NEW YORK—Vision Monday is launching a weekly video series that examines significant trends that are influencing the way healthcare providers and optical retailers are doing business today, while preparing for the “next normal.” The series, which kicks off March 25, is called Micro Chats on Macro Trends. It features VM’s editorial director, Marge Axelrad and Andrew Karp, lens and technology editor, talking about big ideas and trends from the 2020 VM Leadership Summit that continue to reverberate throughout healthcare and retail in 2021.

“A year into the pandemic, we’re still feeling its aftershocks,” said Axelrad. “The initial effects, which continue to impact us, have now become business realities. In our Micro Chats, we explore the ways in which eyecare providers, optical retailers and suppliers are connecting with patients and customers, creating a foundation for post-pandemic growth.”

The Micro Chats explore the following themes:

• Brick Learns to Click

• Telehealth and Wellness: The Engaged Patient

• Access to Care: The Social Determinants of Health

• Re-Establishing Trust in Healthcare

• Optometry’s Widening Scope

• The Retail-Healthcare Convergence

“Near the end of each Micro Chat, we ask viewers to tell us how these trends are already influencing their practice or business,” said Karp. “The responses we receive will inform the planned program already underway for the 2021 VM Leadership Summit.”

The weekly series of six Micro Chats starts today and focuses on the trend they call “Brick Learns to Click.” Axelrad and Karp discuss how the adoption of new digital technologies in retail and healthcare is blurring the line between physical and virtual and, in doing so, enhancing the patient/customer experience and the delivery of care.

VM will post a new conversation each week. To watch the Micro Chats, visit the VM Leadership Summit site.