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VISION EYE INSTITUTE

2 | APAC Outlook issue 50

HEALTHCARE

Envisioning a

Bright Future

James Thiedeman, CEO at Vision Eye Institute, discusses his organisation’s position as a leading provider of ophthalmology in Australia Writer: Sean Galea-Pace | Project Manager: Callam Waller

I believe navigating through the pandemic has strengthened us as an organisation.” For most in healthcare, 2020 was one of the most disruptive and challenging years in living memory. But for James Thiedeman, CEO at Vision Eye Institute (VEI), he recognises how fortunate VEI, and wider Australia, was, and praises the country’s government for its robust response to the pandemic. “Australia fared relatively well in dealing with the impact of the coronavirus across the community and the effect on our healthcare sector,” he tells us. “While we did have periods where our clinics and hospitals were required to suspend services, overall, the government’s response to the pandemic was well managed and communicated. “We were fortunate to have clear guidelines and instructions from the

Australian Government on COVID safe procedures and expectations. This coupled with our own internal capabilities and knowledge meant we were able to provide a safe environment for our doctors, staff and patients despite the many uncertainties the pandemic threw up.” As such, VEI transitioned many of its processes to an online interface, improving convenience and clarity for patients and their loved ones. “We were also forced to relook at some of our long-standing practices and standard operating procedures, precipitating some real improvements in staff and patient engagement,” adds Thiedeman. “In addition, we were able to secure financial assistance from the government allowing us to support our doctors and staff. Importantly, all of our doctors and staff were able to be retained throughout the entire period we were impacted by the pandemic. APAC Outlook issue 50 | 3

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“AUSTRALIA CONTINUES TO BE A WORLD LEADER IN ACHIEVING AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE, HIGH QUALITY HEALTHCARE TO THE COMMUNITY” - JAMES THIEDEMAN, CEO, VISION EYE INSTITUTE “It definitely shifted our thinking to challenge the norm and some of the more traditional, historic ways of doing things.” With 28 clinics and day surgeries across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, the organisation performs more eye surgeries than any other ophthalmic group in Australia each year. The company’s dedicated team of doctors combine years of clinical expertise and a strong research programme in order to deliver best-in-class care to patients. VEI provides the full spectrum of acute eye care and offers a holistic range of treatments for all eye conditions including the latest available technology. VEI is also committed to providing highquality education. Its doctors are heavily involved in teaching and examining allied health trainees, optometry students, optometrists and ophthalmology trainees. The organisation works closely with universities and other teaching 6 | APAC Outlook issue 50

institutions to deliver training and education and drive innovation in ophthalmology. VEI is part of Jangho Group which delivers products and services in a variety of industries aimed at improving the living standards of the community as a whole. Having worked in the industry for over 30 years, Thiedeman began as an 18-year-old Assistant in Nursing in the operating theatres of a busy not-forprofit hospital in Brisbane, Australia. Thiedeman reflects on that early experience and believes it provided him with a first-hand experience of what the day-to-day of acute health care delivery really looked like. “I saw doctors, clinical staff and patients close up in a busy, multi-facetted environment,” says Thiedeman. “It really galvanised for me at the earliest stage of my career the importance of teamwork and trusting in the capabilities and commitment of your colleagues around you.

“As a young lad, I was always intrigued with the wonder of the human body, so outside pursuing training as a clinician, health service management seemed an intriguing path.” And pursue it, he did. Thiedeman worked for a number of organisations, before becoming CEO and Managing Director at Vision Eye Institute in November 2017. Now, with over 30 years’ experience to call on, he has witnessed how the industry has transformed over the years. “Every day presents a new and interesting challenge and opportunity,” he tells us. “As is the case in many other industries, technology is having a considerable influence on changing how the healthcare sector operates. “More recently, with a loved one facing serious, life threatening health issues, I’ve for the first time experienced the healthcare system as the carer of an ‘end user.’ Despite having three decades in the sector, this has been the most eye-opening time of my professional life.” Over the past couple of years, VEI has been progressing a ‘Culture Action Plan’ across the organisation. In 2019, VEI undertook a companywide culture survey in which it asked staff and doctors where its current culture was at that point in time, and in turn where they would like it to go. “We were buoyed by the positive feedback we received from staff and doctors in relation to the existing organisational culture, with almost three quarters of respondents highlighting they liked their job and agreeing VEI was a good place to work,” explains Thiedeman. “We were also told VEI has an opportunity to improve communication flow throughout the organisation and provide more transparency on key projects and group wide initiatives. There was also feedback suggesting many staff were keen to pursue advancement opportunities

