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Power Hour · 2025-12-19

Why Diagnostic Tools Go Unused — and How to Make Them An Asset to your Practice with Dr. Mile Brujic

A Different Way to Think About Equipment
This episode walks through a more disciplined approach to technology adoption—one grounded in real-world optometric practice.
Dr. Brujic shares how a simple patient interaction around dry eye reshaped his thinking and led to earlier identification, better patient education, and stronger trust before purchasing decisions are made.

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Buying new equipment is rarely the hard part. Making it work—clinically, operationally, and financially—is where most practices struggle.

A Problem Most Practices Recognize

Many practices invest in advanced technology with good intentions—better care, differentiation, growth. Yet months later, the equipment is used inconsistently, reserved for rare cases, or quietly avoided because it disrupts flow.

Dr. Brujic explains why this happens so often:

  • Doctors buy equipment to be “cutting edge” without first identifying a real gap in care or existing patient demand.
  • Workflow isn’t designed to support consistent use
  • Teams aren’t aligned on when or why to use it

The result is frustration—for clinicians, staff, and patients.

A Different Way to Think About Equipment

This episode walks through a more disciplined approach to technology adoption—one grounded in real-world optometric practice.

Dr. Brujic shares how a simple patient interaction around dry eye reshaped his thinking and led to earlier identification, better patient education, and stronger trust before purchasing decisions are made.

From dry eye diagnostics to IPL, OCT, and specialty lenses, the conversation highlights how equipment succeeds when it fills a clearly defined clinical need and is supported by systems—not enthusiasm alone.

Key Takeaways
  • Find the Gap Before You Buy: The best tech fills a real clinical gap you’re seeing repeatedly.
  • Workflow Is the Make-or-Break: If the team can’t run it smoothly, it won’t get used.
  • Therapeutics Need a Message Plan: Map your patient explanation before the device arrives.
  • Don’t Underuse Your Diagnostics: Saving tools like OCT for “severe cases” limits outcomes and ROI.
  • Cost Conversations Build Trust: Avoiding cost doesn’t reduce friction—it usually increases it.
  • Specialty Lenses Scale With Systems: Consistent measurement + communication improves outcomes and profitability.
In This Episode
  • 00:00 | The patient comment that changed everything
  • 03:08 | A better way to evaluate equipment purchases
  • 07:15 | IPL: how a real “gap in care” creates immediate demand
  • 16:15 | Acceptance rates + how to talk about cost
  • 23:10 | Underutilized tech: why flow matters
  • 29:22 | Sclerals: selecting patients earlier + expanding indications
  • 37:35 | 3 mistakes that turn equipment into a dust collector
  • 45:20 | Staff readiness + sequencing initiatives
  • 51:50 | Education resources
    Contact Information

    Connect with Dr. Mile Brujic

    Mile Brujic, OD, FAAO is a 2002 graduate of the New England College of Optometry. He is a partner of Premier Vision Group, a successful four location optometric practice in Northwest Ohio. He practices full scope optometry with an emphasis on ocular disease management of the anterior segment and specialty contact lenses. He is active at all levels of organized
    optometry. Dr. Brujic is on the editorial board for a number of optometric publications. He has published over 450 articles and has given over 2000 lectures, both nationally and internationally on contemporary topics in eye care.

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mile-brujic-b6649514/ 

    Connect with Eugene Shatsman (Managing Partner, NSG) 

    Website – https://www.eugeneshatsman.com/

    LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugeneshatsman

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