Literacy Making Us Sick? Fact: American consumers owe a staggering $937 billon on their credit cards. Fact: more than half of US households are living paycheck to paycheck, with total savings of less than $1,200. Fact: nearly two out of every three US divorces involve arguments over money. Add up these three facts, and what do they tell us? Many Americans are struggling like never before with psychological stress brought on by the accelerating credit crunch. And we’re paying a very high price for that stress, according to health researchers. We’re working and eating too much and not getting enough exercise, all in a frantic effort to ease the pressure from our increasingly stressful way of life. So, does all of this surging adrenaline affect our health? Yes. If you want to understand how our lack of financial literacy as a nation is adversely affecting public health, just ask a health plan benefits manager. They see it day in and day out—work and financial worry are combining to make many of us sick. It’s a huge problem for benefit managers in America today. They struggle to help their members develop the financial savvy and the work-life balance required to prevent money-related stress from destroying their good health. Meanwhile, for today’s successful broker, helping benefits managers to educate their members about health-threatening stress that can result from excessive money worries is a great way to stay on their wavelength and show them you understand the challenges they face. One option is to send them occasional articles or tips on financial literacy that they can pass on to their employees. Two examples are this powerful article on reducing debt before it’s too late, and these tips on how to stop stressing over financial issues. Helping your benefits managers take care of their employees is a formidable challenge, but it’s certainly doable. All it takes is a willingness to listen to clients whenever they talk about the health issues they confront! Sources: Federal Reserve Bank; U.S. Bureau of the Census New Illinois Law Mandates Eye Exams for School Kids Illinois has now joined Missouri and Kentucky in requiring that all children entering kindergarten receive comprehensive eye exams. The new law, which took effect January 1, 2008, applies to all students attending public or private schools throughout Illinois. Both the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) and the Illinois Optometric Association hailed the passage of the law by the Illinois General Assembly last year as a major victory for child health and education. Ed Geppert, Jr., president of IFT, states, “Clear and comfortable vision is essential for learning, and this new law will help Illinois children succeed and reach their full potential.” American Optometric Association President Peter H. Kehoe, OD, who practices in Galesburg, Illinois added, “With nearly 25% of school-age children suffering from vision problems, this law is necessary to help detect problems and treat and prevent diseases that can cause vision loss.” Like the measures that are already in effect in Missouri and Kentucky, the Illinois law requires that the mandatory eye exams, as opposed to simple screenings, be conducted by qualified eye doctors, whether optometrists or ophthalmologists. Lawmakers in New Hampshire and Missouri also won a victory for children’s vision by liberalizing eligibility requirements for eyecare covered by health insurers. Both states passed laws, also effective January 1, 2008, that will allow dependents of adults to continue receiving eyecare and other health benefits into their mid-twenties, provided they remain unmarried. Tips & Trade Secrets Computer Spring Cleaning Can Save Big Bucks in Increased Productivity Ever wondered how much money your business is throwing away each day in lost productivity due to office computers clogged with trash files, spam e-mail, and other electronic junk? The shocking answer: nearly $2,000 per employee each year, according to a recent survey by Nucleus Research. That may be a disturbing figure, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to a recent worldwide study by Basex Research, which estimated the yearly global loss from trash-cluttered business computers at $20 billion. With astonishing estimates like that, you don’t need a degree in math to understand that cleaning the garbage out of office computers can pay big dividends on the annual bottom line! How much can a good spring cleaning of your firm’s cyber-system speed up computer operations? According to most of the major computer manufacturers, a thorough scrub-down (scrapping trash files, dumping old photos and graphics, and deleting spam) can increase the speed of the typical clogged computer by anywhere from 30%-40%. While you’re at it, why not make sure your office machines are equipped with rock-solid protection against hackers and potentially destructive viruses? It’s definitely worth the trouble, says Pricewaterhouse Coopers—which estimates that virus attacks are now costing global business more than $1.6 trillion (and 39,000 lost human years of productivity) every 12 months. Sources: Nucleus Research; Basex Research; Pricewaterhouse Coopers Get Closer to Clients: Walk in Their Shoes It’s a startling fact. Most business executives who leave their brokers or other financial advisors in order to sign on with a competitor do so for one basic reason: indifference on the part of the broker. That’s the clear result of a recent national study. It showed that 72% of a group of disenchanted business managers who planned to switch brokers were doing so because they sensed that their brokers weren’t really interested in their problems. Somehow, these clients had come to feel that their brokers were indifferent to their real needs and interests. As if to underline that finding, a similar survey revealed that nearly half of the dissatisfied business managers in the poll felt that way because their brokers “didn’t stay in touch.” “In study after study, data shows that knowing how to walk in your client’s shoes is the key to sustaining a close relationship with them,” says financial consultant Steven R. McCarty, the executive director of the National Ethics Bureau. “Understanding your clients is an art, and that art depends on using your imagination to picture their real needs and desires, day in and day out.” So what’s the best way to go about maintaining a vital relationship with clients?