CHWIND eye-tech-solutions is one of the technology leaders in eye lasers for refractive and therapeutic corneal surgery. The family business develops, produces and markets a comprehensive product portfolio for the treatment of vision defects and corneal diseases. With SCHWIND AMARIS excimer laser product family and SCHWIND ATOS femtosecond laser, the company covers the most important all-laser procedures in modern refractive corneal surgery – touch free TransPRK and SmartSurfACE surface treatment, intrastromal FemtoLASIK and minimally invasive SmartSight lenticule extraction procedure. Founded in 1958, SCHWIND advanced from a diagnostics equipment supplier for ophthalmological practices to a specialist for corneal laser eye surgery. In 1992 the first treatment of defective vision took place with a SCHWIND laser. Since 1999, SCHWIND has focused its complete knowledge and all its resources on refractive and therapeutic corneal surgery. The pioneering achievements of SCHWIND included, for example, the serial implementation of a standardized passive eye tracker, the serial use of online pachymetry as a significant safety factor and the unique corneal wavefront method for customized treatments. The SCHWIND AMARIS excimer laser quickly established itself as the market pacesetter. Its technology offers pulse rates up to 1050 hertz and eyetracking that actively compensates for eye movement in up to seven dimensions of space and time. With its modular structure, SCHWIND CAM treatment software covers a comprehensive range of applications, amongst them the PresbyMAX planning tool for the treatment of presbyopia, or the KPL function for planning and performing

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corneal transplants. With all of its developments, the company’s primary goal is to provide surgeons with a comprehensive armamentarium to achieve high precision and extremely safe treatment results, thus ensuring a better quality of life for their patients. The family business SCHWIND operates successfully in a market characterized by multinational providers that are predominantly listed on the stock exchange. “Technological innovation at the highest level, German engineering and build quality, intensive application and technical after-sales support, flexible response to individual customer needs, and being part of the ‘SCHWIND Family’ are benefits our users appreciate,” says CEO Rolf Schwind. The company headquartered in Kleinostheim, Germany, SCHWIND employs 140 people. Eye surgeons in ophthalmology clinics and hospitals, laser centres, and university hospitals in over 100 countries work with SCHWIND products. About 2,000 SCHWIND laser systems have already been installed worldwide. More information can be found at www.eye-tech-solutions.com. Representation of our products in Australia and New Zealand has been in the capable hands of Ionia Medical since 2001. Based in Sydney, Ionia Medical is responsible for all aspects of supply & installation, training and maintenance for our laser and diagnostic devices throughout Australia and New Zealand. More information can be found at www.ioniamedical.com.au

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Perseverance during the pandemic:

a changing landscape in sight. From the onset of the pandemic and today, Alcon continues to focus on standing behind our associates, ensuring critical supply of our products, and promoting the safe use of our products. With more than 25 years senior leadership experience in ophthalmology, Karen Fowler Alcon’s Australia and New Zealand Country Manager and Cluster Franchise Head for Surgical shares her views on how the ophthalmic industry has persevered during the pandemic. How did the pandemic impact people with eye conditions? In 2020 widespread shutdowns and localised restrictions caused the deferral of surgical procedures and significant disruption for our customers. We also saw Australian’s delay seeing their optometrist. However, whilst Medicare consultations with optometrists dropped 8.2 per cent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, 9.2 million services were still delivered1 and the good news is that visits have now bounced back. How have lifestyle changes and social adaptations resulting from COVID-19 impacted people’s vision? The shift to working from home has contributed to an increase in eye strain and dry eye as people spend more time on digital devices. During the pandemic, people have managed their personal spend and focused on health and wellness. This has contributed to demand for products and services like contact lenses and refractive surgery, and spectacle independence in order to eliminate the nuisance of fogging glasses while wearing facial masks. Has COVID-19 changed the way surgical ophthalmic procedures are performed? In the clinic, the current environment has created the opportunity to improve workflows through digital connectivity, provide medical care virtually and

simplify the customer experience. Early on during the initial outbreak, elective surgery was deferred. This did result in significant backlogs which can create additional risks to patients through ongoing delays. Hospitals and day surgeries have done a great job in adjusting patient flows based upon admission limitations and the need for appropriate social distancing measures. Appropriate precautions have been taken with personal protective equipment to maximise patient safety. In many instances, private hospitals and day surgeries have helped to reduce the backlogs in the public system by working to clear cases and ensure the public system can devote appropriate resources to COVID-19. What distinguishes Alcon from other companies that provide ophthalmic medical devices? I believe our specialisation in eye care gives us a unique perspective into new and emerging needs and where technologies can address them. Alcon also makes one of the largest annual R&D commitments of any eye care company, which allows us to create value for customers and patients. I feel proud to be part of Alcon for the past 25 years in Australia and New Zealand and have seen first-hand how we’ve helped better the lives of patients. Vision loss negatively impacts people’s lives – particularly the elderly – and is often one of the things older people fear most. I’ve realised leadership is a powerful lever to improve and make a difference – and I feel deeply inspired to be in position where I can advocate for eye care for Australians and New Zealanders. Karen is a fierce advocate for access to medical devices in Australia. She serves as a leading participant in the Medical Technology Association of Australia’s Ophthalmology Working Group and the MTAA’s response to the request by the Federal Government to lead the industry effort to coordinate supply of essential medical equipment.

