SARASOTA, Fla., April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – See.Hear.Live.Better! today announced that leading optical dispensary management company, Medical Eyeglass Center (MEC), has joined its alliance of healthcare service providers backed by leading product manufacturers, all focused on improving the quality of life through vision, hearing and lifestyle services.

The recently formed alliance was founded by MedFocusCapital Partners, Inc., an innovator in the delivery of non-reimbursed services in the eye care industry for the past decade. Ron Greenberg , a thirty year veteran in the eye care industry and President of MedFocusCapital Partners, Inc., states, “Medical Eyeglass Center has a deep and experienced team of professionals dedicated to maximizing results in all areas of a practice’s optical department.  Joining forces will permit us to create ophthalmology programs that are second to none.”

In 1974, MEC pioneered the concept of providing optical management services for ophthalmologists and continues to deploy the best techniques in the industry, optimizing the profitability of eye care businesses across the nation. Through the new alliance, service providers like MEC, will be able to better design and implement comprehensive vision, hearing, and dual sensory programs that permit their clients (practices) to experience growth and provide a more convenient and better lifestyle experience for the patient.

Rob Katz , President, MEC, states, “Medical Eyeglass Center is proud to join the See.Hear.Live.Better! Alliance as a core member providing comprehensive optical management services.  As the eye care industry continues to react and evolve to pressures on reimbursement for healthcare services, ophthalmology practices are expanding their reliance and focus on profitably providing ancillary services such as hearing and optical.  We see this Alliance as a key strategic initiative for our organization going forward.”

Through the See.Hear.Live.Better! Alliance, practices will work closely with a national team of Business Development Managers, to implement the Diagnostic to Treatment Pathway process.  The organization supports all programs through marketing initiatives, analytics and sophisticated tools that ensure an individual practice’s program success.  Alliance programs may be implemented comprehensively or independently based on the practices needs.

For more information on this recently formed alliance, please visit the See.Hear.Live.Better! website atwww.seehearlivebetter.com, call (941) 893-2411, or e-mail info@seehearlivebetter.com.

MedFocusCapital Partners, Inc.

Since 2003, MedFocus Capital Partners has focused primarily on non-reimbursed clinical services that “Optimize the Patient Experience.”  Its managing members are the former founders of Patientfinance.com, now part of CareCredit.  The Alliance is a continuation of patient services that make clinical and financial sense in an eye care setting.

SOURCE MedFocusCapital Partners, Inc.

Optimizing the patient experience while contributing to the financial stability of the practice.

SARASOTA, Fla., April 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – EyeCanHear and Physician Hearing Services, Inc. (PHSI), the leading providers of hearing services to the eye care industry, are proud to announce that the two organizations will leverage the best of what their services offer to expand hearing care for patients suffering from hearing deficiencies.

Founded by leaders in the hearing industry in 2001, PHSI has historically offered a program that primarily concentrates on an ophthalmic practice hiring their own hearing professional and addressing hearing loss, as part of their strategy to bring Vision and Hearing Together. PHSI offers access to hearing instruments from nationally recognized manufacturers and works to optimize the business opportunities for their clients.

In 2003, EyeCanHear, formed by ophthalmic-based business professionals, began to offer the ophthalmology community a program entitled “EyeCanHear Complete:” An all-inclusive hearing service that addresses Dual Sensory Wellness.  This comprehensive turnkey approach allows practices to offer a Diagnostic-to-Treatment Pathway consistent with the methodology with which an eye care practice would normally manage patient flow.  EyeCanHear facilitates the diagnostic room design, set up, patient educational materials, and systems for the reporting of key patient metrics needed to better understand how to optimize patient care, consistent with the practice of eye care services management.

As part of the See.Hear.Live.Better! Alliance, future providers of hearing services will have the benefit of eye care expertise, hearing technology from the nation’s leading hearing device manufacturers and the benefit of working with programs that are tailored to the unique characteristics of their practice.

