In this article, Dr. Bowers talks about the importance of local eye care and what it means for our patients.
There has been a recent movement in our community to stress the importance of staying local when it comes to spending your money. Investing in our locally-owned businesses is helpful to both the business and consumer. A great article outlining the benefits of buying local, presented by the Central Virginia Business Coalition can be found here.
The same reasoning can apply to healthcare, and the doctors at Piedmont Eye Center take this very seriously. More and more medical practices, including ophthalmology, are being bought out by private equity groups, most of which are based out of larger cities outside of our own region. However, being acquired by an outside entity is not in alignment with Piedmont’s mission and vision of local eye care. These entities, like most private equity investment corporations, are clear in their mission to buy-out existing ophthalmology practices, invest in them over a 4-5 year timeframe in order to eventually sell to yet another private equity group likely outside of our own market area. Piedmont Eye Center turned down a recent offer to be bought despite the lucrative deal it would mean for our physicians. Why? We simply wanted our practice to remain a 100 percent locally-owned business—one that was owned and operated by local physicians who live, work and give back to our own community.
In contrast to ophthalmology practices selling to private equity firms, we can now claim the distinction of being Lynchburg’s only locally-owned, multi-specialty ophthalmology practice with no financial ties to outside non-resident investors. When you receive eyecare at Piedmont Eye Center, your money is not being used to benefit investors who have no connection to our own community and who, perhaps, live as far away as California.
So, when you think about your choices of specialized ophthalmic care in Lynchburg, keep “local” in mind and know that Piedmont Eye Center is the only multi-specialty ophthalmology practice that is 100 percent locally owned and operated by physicians who live, work, and give back to our community. Being local is our standard and we hope it’s yours.