Foot surgery, very jealous.
You really
should be jealous. Last time I checked, you can't go onto the CoastalContacts website and buy an ankle reconstruction for half of what it costs in a DPM's or orthopedic surgeon's office, but I could be mistaken. Any field that can bill for its services at a high level and not get screwed by retailers, has an edge over optometry. Anyone who claims that optometry has an "edge" because of the retail component, doesn't understand what's happened over the past few years and what is just about certain to happen in the future. It's no longer an asset, it's a major liability.
Remember Shnurek, with both vision and medical plans declining reimbursement and increasing requirements seemingly every minute, you stand to lose money on virtually every "eye exam" patient who comes in and does not buy from your optical. That means you PAY to see that patient. If it costs you $80/hr to keep your office running, but you get paid $40 to see a patient for an exam, you need to see 2 patients per hour just to break even if they don't buy from you. I don't remember the citation, but I read a recent study that put the average OD office in the country at about 1.1 patients per hour. Hmmmmm........
It's hard to sell a patient on the idea that they should buy their Air Optix Night & Days from you for $68/box when they can go online and get the same lenses mailed to their home for $39/box - a $116 savings over your office for an annual supply. Online prices are going to get cheaper as the online retailers' business expands and you know what will happen? Wait for it............waaaaaaaaaaait for it...........private ODs will go start going down like Hugh Hefner at a mansion party. They've always relied on optical revenue as a huge portion of their gross income.
You just don't get it, dude. You're in a profession that has been gutted. Our services are devalued to the point that we'll never get it back. Our previous primary income stream, optical, has been stolen from us by online retailers, and the amount of red tape that we have to cut through just to see a simple red eye patient to be billed to medical, has been increased 100 fold. "Meaningful use," coding regulations, EMR regulations, it's all designed to make things more and more difficult on the practicing doctor. When you're a neurologist making 350K, you can afford to take a bit of a hit and still do pretty well. When you're an OD making 120K in your private office, working just as hard as the guy making 350K, you don't do so well.
So, in summary.......while the MD orthopedic surgeons might be able to get away with it, you might want to stop laughing at the podiatrists since many of them will be driving by your Walmart Box in a shiny Mercedes on the way into their private practice.
I mean its supposed to happen. Too many schools opened up and the tuitions got too high. The only way to self-adjust is to dilute the applicant pool and bankrupt the new colleges. Lets just hope we don't end up like Podiatry where basically anyone can get in 
, A 21 mcat is the 23.7─28.3 percentile....
