Eye Care Practices Use Social Media To Connect With Patients

Medical Management Services Group, L.L.C. has expanded its Internet development and management consulting services through the formation of a new digital group-iMeme Digital®-to assist eye care and surgery practices to connect with patients through social media vehicles like blogs and Facebook. “We have been active in providing content and developing practice and patient education web sites for some time. The use of social media to help practices and patients stay connected on thoughts about eye care topics like LASIK and cataract surgery offers all involved a useful vehicle for engagement and sharing,” said Katherine Carlisle, Managing Member.

Members of the iMeme Digital® group have been active in the development of internet marketing strategy and implementation since 1999. This includes the development of practice web sites, development and management of LASIK and cataract surgery patient education and surgeon directory sites, direct e-mail campaign and database targeting and development, search engine optimization (SEO) and the full scope of search engine marketing for clients. After evaluating “best practices” and using our experience and resources to formulate a systematic set of solutions for practices wishing to build social media presence through creativity, thoughtfulness and integration into social media, iMeme Digital® is able to offer ophthalmology practices access to the “know how” and “management oversight” necessary to get started in a comprehensive but reasonable format.

“Given the very rapid growth of social media it will become more and more important for eye care and surgery practices to adopt this method of connectivity to patients. Even for those ophthalmology practices that feel they have a solid foundation in internet marketing, participating in social media can be overwhelming and intimidating. It can also be a time consuming, ineffective and resource wasting effort,” said Ms. Carlisle. “The need to blend Internet strategy, brand strategy, patient acquisition strategy and media strategy into a coherent action plan-AND do it in the context of a medical practice with regard to content sensitivities, privacy and security, is not trivial.”

Early adopters of the iMeme Digital® program and services include Baltimore Washington Eye Center in Glen Burnie, Maryland; D’Ambrosio Eye Care in Lancaster Massachusetts; Eyecare Medical Group in Portland, Maine; Doctor & Associates in Westport, Connecticut and Michelson Laser Vision in Birmingham, Alabama.

“We knew that we had to start building a presence for our practice in the social media like Facebook but we just kept getting stuck and didn’t seem to quite get it together,” said Philip Harrington, Practice Administrator at Baltimore Washington Eye Center. “We were pleased to have the guidance, development resources and executional support to get this going.”

“After creating the consistent brand identity across platforms we work to integrate them into a viral network and most importantly assist in the creation of ongoing digital content for ophthalmology practices-that they can be assured helps to reinforce the brand by demonstrating authority, building trust and being social,” stressed Ms. Carlisle. “We take advantage of our collective 70 years of experience in ophthalmology and couple it with media and Internet know how to assist practices in their efforts.”

“At Eyecare Medical Group we had set up a Facebook page that looked just like everyone else’s and thought we were getting somewhere. Then we watched as our pages got transformed and how it projected our brand and identity,” said Clement Berry, Chief Executive Officer of Eyecare Medical Group.

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Ardeo Healthâ„¢ Licenses New Dry Eye Therapy From Novagali Pharma

Ardeo Health, LLC, a biopharmaceutical development and licensing company, announced today that it has reached an agreement with Novagali Pharma S.A. of Evry, France to license Novagali’s novel Nova23041 dry eye therapy for sale in the United States and Canada. The product will be marketed and distributed as Retaine® MGD™ Ophthalmic Emulsion under a brand license from OCuSOFT®, Inc., of Richmond, TX, USA. OCuSOFT, Inc. will also serve as the exclusive distributor under a multiyear agreement between Ardeo and OCuSOFT. Retaine MGD will target those individuals suffering from Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) and Evaporative Dry Eye.

