Membership plans are starting to move from an interesting idea to something practices genuinely need to understand.

In this episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sits down with Cody Tomasik, Founder and CEO of DirectOD, a platform built within real optometry practices to solve the frustrations of vision plans, low reimbursements, and cash-pay patient retention.

What makes this conversation critical is the shift it represents: moving away from third-party entities that dictate your revenue flow toward a direct, one-to-one relationship with your patients through customizable benefits.

And as Cody explains, when you cut out the middleman, the math becomes incredibly compelling for any practice owner.

364 days of silence, then one automated appointment text.

A patient who walks in completely unprepared to purchase.

This is the current state of most optometric practices, and according to consumer expert Jeff Fromm, it's a massive missed opportunity.

In this week's Power Hour, Eugene Shatsman is joined by Philip Alexander, AI Technologist and CEO of AnswerMyQ, and Jeff Fromm, a 5x author who has written for Forbes since 2014. They dive deep into why the patient journey needs to move from "informed" to "fully customized."

But here's the core challenge they present:

If you started with a blank sheet of paper, would you really design the experience you have today?

Probably not.

187,000,000 views.

1.3 million subscribers.

+- 500 long-form videos.

And right now, thousands of people are watching his content live.

Not a media company.

Not a full-time influencer.

A doctor.

In this week's Power Hour, Dr. Joseph Allen, Founder of Doctor Eye Health, breaks down how he built one of the largest eye care education platforms on YouTube, from zero experience in 2018 to a global audience today with over 1.3 million subscribers.

But here's what makes this episode worth your time:

It's not about going viral.

It's about understanding how content actually works.

In this episode of Power Hour, host Eugene sits down with Dr. Jason Lake, General Manager of PERC & Opti-Port for another Metric of the Quarter, and this one hits differently.

Some episodes give you ideas. This one gives you numbers you can't ignore.

AI is everywhere right now. And the real challenge right now isn't access, but knowing what to trust.

Every vendor has a solution. Every platform claims to be "intelligent." Every conversation seems to come back to what AI is going to do next.

But when you step into your practice, the question becomes much simpler:

What actually works for me?

In this episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sits down with Dr. Abdullah "Abed" Sarhan, CEO and Co-Founder of RetinaLogik, who has been working in deep learning and AI long before it became widely used.

And what makes this conversation different is that it's not theoretical, but practical.

They break down what AI is actually capable of in eye care practices today, where it can genuinely improve workflow and patient experience, and just as importantly, where ODs should be far more skeptical.

There's a point in every growing practice where things start to feel different. Not because the business isn't working, but rather it's working only because of you, and the moment you try to expand, that dependency gets exposed.

You start to realize that growth isn't as simple as opening another location. It's about building something that can operate without you being everywhere at once, and that's exactly where this conversation begins.

In this episode of Power Hour, Eugene sits down with Dr. Tommy Lucas (President, VIEW Optometry) and Dr. Mary Kate Walters (CEO, VIEW Optometry), a husband-and-wife team who have built a four-location practice in Central Texas, including three cold starts that didn't just survive, but ramped quickly.

And while the growth itself is impressive, it's only part of what makes this conversation worth paying attention to.

Just as important is how they think about building a business.

Because underneath the numbers, you start to hear something deeper: a philosophy around people, systems, incentives, and what it actually takes to create something that can function beyond the owners being everywhere at once.

And then, it shifts from building a practice, to something much bigger - VIEW Optometry Alliance.

Most practice owners think growth is about doing more.

More patients, more staff, more lanes, and more locations.

But the truth is, scaling a practice is about building the right structure underneath it.

In this week's episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sits down with Dr. David Moore, President of Moore Eye Center, and Dr. Julia Zyrina, Founder of Pine Vision Care, two doctors who are both building exceptional practices, but in fundamentally different ways.

They meet for the first time on the show, and what unfolds is a fascinating look at how two high-performing doctors can pursue growth through completely different philosophies.

They both prioritize patient experience. They both use technology to advance patient care. They're both focused on building something bigger than themselves.

But the way they think about execution – exam flow, pace, trust-building, team consistency, hiring, and scale – is where the real contrast appears.

Every year at Vision Expo, companies make massive promises about the "future of optometry."

But as a practice owner, you don't need more hype; you need solutions that are real, scalable, and useful.

In this special Innovators Edition of the Power Hour recorded live at Vision Expo, Eugene Shatsman sits down with three executives attacking the future of the profession from three completely different angles: surgical business models, patient-centric retail, and all-in-one operational technology.

If you've ever wondered how to monetize your surgical referrals, give patients a reason to visit you between exams, or finally consolidate those 14 open tabs on your staff's computer into an all-in-one operational technology, this episode is for you.