Worldwide, approximately 2.2 billion people live with some form of visual impairment or blindness, of which 1 billion people have preventable or unaddressed vision needs, even though approximately 80% of all visual impairments are currently preventable or treatable.2,3 Sight is rated as the most valuable of the five senses4 and therefore it’s understandable that poor vision— whether due to age, disease or trauma—creates profound social and economic costs.5 By 2050, an estimated 50% of the world will be myopic, with a significant increase in myopia among young children.6,7 We believe this trend will result in an increase in the number of patients who will need vision correction and ocular health products.

References 1. Optometry Australia. www.optometry.org.au/medicare_ private_billing/medicare-consultations-with-optometristsdropped-8-in-2020-but-9-2- million-services-were-still-delivered/ 2. World Health Organization. World report on vision. 2019. 3. World Health Organization. World Sight Day: 10 October. 2002 Oct 10. 4. Enoch J, McDonald L, Jones L, Jones PR, Crabb DP. Evaluating Whether Sight Is the Most Valued Sense. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2019 Oct 3;137(11):1317–20. 5. Scott AW, Bressler NM, Ffolkes S, Wittenborn JS, Jorkasky J. Public Attitudes About Eye and Vision Health. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2016 Oct 1;134(10):1111-1118. 6. B. Holden, T. Fricke, et al. Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology, 2016. 7. Alcon internal estimates. Data on file.

We help people

See Brilliantly. At Alcon, we aspire to lead the world in innovating life-changing vision products because when people see brilliantly, they live brilliantly.

Each year our products touch the lives of millions of people living with conditions like cataracts, retinal diseases and refractive errors. We offer the widest array of ophthalmic surgical devices, as well as a differentiated contact lens and lens care portfolio to help patients see, look and feel their best. At Alcon, we are at the forefront of innovation, partnering with eye care professionals to bring the gift of sight to more people around the world. That’s been our legacy for more than 70 years – and as the new Alcon, it’s what guides our focus towards the brilliant future ahead. Learn more at au.alcon.com

VISION EYE INSTITUTE within the organisation and in turn, were seeking professional and developmental support to enable this career advancement.” This led to VEI responding to feedback by implementing various initiatives to accommodate the suggestions received. Now, VEI has an annual ‘Future Leaders Programme’ in place and have instituted a range

of additional regular communication channels, while enacting ‘Show and Tell’ sessions with middle managers to ensure they are apprised of the wealth of projects and care improvement initiatives VEI has ongoing. “The feedback from the team has been very positive, however, I am looking forward to repeating a culture survey this year, as I am certain

“Vision Eye Institute has an extensive network of private eye clinics and day hospitals across Australia which could be harnessed to assist the public hospital system in reducing cataract procedure waiting lists which have ballooned due to COVID-19 related public elective surgery restrictions in 2020.” “Technology’s impact on improving all aspects of service and care delivery provides an exciting backdrop for the health industry in Australia. Everything from reducing the friction points for patients making clinic appointments to booking their surgery, through to clinical information systems that reduce the risk of human error in treatment delivery are facilitating marked improvements in the patient experience and outcomes. Patients and their carers continue to be more active influencers in the health industry, providing an additional stakeholder group keen to shape and improve how we deliver care.” “Australia continues to be a world leader in achieving affordable, accessible, high quality healthcare to the community, so it is exciting to be part of the evolving dynamic.” – James Thiedeman, CEO, Vision Eye Institute

10 | APAC Outlook issue 50

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our doctors and staff will tell us we have made some further great steps forward. “Given that we are a human services organisation, it is paramount our staff and doctors are motivated and energised by the organisation they are working within to ensure the provision of excellent care to our patients. I feel very strongly the positive culture of VEI is what makes us such an effective care provider.” As the largest private provider of ophthalmic services in Australia, VEI has leveraged its size to develop deeper relationships with key procurement partners. “In any given year we spend many millions of dollars on equipment and supplies with a handful of important partners,” explains Thiedeman. “Achieving competitive pricing on such inputs to care is one area of focus, however clearly these partner relationships extend beyond a simple transactional buy-sell dynamic.

