Practice Perspectives: More Than Meets the Eye with Annette Webb, O.D. 

For Dr. Annette Webb, a series of headaches uncovered a side of optometry she’d never envisioned before.

Dr. Webb, owner of Webb Eye Care in Pearcy, Arkansas, knew she wanted to go into medicine, but hadn’t narrowed down a field. As it turns out, the field found her. While working toward her degree, she began experiencing eye strain that eventually led to headaches and a trip to her optometrist.

“Of course I needed glasses,” Dr. Webb says, “but he showed me how much you can diagnose from the back of the eye. We can diagnose stroke, traumatic brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, histoplasmosis... there’s so much that affects the body that hits the back of the eye, so I was sold.”

Exploring New Horizons

Dr. Webb has practiced eye care since 1995, including a brief time in Atlanta, Georgia, before putting down roots in her home state of Arkansas. Since then, she’s seen her practice grow, doubling her exam lanes, moving into a building she now owns and shares with other healthcare professionals, and taking up a specialty in neuro-optometry. Dr. Webb believes Eyefinity Encompass™ has played a crucial role in helping her practice expand in both profitability and expertise.

“I feel like the more technology I have, the easier it is to ensure that nothing’s going to sneak up and rob vision from my patients,” she says. “Eyefinity [Encompass] is a huge part of that because it’s so easy to document. As the doctor, you can use Eyefinity [Encompass] to whatever level suits you at any time.”

Dr. Webb loves both the front- and back-end elements of Encompass. When patients come in with pre-signed consent forms, it makes the day flow smoothly. When they don’t, her staff uses an iPad to get patients up to speed. Since every provider is different, it’s important to have software that adapts to the way each individual prefers to work. For Dr. Webb, that looks like a combination of Eyefinity software’s pre-designed protocols, a headset, and a scribe, which allow her to document exams in real time, while still giving her patients undivided attention.

“Eyefinity [Encompass] definitely helps the workflow,” she says. “I recently saw 42 patients in one day by myself. If you have a well-trained staff and those practice management systems are in place, seeing that many patients is doable. They’re still getting great care; you’re just doing things more efficiently.”

Care When It Matters Most

Every eye care professional wants to provide the best possible experience for their patients, but intentional, one-on-one care is paramount to Dr. Webb’s line of expertise in neuro-optometry. She sees patients who have experienced traumatic brain injuries, strokes, concussions, and other conditions that often cause patients to feel disoriented and frustrated.

“These are much more extensive exams because we’re checking cranial nerve pathways,” she says. “Having the ability to be strictly one-on-one with a patient and not having to worry about all the documentation is tremendous.”

Since 70% of the brain is involved in visual processing, according to Dr. Webb, neuro-optometry allows her to not only help patients with their vision but provide care that they’ve been unable to find elsewhere. Loss of vision is often life-changing, so it's equally life-changing to help patients recover. Dr. Webb recalls a patient who had a stroke a few years ago, lost the entire left side of her vision, and was unable to drive, which also left her unable to work. But through vision therapy, Dr. Webb was able to restore nearly half the patient’s vision on the affected side, making her life livable again.

It’s cases like these that drive home Dr. Webb’s mission as a provider and highlight the tools that allow her to provide such excellent care.

“There’s a lot going on with these patients,” she says. “They deserve that extra bit of attention and I’m able to give that to them."

See for yourself how Encompass allows you to devote more time to patients, while helping you expand your practice. Sign up for a demo with one of our Encompass experts!