When Natalie Corey Tangen, OD, heard that Ossip Optometry, the multi-location optometry practice in Indianapolis, Indiana, was going to become part of MyEyeDr., she wondered how this change could shift her career. In many ways, the changes proved to be relatively small– but have also led to service enhancements and consistency at her Westfield, Indiana location.
Dr. Corey Tangen joined Ossip Optometry following the completion of her residency in cornea and contact lenses in 2010. “My goal was to work in an educational setting and Indiana is where my family is,” she says. She knew she didn’t want to open her own practice, either, as her interests were more focused on patient care than practice management. So she worked her connections and was put in contact with Gregg Ossip, OD. When the opportunity with Ossip Optometry came along, it was an attractive one. “Dr. Ossip had been looking to establish certain educational opportunities; establishing a residency program and hosting fourth year externs… that appealed to me.”
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Dr. Corey Tangen was a bit uncertain whether what she had started with Ossip could continue through the transition, but she quickly discovered her worries were unfounded. Not only did MyEyeDr. promise to continue allowing the hosting of residents and students, there is conversation of expanding the residency program beyond what she had been able to do in one office. “It opens the possibilities of new opportunities,” she says.
These educational opportunities are so key to Dr. Corey Tangen. They remain–in her eyes– her crowning achievement. “What I’m most proud of is my role in educating students,” she says. “It’s my passion within this profession.” So far, the practice has hosted four residents– one per year — very successfully. Each quarter, the practice hosts two fourth-year students from Indiana University, and, this year, it will also host two students from Illinois College of Optometry over the course of the year. These students will who work directly with Dr. Corey Tangen three days a week and rotate through their other clinics on the other two days. On top of her work educating the future generations of ODs, she also spends much of her time in specialty contact lens fittings. “I get referrals inside and outside the practice,” she says. “I can serve my patients and others [with] specialty lens care that other doctors don’t offer.”
ANOTHER CONCERN ALLEVIATED
Dr. Corey Tangen says she was initially concerned, too, that the shift to MyEyeDr. ownership would greatly impact scheduling, leaving Dr. Corey Tangen without much time to fit specialty contacts and schedule out time for follow-ups and the one-on-one time they require. “Is this shift going to restrict it?” she wondered.
“It has not,” she says. “MyEyeDr. has allowed me to see my specialty patients and give them the care they’re used to. That’s so important to her. In an introduction to the practice’s patients earlier in her career, Dr. Corey Tangen wrote about why specialty contact lenses are so important to her. “The most rewarding part of my practice is fitting a patient with specialty contact lenses and allowing them to see what they couldn’t with glasses or standard contact lens technologies. We can improve vision substantially, as well as provide comfort for patients with ocular surface issues who may experience pain without these lenses. There’s nothing like taking a patient from 20/60 in their specs to 20/20 in a new pair of contact lenses.”
She appreciates being able to continue those services and gaining referrals from other eye care professionals in the area who don’t fit specialty lenses, working with optometry students. Best of all, she is able to do so and “work normal hours, leave work at work when I go home at the end of the day and spend time with my family,” knowing that she doesn’t have to worry about the business management details.
All in all, Dr. Corey Tangen has found a great fit with MyEyeDr. Being part of a larger organization “allows us to be more competitive in the market. That helps our patients,” she says. “We can serve needs better and more consistently.” And it provides her with personal and professional freedoms to live her best career and life, she says.