Survey Question How well do you know your clients' wellness initiatives?
Eyecare Alerts
Enjoy World-class Service with VSP
Get Laser Vision Surgery and New Sunglasses, Too
Introducing the New vsp.com
We’re Going Green with Paperless Bills
Industry Insights
‘Tis the Season for Eye Safety
Tips and Trade Secrets
Holiday Gifts for Your Clients
Eyecare Alerts Enjoy World-class Service with VSP Your organization deserves extraordinary service. Enter VSP. For the sixth consecutive year, our Member Service Call Center has received the "World Class Customer Service Call Center" award from Service Quality Management Group (SQM), Inc. Plus, for the last four years, we’ve also been recognized for Highest Customer and Employee Satisfaction for the insurance industry. Providing our clients and members personalized service is important to us.
Get Laser Vision Surgery and New Sunglasses, Too
Beginning January 1, 2008, members who have had laser vision surgery (PRK, LASIK or Custom LASIK) can use their frame allowance to buy non-prescription sunglasses from their VSP doctor. Routine eyecare from a VSP doctor is important. This new enhancement encourages all members to visit their eye doctor regardless if they’ve had vision correction. Members who have not had vision correction can still get non-prescription sunglasses from their VSP doctor at a 20% discount. Clients with over 500 employees can elected not to include the enhancement. Have questions? Call your VSP representative. Introducing the New vsp.com Our new look has extended to the Web where our home page has been redesigned to get you where you're going quickly. What will you find?
Enhanced Member Site
New Eyecare Discovery Center
You'll also notice a new "Prospective Members" site that provides information to enrolling members. This can save you and your clients time and questions during open enrollment season. We’re Going Green with Paperless Bills Clients have asked for it and now it’s here! Say good-bye to paper bills by mail, VSP bills are now available online. Eligible clients with less than 500 employees can now view, manage and pay their bills online. To see how this new feature works, check out a short presentation. Industry Insights ‘Tis the Season for Eye Safety Holiday gifts and decorations can cause eye injuries. Make sure you and your clients know how to protect your loved ones. In 2005, emergency room doctors treated around 6,000 toy-related eye injuries in children under age 15. Plus, there were more than 200,000 adult holiday eye injuries, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Avoid Injury
If an injury does happen, be sure to contact your eye doctor as soon as possible. Tips & Trade Secrets Holiday Gifts for Your Clients You know your clients and what they want. That’s why your book of business continues to grow. But sometimes it’s good to be reminded of tips on how to make sure your clients feel appreciated, especially during the holidays. This holiday season, try some of these simple ideas, used by professionals in other client-based industries, to show your clients you appreciate their business.
Pick Up the Phone
Gift Basket
Gift Card
Calendar
Holiday Cards
Open House
Drop By
Survey Question How do you stay connect to your office while on vacation?
Survey Results
Eyecare Alerts
Brand New Member Materials
Bring on the Benefit Fairs
More Plan Choices!