To understand more how your practice can benefit both clinically and financially by adding hearing services to your practice, visit EyeCanHear at Booth 1313 or PHSI at Booth 1701 during the ASCRS in San Francisco or call 941-893-2411 ext. 102 to set up a personal webinar.

For more information, please visit the See.Hear.Live.Better! website at www.seehearlivebetter.com, call (941) 893-2411, or e-mail info@seehearlivebetter.com.

SOURCE See.Hear.Live.Better! Alliance

EyeCanHear has PROGRAMS TO MEET ANY PRACTICE NEEDS.

• The only hearing based company with a SYSTEM engineered to deliver a personalized diagnostic to treatment pathway to ensure quality outcomes
• The technology to offer comprehensive diagnostic evaluations regardless of room space
• The flexibility to bring an expanded program to your practice in multiple configurations
• 12 month practice cooperative education and awareness campaigns

Learn how EyeCanHear can bring PERSONALIZED LIFESTYLE HEARING to your patients. Call or Sign up for one of our upcoming educational webinars today!

Register for a session now by clicking a date below:

Tue, Jul 10, 2012 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT

Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the Webinar.

Fairfax, VA ̶ The American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA) today announced the
recent formation of an affinity relationship with EyeCanHear of Tampa, Florida.

“Shrinking Medicare reimbursements, and uncertain implementation of new healthcare laws and regulations have created a business environment in which adding ancillary services may become a real necessity for practice growth,” said ASOA President Lisa Gangi, adding, providing a hearing services component to our practices makes good sense as a majority of the patients we see every day age 50 and over all suffer from a decline in both vision and hearing loss.”

EyeCanHear provides all of the elements an ophthalmic practice needs to make hearing care a significant contributor to growth. The most unique and valuable benefit to the EyeCanHear Program is that it provides the Hearing Care Professional for the client’s practice. “We save you significant expenditures of time and money searching for, qualifying, securing, and managing a key employee – without requiring the practice to employ them,” says Nancy Ware of EyeCanHear.

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With every 10-decibel loss of hearing, the risk of falling increases by 40%, according to a recently article published in the Wall Street Journal.

According to author Ann Lukits and a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, older adults with mild hearing loss have a much higher risk of falling than those with normal hearing. Traditionally, the gradual loss of hearing has not been strongly associated with a higher risk factor for falls.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the study used data on 2,017 subjects 40-69 enrolled in a broader U.S. health survey conducted from 2001-04. Each subject underwent audiometer tests and was tested for balance and questioned about falls that occurred the year prior. Demographic information such as smoking, diabetes and hypertension were also considered, the Journal reports.

“Hearing loss greater than 25 decibels was found in 287, or 14%, of the subjects. of those subjects, 5% reported falling during the preceding12 months. (A loss of 25-40 decibels is considered mild.) Risk of falling increased by 40% with every 10-decible loss of hearing, the study found.”

The new research suggests that decreasing hearing sensitivity may affect the auditory signals needed for environmental awareness.

“As the sense organs responsible for hearing and balance are both located in the inner ear, dysfunction in one may affect the other.”

PHILADELPHIA — A new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows that declines in hearing ability may accelerate gray mater atrophy in auditory areas of the brain and increase the listening effort necessary for older adults to successfully comprehend speech.

When a sense (taste, smell, sight, hearing, touch) is altered, the brain reorganizes and adjusts. In the case of poor hearers, researchers found that the gray matter density of the auditory areas was lower in people with decreased hearing ability, suggesting a link between hearing ability and brain volume.

“As hearing ability declines with age, interventions such as hearing aids should be considered not only to improve hearing but to preserve the brain,” said lead author Jonathan Peelle, PhD, research associate in the Department of Neurology. “People hear differently, and those with even moderate hearing loss may have to work harder to understand complex sentences.”

