ADMISSIONS

 Optometry's Bright Future

• Second best career choice in the ENTIRE PRIVATE SECTOR!
• THIRD LARGEST independent healthcare profession
• Mean income is $136,898 for optometrists in the USA (2004 poll)

Optometry is a GROWING Profession!

• Recent history – optometrists gained the rights to prescribe therapeutic pharmaceuticals:
  • Optometry is now the primary entry point in the health care delivery system.  Insurance payers want their members to see optometrists first!
  • Third party insurance plans trust us to be the gatekeepers – optometrists decide how eye care is accessed by patients because they can treat or triage ANY ocular problem
• Specialization occurring within optometric education creating more market demand for optometric services. (Cornea/Contact Lens, Pediatric Optometry, Vision Therapy, Low Vision.)
• Optometrist continuing to provide 2/3’s+ of all eye care in the U.S.
• Will become even more recognized and respected as a major health care profession by all disciplines within the medical community
• U.S. ophthalmic market totaled $27.2 billion (2006 poll) which is up 6.5 percent over two years ago. Private optometry accounts for the largest share of this market—approx 39.1 percent.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics expects more than 24 percent growth through 2018
• 75% of Optometrists make $59.91 an hour while seeing patients in clean, low-stress environments (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Optometry’s FUTURE is SECURE!

• Aging population—Baby Boomers will need eye care!
• Rising third party payers want full service providers -- optometrists!
• Pre and post-op care for Laser Vision Correction is done by optometrists—ophthalmology relies on us for this service!
• Occupational visual demands are greater than ever before!
• Optometry has the second highest small business success rate!
• Laws have changed in two U.S. states granting laser and surgical privileges to optometrists.

Other Benefits of Optometry

• Four Years of professional school for Doctor of Optometry— ready for licensure and practice
• Increasing demand for co-management of patients with MD’s.
• Options of private practice, military, VA hospitals and HMO’s.

U.S. News and World Report Magazine Poll & Kiplinger Magazine Poll:

  http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2010/12/06/best-careers-2011-optometrist
  http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/onthejob/archive/13-careers-for-the-next-decade.html

• THIRD LARGEST independent healthcare profession
• According to the American Optometric Association, average annual income from the primary practice of optometry was $130,856 in 2009.