Industry Insights
Voluntary Benefits: The Win-Win Solution
Boomer Vision
Celebrate the Right to Sight
Time to Turn Up the Heat at Carolina Speedway
Tips and Trade Secrets
Top 10 Tips on What Clients Really Want
Email 101
Eyecare Alerts
Brand New Member Materials
Bring on the Benefit Fairs
If not, don’t worry. VSP has you covered. Register for the VSP Broker and Consultant Resource Center today and order a free VSP Benefit Fair Kit. The kits are stocked with everything you need to give your clients’ employees top-notch, personalized service. Kits contain benefit summaries, reference cards, eye health newsletters, vision impairment cards, laser eyecare info, and raffle prizes. And they ship within 10 business days. During the benefit fair season remember these helpful tips:
More Plan Choices!
The new products include:
Choice products help you meet your clients’ needs in an increasingly competitive marketplace by offering a variety of plans providing quality eyecare. Industry Insights
Voluntary Benefits: The Win-Win Solution
But there is a way to both cut costs and remain focused on health and wellness. Voluntary benefits or employee-financed benefits allow companies to offer access to supplemental benefits without footing the bill. Plus, many companies like VSP Vision Care offer customizable voluntary benefits to groups as small as 10 enrollees. So how does the broker help with voluntary enrollment? Patrick McClelland, VSP’s vice president of Inside Sales, says brokers need to know their customers well enough to understand the way their employees like to get information: emails, websites, mailed newsletters, face time with brokers, or a combination. Visual tools are helpful, he says. Consider using scenarios that show how much employees pay monthly and what they get in return. “Create a simple way to communicate the value of the plan to employees,” McClelland adds.
Boomer Vision
Unfortunately, aging is one of those things none of us can avoid in life and today many boomers are beginning to find themselves needing eyecare they didn’t think much about when they were younger. Although many boomers will enjoy the benefits of healthy eyes in the years to come, others will face the prospect of blindness, age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy or even glaucoma. And even more boomers will start to lose the ability to focus close up. What does this mean for you? It means that you now have a growing demographic that needs eyecare. And you have even more reasons to promote eyecare and wellness to your clients. The loss of vision may not only be costly for employers, but even more importantly it can affect a person’s quality or ability to work, not to mention their driving skills, independence and overall quality of life. To learn more on how you can offer your clients with large boomer populations an eye health and overall wellness solution visit the Eye Health Management page on the VSP Broker & Consultant Resource Center or call your VSP representative today.
Celebrate the Right to Sight
The initiative couldn’t come sooner. Vision problems are expected to rise by 2020 simply due to people living longer. In 2001, life expectancy in the U.S. hit a new average high of 77.2 years. The National Eye Institute predicts people with low vision or blindness will grow from 3.3 million now to 5.5 million in 13 years.
Time to Turn Up the Heat at Carolina Speedway
For the first time ever, we’ll participate in Bank of America 500 Week at Lowe's Motor Speedway Charlotte -- one of the toughest tracks in NASCAR racing. Here’s what we’ll be doing Oct. 11-13:
Tips & Trade Secrets
Top 10 Tips on What Clients Really Want
Consultant Laurie Brown's surprised at the ways sales professionals find to say "no" to clients. Based in Ferndale, Mich., she's trained people in sales and customer service for 20 years. Brown runs a consulting business called The Difference (www.thedifference.net.). Her biggest job is helping sales professionals refocus on clients' needs. "My key piece of advice is to change the business you're in -- to customer service," she says. "If you're in the customer service business, all your choices (revolve around) delighting your customer. It changes your mind set." Try to see your business through customer's eyes. In today's competitive marketplace, the professionals who stand out are providing personalized service that's easy to work with. "What customers really want is easy," Brown says. "They want it to be easy to get in to see you. They want it to be easy to give you money. They want it to be easy to navigate your website." Brown's taught sales and customer service skills to insurance agents, brokerage firms, car companies, realtors and other sales people throughout this country and abroad. Her top 10 tips for amazing customer service:
Email 101
Eyecare Alerts
Happy to Please
Eyecare on the Road with VSP
Meet the New VSP
Industry Insights
Make cents of vision plans with VSP's Eye Health Management Program®
Tips and Trade Secrets
Technology = Time Saved
Eyecare Alerts
New VSP Member Discounts
Don't forget about these great deals:
Happy to Please
Client Overall Satisfaction = 98%
Eyecare on the Road with VSP
In July, VSP Mobile Eyes hits the road to bring eyecare to people in need. The 40-foot coach will feature two exam rooms and a dispensary, allowing us to provide both eye exams and eyewear on the spot. The clinic is set to roll to community events across the U.S. and will head to disaster sites when needed. Want the mobile eyecare clinic to stop at an event in your area? Let us know!
