Technology

EQUIPMENT

When did you last buy a major piece of equipment for your business?

What was it and what did it cost?

2024

• IPL and RF, $350K
• New 4 Axis CNC for frame making, $70K
• New visual field device, $18K
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT) machine, $25K
• Eidon retinal imager, $55K
• Binocular Perimeter (Visual Field), $19K

2023

• OCT machine. We invested around $80K
• Optos California Ultra-Widefield retinal imaging device, $45K
• Zeiss Cirrus HD-OCT, $90K
• Marco Lensometer, $2,500

2022

• Optomap, $80K
• YAG Laser, ~$23K
• Retinal camera about $35K
• Briot edger, $15K

2021

• Corneal Topographer, $18K
• Keratometer, $3,700
• Optos, $75K

2020

• Optos, $80K
• Ophthalmoscope and it cost $1,875
• Aladdin biometry, $21K
• Edger $30K. If I wasn’t such a control freak, I’d have everything edged at the lab.

BEFORE 2020

• Optovue, $30K+
• Perimeter OCT, $20K
• $78K on an Optos

Have you recouped your investment in the item?

Do you have plans to purchase a major piece of equipment in the next two years? If you said yes, what is it and what is your budget?

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Without any additional context, what are your feelings about the rise of/use of artificial Intelligence (AI)?

We’ve included direct quotes below but overall attitudes toward AI were mixed. Some respondents reported being neutral or unsure about the idea, while there were plenty of folks who fell on either end of the spectrum: “Very positive” and “I love it!” to “Scary, too much for me to comprehend” and “Hate it.” Not surprisingly, some of the best responses came from those taking a more measured approach. Perhaps this quote sums up respondents’ feelings about AI best: “It’s the way of the future, but I don’t have to like it.”

• “A long way to go before it replaces face-to-face patient care.”
• “We’ll find ways to make our jobs easier so we can focus on the one-on-one relationships more. It will not replace an employee but make them more efficient.”
• “I have concerns about AI’s impact on employment and data privacy.”
• “I view it with cautious optimism, I recognize its transformative potential yet concerned about job displacement, ethics, bias, and the need for responsible, human-centered implementation.”
• “I feel very comfortable with it and I believe it will improve the efficiency of what needs to be done.”
• “I feel mostly positive. It can make things faster and easier, but I also worry about privacy, jobs, and doing things the right way as it grows.”
• “Optimistic. AI enhances our ability to provide personalized vision care, streamlining processes and improving patient outcomes.”
• “I think if it is used as a tool, it’s handy, but it’s not meant to replace us. I’m not afraid of it.”
• “It is cool but being dependent on AI could be disastrous. Plus truly! It is coming for the jobs of a lot of people.”
• “It can help manage the business; however, I am concerned about misinformation or people using it as a substitute for an office visit.”

Are you currently using any of the AI-powered large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Bard, Co-Pilot, or Claude to help you with your business?

If you are employing them, what areas are you using them for?

What AI-powered technologies are you using in your business?

Are you polite when you talk with an AI bot? Do you say “please” and “thank you”?

Now that you’ve had some experience with AI, do you still worry about the future of mankind? (As it relates to AI, not in general.)

Tell us about a use of LLMs that has markedly improved your business life:

• “I was able to create a job listing that got more qualified candidates than I have seen before.”
• “I’m not a copy writer, nor do I enjoy writing. LLMs have taken a large part of that burden for me.”
• “LLM-based chatbot on our website has helped streamline patient inquiries, answering common questions about services, appointment scheduling, and product information 24/7.”
• “We introduced an LLM-powered chatbot to handle patient enquiries, provide basic support and route complex issues to our staff.”
• “Implementing LLMs in customer service automation has significantly enhanced our business efficiency, reducing support query response times by 70% and boosting customer satisfaction ratings by 25%.”
• “Llama helps automate medical transcription, reducing errors and improving documentation accuracy for eye care professionals.”
• “Helped me write unique job postings!”
• “It has assisted in researching and summarizing medical studies, as well as providing insights on patient data, and informing data driven decisions.”
• “Image generation for social media content, etc.”
• “Helping to create blog posts for our website.”
• “For translating to Chinese, which is a big part of our customer base.”
• “It has helped me diagnose retinal conditions.”
• VisionAssistant has improved customer service efficiency by 30% and boosted online sales by 25% through personalized product recommendations and seamless appointment scheduling. Its 24/7 availability and empathetic responses also enhanced patient satisfaction, reaching 92% measured through surveys, and informed our marketing strategies through data insights.”
• “I use ChatGPT to write policies, agreements, letters, etc. It puts the content together much faster than I would have been able and I spend much less time editing.”
• “Allows me to chart faster.”
• “If I have a difficult message to send, I’ll have an LLM write the first draft, just to break the ice.”
• “I write my newsletter articles then ask AI to make it sound better and it does. I also use it to help me
  extract data I need from
  spreadsheets.”
• “When I search out a diagnosis
  based on signs and
  symptoms, the LLMs have
  helped pigeonhole the diagnosis
  faster.”
• “I use it daily for things I
  don’t understand and have
  it explained to me in a way
  that I do.”
• “It helps me plan and think.
  I am a one person show
  and sometimes I just need a
  quick blurb for a picture.”