In a pair of studies, researchers measured the relationship of hearing acuity to the brain, first measuring the brain’s response to increasingly complex sentences and then measuring cortical brain volume in auditory cortex. Older adults (60-77 years of age) with normal hearing for their age were evaluated to determine whether normal variations in hearing ability impacted the structure or function of the network of areas in the brain supporting speech comprehension.

The studies found that people with hearing loss showed less brain activity on functional MRI scans when listening to complex sentences. Poorer hearers also had less gray matter in the auditory cortex, suggesting that areas of the brain related to auditory processing may show accelerated atrophy when hearing ability declines.

In general, research suggests that hearing sensitivity has cascading consequences for the neural processes supporting both perception and cognition. Although the research was conducted in older adults, the findings also have implications for younger adults, including those concerned about listening to music at loud volumes. “Your hearing ability directly affects how the brain processes sounds, including speech,” says Dr. Peelle. “Preserving your hearing doesn’t only protect your ears, but also helps your brain perform at its best.”

The research appears in the latest edition of The Journal of Neuroscience and was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Physicians should monitor hearing in patients as they age, noting that individuals who still fall within normal hearing ability may have increasing complaints of speech comprehension issues. Patients should talk to their physician or an audiologist if they are experiencing any difficulty hearing or understanding speech.

Sarasota, Florida: EyeCanHear (www.eyecanhear.com) , the ophthalmic industry’s leading provider of integrated hearing services, is proud to welcome Warren J. Luster as the newest member of its Management Team. Warren will serve as National Business Director and work to expand the presence of EyeCanHear Providers and continue to bring See. Hear. Live. BETTER! Services to the eye care community.

Ron Greenberg, President and Managing Founder of EyeCanHear states “As an industry, it is vital that we continue to expand the Lifestyle services being offered to our Medicare aged patients which can increase the revenue density and stabilize the financial well being of our eye care providers. In expanding the EyeCanHear executive team, it was incumbent for us to identify seasoned eye care professionals that have gone shoulder to shoulder with physicians and their staffs in order to promote Lifestyle Services that will ultimately achieve our objectives. Warren Luster is just that person”

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Fairfax, VA ̶ The American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA) today announced the recent formation of an affinity relationship with EyeCanHear of Tampa, Florida.

“Shrinking Medicare reimbursements, and uncertain implementation of new healthcare laws and regulations have created a business environment in which adding ancillary services may become a real necessity for practice growth,” said ASOA President Lisa Gangi, adding, providing a hearing services component to our practices makes good sense as a majority of the patients we see every day age 50 and over all suffer from a decline in both vision and hearing loss.”

EyeCanHear provides all of the elements an ophthalmic practice needs to make hearing care a significant contributor to growth. The most unique and valuable benefit to the EyeCanHear Program is that it provides the Hearing Care Professional for the client’s practice. “We save you significant expenditures of time and money searching for, qualifying, securing, and managing a key employee – without requiring the practice to employ them,” says Nancy Ware of EyeCanHear.

In addition to the hearing care professional, EyeCanHear has developed sophisticated tools that allow a practice to quickly move forward and start offering hearing services to patients in a very short amount of time. EyeCanHear provides programs that fit any practice, whether utilizing EyeCanHear Complete™ for an all-inclusive program to mEYEcrosite™ for the practice with limited space to EyeCanHear Direct™ for the practice that wants to develop the program on their own.

With over a quarter of a century in the vision industry, EyeCanHear understands how to derive value for your patients through sensory wellness, vision and hearing solutions. According to Ron Greenberg, Managing Partner at EyeCanHear, “The role of a Practice Administrator has gone from vital to critical! With the increasing demands on performance, financial and clinical efficiencies, Administrators must touch every aspect of the practice to ensure the physicians can do their jobs. As we work to bring hearing health in to our practices, the administrator plays a pivotal role and EyeCanHear recognizes the need to develop the next generation of practice leaders”.

EyeCanHear has aligned itself with GN Hearing Corporation, a leader in the hearing care industry in technology advancements, customer satisfaction, and service.

