Empower Data-Driven Decision-Making and Proactive Problem Solving

As a multi-location ophthalmology group with 32 providers and 400 employees, Vistar Eye Center strives for efficient business decisions that drive revenue and support their staff and patients. Running a large practice, though, comes with costly reporting, complex problem-solving, and difficulties balancing staffing and office space.  

As a result, Vistar Eye found themselves leaning on guesswork and subjective decision-making. Joey Martinez, Chief Information Officer at Vistar Eye, explained the burden they faced both operationally and financially, saying, “We don't have the staff to create dashboards and analytical things without it being extremely costly to us.” 

This led them to look at ways to improve decision-making, problem-solving, and internal processes with the data and systems that they had. 

In the spring of 2026, Vistar Eye Center decided to become Early Adopters of NextGen Insights — a clinical, operational, and financial analytics tool that delivers real-time dashboards and quality data trends across the organization.  

NextGen Insights goes beyond standard reporting with benchmarking, deep analysis, and near real-time visibility. “It shows you more values than just a simple report because you can see a lot more data at once. And then you can drill into it and actually see the details of it,” explains Martinez. 

With the help of NextGen Insights, Vistar Eye now has analytical dashboards, productivity trends, and data in the hands of team members across their organization. 

Most importantly, the data from Insights empowers the Vistar Eye team to make decisions that improve practice outcomes. Martinez articulates the impact of data visibility, saying, “What we were doing before was a lot of manual reporting and guesswork. What we’ve tried to turn that into now is a framework of having live, actual data in our hands when needed.”  

Solving problems at the source  

As a multi-location practice, Vistar sees varying no-show rates across locations. However, at one office, they noticed that one provider’s no-show rate began to rise higher than normal.  

Using Insights, the team realized that a template change had occurred at the same time that the provider’s no-show rate began to increase. This gave staff the information they needed to make the initially overlooked adjustments that had caused the no-show spike.  

Once the changes were made, the provider’s no-show rate decreased by 7% — from 18% down to 11%.  

Thanks to Insights, the team identified the issue and completely resolved it within 6 weeks. Without Insights, it may have taken the Vistar Eye team until their quarterly reports, which are run every 12 weeks, just to notice the problem.  

During these 12 weeks, an additional 7% of no-shows would have cost them up to $30,000 in revenue. *  

Data-driven decision-making 

The Vistar Eye team also leverages Insights for real-time data that fuels productive, informed, and timely conversations and business decisions.  

Kathy Shelton, Chief Operating Officer at Vistar, uses Insights to evaluate appointment types, time stamps, and workflows across providers and locations to appropriately assign technicians, allocate staff, and budget for future hiring. 

Before, some of these decisions were made based on what providers were telling her. Now, Shelton has the data to make these decisions with confidence.  

Shelton shares one example, saying, “We've got a doctor that wants to move to one office because they feel there's more potential there. But based on historical data from other providers that have been at that location, there isn't a need there. So that would allow us to make decisions on expanding offices, hiring, and making sure that we're making the best use of our providers' time. There's so much we can do with this, and we have it immediately.” 

This quick, detailed access to data also helps the Vistar team lead more driven day-to-day discussions. 

“In a meeting, someone might ask a question about a trend or change in the business. Instead of leaving the meeting with more questions, we can open NextGen Insights, drill into the data, and quickly understand what's driving it. It doesn't identify a fire that you have to put out after you leave the meeting — it’s a fire that's extinguished during the meeting,” Martinez highlights. 

The Vistar Eye team also plans to integrate their analytical dashboard into executive meetings with stakeholders. This financial and operational report will give a more holistic view of practice trends for deeper dialogue. 

Putting data in the right hands

Staci Runyon, Revenue Cycle Manager at Vistar Eye, used to spend a lot of time running reports on denial codes and reasons, sometimes looking through multiple reports to get the answers to one question. 

Providers would come to her wanting to know why there was a patient balance or why there was a denial. Now, with Insights, Runyon can specifically show providers what is happening behind the scenes. “Me telling them something is one thing, but to be able to actually break it down into what type of denial we're looking at or why the insurance did this, it’s been extremely beneficial for me,” Runyon explains.  

Providers have been receptive to data-backed feedback, and Runyon appreciates having answers that help them move forward. “We can guess all day long and make suggestions, but having the hard data to look at is phenomenal,” Runyon emphasizes. 

This hard data, though, is not only accessible to Runyon. The clear interface and strong usability of NextGen Insights have allowed team members across the organization, from providers to the C-suite, to have hands-on access to the data platform. “That's got to be an amazing feeling, getting the information you want on your own. 

“I think that in itself is amazing for us, and I can really see how it will help the CEO, the CFO, everybody involved. If they want something specific, they can get their hands on it,” Runyon notes. 

The Vistar Eye team estimates that, with Insights, they are saving about 5 staff hours each week on reporting, which translates to approximately 260 hours saved per year. 

Looking ahead 

Just four months into using NextGen Insights, the Vistar Eye team has already seen a return from increased data. Yet, they feel that they’ve only just begun digging into what’s possible with Insights at the practice. 

Looking ahead, their financial, operational, and clinical teams are excited to continue guiding product advancements as they get Insights into more hands and expand functionalities. 

“I mean, I haven't even scratched the surface of what I'm going to be able to do with this. I love it,” Runyon notes. 

 

*Values represented by an appointment revenue of $250/appointment and a volume of 22 patients/day.