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APAC Outlook issue 50 | 11

VISION EYE INSTITUTE “Clinical sovereignty is an important core value for VEI. This value means we do not try to influence how our doctors must practice nor what types of lenses, equipment or pharmaceuticals they must use. As a result, we have relationships with a very wide range of suppliers to ensure we can satisfy the care input requirements of our doctors. Some of these relationships represent very large annual procurement amounts and, in these circumstances, we seek to exercise our buying power to secure competitive pricing. “Having said this, the relationship with our key suppliers goes well beyond simply buying goods and services from them. As innovation and clinical technology are paramount to what we do, many of these relationships are driven by a mutual desire to work together to deliver better care, improved clinical outcomes and

greater patient satisfaction.” As VEI has continued to grow its day hospital portfolio, it has seen the opportunity to broaden the range of services it provides in its day surgery facilities. “We now partner with surgeons in the fields of gastroenterology, pain management, dermatology

A CLOSER LOOK: JAMES THIEDEMAN James has spent over 30 years working in healthcare in both the public and private sectors. He joined Vision Eye Institute in 2017 as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director. James is ultimately responsible for ensuring Vision Eye Institute delivers the highest quality of care to its patients and that the organisation delivers on its strategic priorities. Immediately prior to joining Vision Eye Institute, James was the Group CEO and Managing Director of Monash IVF Group for eight years. Monash IVF Group is one of the most respected fertility care providers in Australia and the world. Over his career in healthcare, James has been the CEO of Noosa Private Hospital on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and held senior roles with Ramsay Health Care, Affinity Health, Mayne Health and Health Care of Australia. Before moving to the private health industry, James held senior policy and planning positions in the public sector with the Queensland Department of Health. James holds a Bachelor of Business (Health Administration) from Queensland University of Technology and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Griffith University. He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

12 | APAC Outlook issue 50

and urology to name a few,” says Thiedeman. “Over the last few years, we have commissioned a number of greenfield day hospitals and in order to provide a wider range of surgical services to the local community, have expanded the hospital offering beyond ophthalmic care. This approach also ensures we keep our operating theatres busy with a broad range of surgical activities.” Across the healthcare sector globally, there remains a shortage of skilled, capable staff. This has meant the importance of retaining experienced staff has become essential. “At VEI, almost half our staff have been with the organisation for more than six years and over a quarter of our staff have worked with us for over 10 years. Whatever we’re doing to retain our staff is working,” he tells us. “The work we do is very special. It’s hard not to be energised by helping someone retain, or even restore their eyesight! The impact of what we do at VEI is life transforming for most of our patients. Adding to this our care model is very team based, so there is a great sense of satisfaction working alongside like-minded colleagues. “Finally, VEI has a reputation for being the best at what we do which brings a great sense of pride and comradery. All these ingredients better allow us to retain doctors and staff and minimise the cost of skill churn. We are very selective with who

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VISION EYE INSTITUTE: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE “At VEI, we are so fortunate to have such a focused and dedicated group of doctors and supporting professionals who deliver world-class care to our patients. The ongoing success of VEI will continue to be underpinned by the single-minded drive of these professionals to deliver the best possible outcomes for our patients. I feel privileged to be leading an organisation of such pedigree.” – James Thiedeman, CEO, Vision Eye Institute

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we allow to join the organisation. We have very thorough evaluation and screening processes for candidates that cover off not only experience and skill assessment, but also cultural fit. “Our people are without question, what make us a world-leading eye care provider.” Moving forward, although largely unaffected by COVID-19, the wider impact of the pandemic meant that the organisation’s growth plans last year had to slow. “Many of our clinics and day hospitals were closed for weeks at a time during the worst period of the pandemic in Australia. Most healthcare providers went into ‘survival’ mode so 2020 certainly wasn’t a period to grow and acquire new services,” explains Thiedeman. “While our primary focus is growing our footprint in Australia through the acquisition of like-minded clinics and day hospitals, we are also looking further afield to the ASEAN region. We have a sister network of eye

hospitals in China and believe we can leverage off the combined insight and know-how of East and West. “With an increasing ageing population across the globe, eye disease continues to become more prevalent however our ability to treat and intervene advances equally. There are so many communities who will benefit from having access to contemporary eye care and VEI is focused on targeting the same. “Alongside our eye care focus, we will continue to expand into complementary medical specialties and have capital earmarked for this synergistic diversification.”

Tel: +61 3 8844 4000 headoffice.admin@visioneyeinstitute.com.au www.visioneyeinstitute.com.au

APAC Outlook issue 50 | 13

VISION EYE INSTITUTE Level 5, 390 St Kilda Road Melbourne, VIC 3004 Australia Tel: +61 3 8844 4000 headoffice.admin@visioneyeinstitute.com.au www.visioneyeinstitute.com.au

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