EyeCanHear LLC is the premier hearing solution for the eye care providers. The EyeCanHear program is the industries only Hearing Services Organization and the only one with over 25 years of vision care experience. This provides us the insight and understanding of how to add value for your patients through sensory wellness, vision and hearing solutions. EyeCanHear seamlessly integrates hearing wellness into your day-to-say patient flow. The foundation behind all of our programs is to provide a comprehensive, customized approach that integrates hearing health as part of our See.Hear.Live. Better! approach.
For more information, please visit the EyeCanHear website at http://eyecanhear.com, phone (941) 893-2500, or e-mail info@eyecanhear.com.

Once again, we’re doing our part to stop diabetes! As we did last year, BHI is participating in the American Diabetes Association Alert Daysm —a one-day, “wake-up” call asking the American public to take the Diabetes Risk Test to find out if they are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. This year, Diabetes Alert Day is on March 22 and kicks off the “Join the Million Challenge”—a month-long effort to rally one million people to take the Diabetes Risk Test by April 22.

Hearing loss is about twice as common in adults with diabetes compared to those who do not have the disease, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Yet hearing screenings typically are not part of the regular regimen of care that people with diabetes are routinely recommended to receive. Nor do the vast majority of doctors in today’s health care system include hearing health as a routine part of annual exams, leaving people with diabetes all the more vulnerable to the negative impact that unaddressed hearing loss has on an individual’s life.

BHI is urging hearing health professionals across the country to “Join the Million Challenge.” By encouraging hearing health patients to take the Diabetes Risk Test, the hearing health community can help save lives. The Diabetes Risk Test, by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), helps individuals find out if they are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. It asks users to answer simple questions about weight, age, family history and other potential risks for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. It then shows users whether they are at low, moderate or high risk for type 2 diabetes. If an individual is at high risk, he or she is encouraged to talk with their health care provider.

Diabetes is a serious disease that threatens the lives of far too many Americans. While diabetes already strikes roughly 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3% of the population—an additional 79 million people have pre-diabetes and are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to the National Diabetes Fact Sheet, 2011.

BHI believes strongly that it is important that the hearing healthcare community become increasingly involved in diabetes outreach efforts. Until the day that we can stop diabetes altogether, let’s do what we can to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people with this disease by educating them on how they can identify and address diabetes-related hearing loss and take action to better preserve both their health and quality of life.

There are several ways you can participate in American Diabetes Alert Day. Here are just some ideas:

• Issue a customized press release and share our BHI diabetes and hearing loss backgrounder facts
• Include a BHI article on diabetes and hearing health in your newsletter, on your web site, or as a handout in your office—or send it to your local newspaper for publication.
• Organize a hearing screening in your community on March 22, Diabetes Alert Day, encouraging visitors to take the Diabetes Risk Test as well as to get their hearing tested.
• Host a health fair and team up with other healthcare professionals.
  Host a walk or run in your community.
• Disseminate Diabetes Alert Day and hearing health information, including English and Spanish versions of the Diabetes Risk Test and the Diabetes Alert Day Backgrounder.
• Send out messages on Facebook and Twitter that share the Diabetes Risk Test and information on the link between diabetes and hearing loss.
• Send information through listservs.
• Hang posters in prominent locations such as your office, library, local mall, or church.
• Include a Diabetes Alert Day banner on your web site.
• Include an article on Diabetes Alert Day in your newsletter, on your web site, or as a handout in your office.

To download materials on American Diabetes Association Alert Day, visit http://www.diabetes.org/community-events/programs/alert-day/

To download BHI press information on the American Diabetes Association Alert day, visit http://www.betterhearing.org/professionals/tools.cfm (Under 2011 ADA Stop Diabetes Campaign)

Nearly two-thirds of Americans 70 and older suffer from hearing loss that ranges from mild to severe, according to what may be the first study to gauge the prevalence of hearing impairment in a nationally representative sample of older adults.