Retaine MGD will be a preservative-free oil-in-water emulsion resulting from Novagali’s patented Novasorb® technology whose efficiency and tolerance in treating dry eyesymptoms have been proven during a number of clinical trials carried out in Europe and Southeast Asia. Successfully marketed since 2008 under the brand name Cationorm®, a brand that belongs to Novagali Pharma, the product is already recommended by ophthalmologists in numerous countries throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

Based on the electrostatic attraction between the positively charged Nova23041 eye drop and the negatively charged corneal epithelium of the ocular surface, Novasorb’s technological platform enables the product to be spread in an optimal, uniform and comfortable way across the entire ocular surface, improves retention time and thus reduces the number of drops required each day by MGD and dry eye sufferers due to its increased efficiency and optimal compliance and tolerance.

“Everyone at Ardeo Health is excited to see this newest technology brought to North America. Patients suffering from moderate to severe Dry Eye will now have an alternative to expensive prescription (Rx) therapies”, states Robert “Bob” Sykora, RPh, President & CEO of Ardeo Health. “With these partnerships, Ardeo has the best of both worlds—the science of Novagali coupled with the brand recognition and distribution channels of OCuSOFT”.

Cynthia Barratt, President of OCuSOFT comments, “OCuSOFT has been searching for a truly unique proprietary Dry Eye therapy which also combined a long-term partnership—and we have found that with Ardeo Health and Novagali. I believe Retaine® MGD™ will become the standard of care for those suffering with Meibomian Gland deficiencies and Evaporative Dry Eye symptoms”.

Jérôme Martinez, Chairman of Novagali Pharma, concludes: “We are very pleased to be able to announce, today, the signing of this agreement involving two major American ophthalmology players. Given their proven expertise on the North American ophthalmology market, the Ardeo and OCuSOFT teams will no doubt make Nova23041’s launch in the United States and Canada a success that will enable us to extend the distribution of our unique formulation for treating dry eye symptoms around the world. This agreement confirms the growing reputation of the products and technologies developed by Novagali Pharma in the United States.”

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Holistic Drug Rehab Effective For Combatting Increased Benzodiazepine Abuse

The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently published a study that indicates benzodiazepine usage has tripled over the past decade.

Benzodiazepines are a class of drugs which are used to treat seizures, anxiety and insomnia. They were created back in the 1950’s as an alternative to barbiturate use within the mental health field. While opiates still remained the number one abused controlled substance in this study, benzodiazepines ranked number two.

“All FDA approved medications have their place when used properly,” begins a spokesperson for Mountainside Drug Rehab and Alcohol Treatment Center . “The issue is when those substances fall into the wrong hands. And, since there are more individuals being prescribed these types of drugs, the chances of abuse by a friend or relative are increased. Fortunately, holistic drug rehab is effective in overcoming these types of addictions. Mountainside’s entire team of professional social workers and counselors all have extensive experience in the field of addiction. Our drug rehab program is second to none.”

If you know or suspect that your friend or loved one is abusing benzodiazepines, or any other type of substance, Mountainside Drug Rehab and Alcohol Treatment Center offers professional intervention services to assist you in getting them the help that they need to recover. For the past 13 years, Mountainside has established itself as an innovator within the addiction treatment field, and the treatment modalities Mountainside utilizes are regarded as among the most cutting-edge approaches in helping individuals to get, and to remain, sober.

The compassionate, caring treatment team at Mountainside is comprised of licensed and certified counselors and social workers, as well as a Nurse Practitioner and a Registered Nurse, both of whom have specialization and extensive experience in drug addiction and alcohol treatment. For clients who may have psychiatric issues and/or a dual diagnosis, Mountainside provides the services of a Psychiatrist who also has specialization in addictions. As a result of their unique, innovative approaches to addiction treatment over the past 13 years, Mountainside has become the model for the addiction treatment field.

The program, along with its professional addiction treatment team, have earned national recognition and resulted in Mountainside being invited to Washington by the White House to meet with the White House Drug Czar, John P. Waters, for an in-depth meeting on what makes its program so successful. These accolades did not go unnoticed within the addiction treatment field and resulted in the adoption by many throughout the country of a more holistic approach to drug addiction treatment.

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