Practice Information

Transcription

1 Practice Information Who we are, what is our vision and why refer to us? Asheville Regional Office

2 Introduction Our founder and Medical Director, Dr. Jonathan Woolfson, has been a proven leader in the field of laser vision correction for decades. Having performed tens of thousands of vision correction cases over his 20+ year career, many local Optometric professionals in 5 Southeastern states have consistently referred to him for trusted, experienced, advanced and valued eye surgical services. As his practice has matured in the markets he has served, he has been approached by local loyal referring doctors to expand his offices to provide other Ophthalmic surgeries, including cataract surgery and facial plastics. About Jason Karo, MD Dr. Karo comes to Woolfson Eye Institute from metro Charlotte region where he was in private practice with a large multi-specialty group for nearly 6 years. He began his professional education as an undergraduate at the University of Florida, graduating magna cum laude in three years with a degree in Microbiology and a minor in Chemistry. He received his medical degree at the University of Virginia in 2002 and joined the Army Medical Corps thereafter, completing his residency in a combined Army/Air Force program in 2006 receiving the Lambert award for most outstanding Chief Resident. Following residency, Dr. Karo was stationed in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for 4 years being the only military General Ophthalmologist for 200 miles. At Ft. Sill, Dr. Karo developed the Warfighter Refractive Surgery program within 6 months of his arrival. Over his tour of duty at Ft. Sill, Dr. Karo performed over 4,000 vision correction procedures in addition to his duties as the only military Ophthalmologist in the region. For his work, Dr. Karo received a Meritorious Service Medal at the conclusion of his service. During his military career, Dr. Karo was deployed twice for Humanitarian Missions to Honduras in Central America, performing medical and surgical services in an austere environments seeing and treating hundreds of patients. Upon separation from the Military, Dr. Karo joined Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Associates. He was responsible for standing up a de novo office serving Cabarrus and Southern Rowan County just northeast of Charlotte. During his time, his vision for the Cabarrus and Rowan markets was one of a vertically integrative model, working closely with local ODs, making him a natural fit for our vision for the Asheville market. His expertise in cataract surgery, including a full suite of premium lens options, laser vision correction and cosmetic eyelid surgery/injectables meets the most common referring doctor requests to Woolfson Eye Institute in this area.

3 Our Vision Our vision is to provide you, your patients and the Asheville region with a different kind of eye care model that places YOU at the center of the care in collaboration with our surgical expertise. This model is one built on respect, personal relationships, excellent surgery and high quality, personal care. Why Refer to Us? We re different. We don t do primary eye care and refer those to our referring providers, depending on location. We believe that our model leads to the best long term patient outcomes by keeping the primary care local and the surgical care as local as possible: 1. We are not trying to be everything to everyone. We are surgeons first: We are not telling you we re going to do everything we can not. We are surgeons that provide consultative medical and surgical care within our scope. Our incentives are aligned with you: Great coordinated care with an exceptional, caring surgical experience, leading to increased word of mouth to your practice and ours, which equals new patients to your office and more surgery to us to continue to strengthen the relationship. In our model, it s mutually beneficial with the patient s best interests at the fore. 2. Access: You will have access to Dr. Karo s cell phone and to contact him directly with your questions and concerns for post-op care and challenging patents alike. There is no middle person. Dr. Karo will work with you to establish your comfort levels of postoperative care that can range from no obligation on your part to majority on your part. We will try our best to service you and, should something be out of the scope of our practice, then sub-specialists in other practices may be necessary. 3. Marketing/local options: Working with us, we will provide you with marketing materials to give to surgical patients seeking services to our office. For those of you from outlying areas, we can discuss on site pre-op surgical evaluations at your offices and local surgery (dependent on call requirements of the local hospital and by-law restrictions). In short, we re trying to come to your patients for some of the care rather than expecting them to travel to us for everything in the old model. Given the needs for imaging prior to surgery, it may not be possible to avoid central visits to Asheville, but we are trying to keep your care as local as possible for communities in which you work.

4 References for Dr. Karo: The following individuals have given their permission to be contacted as a reference for Dr. Karo s previous practice in the Charlotte region. We have provided Optometric providers both inside Dr. Karo s current practice and outside as well. David King, OD and Julie Cole, OD King Eye Center, a Vision Source affiliated practice China Grove, NC (704) (Office) kingeyecenter@ctc.net Background: Dr. King opened his office to Dr. Karo for surgical consultations in Dr. Karo would see initial pre-op visits in Dr. King s office before taking them down to his office for imaging and scheduling. First day post-op care was done by Dr. Karo in Dr. King s office and Dr. King or Dr. Cole would then assume all care thereafter. Michael Spicola, OD Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose and throat Associates, PA (CEENTA) Huntersville, NC office (704) (Office) mspicola@ceenta.com Background: Dr. Spicola is a CEENTA Optometrist that has known Dr. Karo during his tenure at CEENTA. He has not directly co-managed cases with him, however, he is very familiar with his care, reputation for surgery and professionalism. Kirsten Albrecht, OD MyEyeDr Concord office drkirstenalbrecht@gmail.com Catherine Earl, OD MyEyDr Huntersville office earlcatherine@yahoo.com Background: Drs. Albrecht and Earl merged their local practices and have been providing medical and surgical referrals to Dr. Karo in co-management relations since 2010.

5 Practice Information: Dr. Karo will have regular office hours beginning in mid-january at our main office in Biltmore Park, Asheville. Dr. Karo will see consultations for medical ophthalmology as indicated, cataract surgery (including clear lens extractions), LASIK/PRK and cosmetic facial plastics (facial lesions, eyelids, facial fillers, BoTox ). Office Address: Biltmore Park Town Square 1 Town Square Blvd, Suite #110 Asheville, NC Phone: (828) Surgical Services: Dr. Karo will initially be performing surgery at Asheville Outpatient surgery center in Asheville for all cataract surgery patients. Our intent is to inquire if we can build outward to other local hospitals, pending examination of their by-laws and sufficient surgical volume to warrant OR time. For other surgical services, such as LASIK/PRK and facial plastics, these will be performed in the office not requiring any facility fees. Asheville Surgery Center Address: 5 Medical Park Dr Asheville, NC Phone: (828) Premium lenses and fee structures: We are working with Asheville surgery center to provide their fee structure to determine the total costs to report to you as a starting point for your patients. As you are aware, because there are a myriad of plans, co-pays and deductables, the numbers we will provide will be any additional charges for costs of premium IOLs upgrades, facility charges for the IOL and deductions we make for co-management. Cash paying or clear lens extraction patients will be broken out separately and until we get firm figures from the ASC on anesthesia changes and facility fees for this service, we can not give you an estimated amount at this time. More to come. PLEASE GIVE US THE OPPORTUNITY TO EARN YOUR BUSINESS