Researchers analyzed data from about 715 elderly people whose hearing was examined as part of the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey in 2005-6, the first time it included hearing assessments of older Americans.

Sixty-three percent of those 70 and older were found to be suffering from impairment that affects their ability to hear human speech, according to the World Health Organization’s definition.

Hearing loss was more common in men than in women. And it was significantly less common in black adults: just 43 percent, compared with 64 percent of whites.

Yet only a minority of older people with these impairments use hearing aids, said Dr. Frank R. Lin, an assistant professor of otology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who was lead author of the paper, published Monday in The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences. “There’s a general perception that hearing loss in older adults is not very important,” he said.

Chenault House of Hearing, Inc.announced that Beltone Electronics has received the prestigious International CES Innovations 2011 Design and Engineering Award for the Beltone True™. The new generation of virtually invisible Bluetooth- compatible hearing instruments is among the first to wirelessly receive sound directly from TV, cell/home phone, stereo, PC and iPod via a 2.4 GHz signal.

The Beltone True is different than other hearing aids because it allows hearing-impaired users to comfortably converse with those nearby, while still listening to music or watching their favorite TV program. It also offers extraordinary sound quality and eliminates the embarrassing high- pitched whistling of past hearing instruments.

“We are thrilled to be among the first in the nation to offer our customers this award-winning hearing aid just in time for the holiday season,” says Chenault House of Hearing, Inc.. “What makes this revolutionary new hearing instrument so unique is that it allows our customers to connect directly to their cell phones, TVs and computers by creating a personal wireless network around them.”

Twice as fast and with four times as much memory, the Beltone True’s integrated circuit enables wireless connections to be made to other devices without audible delay. A remote control offers users the ability to independently adjust each hearing instrument’s volume and sound quality.

Receiving top honors in the Health and Wellness category, the Beltone True will be displayed at the 2011 International CES, which runs January 6-9, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The product’s innovative features include the following:

•Direct TV Link – Direct 2.4 GHz wireless connection to a television, stereo or computer allows the listener to enjoy entertainment with others comfortably, at a volume that is right for everyone. This enables the individual to hear the television or stereo, while also participating in conversation in the room.

•Direct Phone Link – Direct wireless connection to a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone allows the user to hear a call directly in both ears. A clip attached to the user’s clothing picks up his/her end of the conversation, allowing the cell phone to remain in a bag or pocket during the call. An Auto Phone feature automatically turns on when the phone comes near the ear.

•Feedback Eraser – Automatically eliminates the uncomfortable and embarrassing ringing that feedback can cause in the ear.

•Speech Spotter Pro – Allows users to more easily follow conversations in noisy places such as restaurants, sporting events and parties.

Products entered into the CES Innovations program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the media. Past recipients of the CES award include Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, LG Electronics, Roku, Yamaha, Belkin, Logitech, Philips Electronics, JBL, and many other brands that have built a reputation for delivering superior innovation and quality.

For More Information, Contact:

Chenault House of Hearing, Inc.
2112 Stonewall Street
Greenville, TX 75401
903-455-5424

CONCLUSION: These population-based estimates document the frequent coexistence of signs of ARM and hearing loss. As late ARM is an important cause of loss of vision, and as hearing loss is associated with difficulty in communicating, the high frequencies of sensory comorbidity may affect maintenance of independent functioning as people age. Further study is necessary to examine why late ARM and hearing loss are associated.

CONCLUSION: In the United States, white persons and those of other races, but not African American persons, reporting concurrent visual and hearing impairment have an increased risk of mortality. Reported concurrent impairment is an independent predictor of mortality among white persons and those of other races for both men and women.Patients who experience Visual and Hearing issues have a Higher Mortality Rate

CONCLUSION: Older persons with visual impairments were also more likely to have hearing loss in this study, which suggests that these sensory impairments could share common risk factors or biologic aging markets. Combined sensory impairments also cumulatively affect health related quality of life.