Meet the New VSP
Industry Insights
An Ounce of Prevention
They have helped reduce or avoid future healthcare costs and shrunk employee time off the job. Not to mention lowering the productivity lost by employees who work while sick. Since 10 percent of patients – most with chronic, long term treatment needs – account for 70 percent of healthcare spending, disease management proves worthwhile.1 Projections warn that the number of people with chronic conditions could grow 32 percent by 2030, to 171 million people. More and more employers seek ways to slow the trend. They want more than disease management for already existing problems. Employers look to their benefit providers to cover all their workers, even if they're healthy or just at risk.2
How Vision Fits
Early detection equals lower costs down the road. That goes for overall health issues too. Yearly eye checkups can identify symptoms of serious medical conditions like high cholesterol and diabetes, often before a patient's medical doctor finds them.
Numbers Don't Lie
Just ask the State of California. Out of 209,000 state workers and their dependents who received annual eye exams from their VSP doctor, approximately 3,500 of them were identified as diabetic. After sorting these patients by health plan, 113 Blue Shield of California members were identified as "new" diabetics. In other words, Blue Shield had been unaware these members had diabetes. Follow-up treatment and care can now help the State of California reduce long-term healthcare costs by up to an estimated $4,000 per patient, per year.
Here's to health
Contact your VSP representative today to learn more about the program and the tools VSP offers to help you sell.
1 "12 DM Trends You Should Know About." Managed Care, August 2005. 2Ibid.
3 "Vision Problems Among Those Over 40 Costly," Forbes Magazine,
Make cents of vision plans with VSP's Eye Health Management Program®
The Program
The eyes are the only places on the body that give a clear view of blood vessels. So VSP doctors can see symptoms of many chronic diseases early, before costly problems arise. Our doctors use information from a patient's eye exam to work with the patient, VSP, and the patient's primary care doctor. Together, they can manage costly diseases, like high cholesterol, diabetes and glaucoma.
Helping you Sell
The Eye Health Management Program also includes client and member communications, many of which are direct to client or member:
Tips & Trade Secrets
The Cheat Sheet: Share VSP's Eye Health Management Program®
Technology = Time Saved
Familiar? Yes. Efficient? No. Your old paper and spreadsheet system could be undermining your bottom line. Even a small investment in technology can help you work smarter, bring in more sales, and give you more time for other activities. There are a lot of new technology solutions available today. Some of the most common are customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Other less expensive options include maximizing everyday software like Outlook or your PDA software. The most economical approach is to take advantage of vendor technologies. Let's take a quick tour of the landscape.
Customer Relationship Management
E-mail Management Software
Online Technologies — vsp.com
Case in point. Myron Deschene of Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He uses the VSP Broker & Consultant Resource Center during the entire sales cycle. "From getting proposals and rates to downloading customized doctor lists for my client's employees, I can do everything I need day or night on the VSP Resource Center." Getting tech-savvy may be a challenge at first, but the benefits are worth the effort. Even a modest technology investment can enhance efficiency and improve client communications. Want more information or free tools? Visit VSP's Broker & Consultant Resource Center at vsp.com today. Survey Question What does personalized service mean to you?
Survey Results
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