Medical Consulting buys Nicholson agency

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After 19 years in the advertising industry, Jay Nicholson has sold his advertising company to pursue advertising. However, his focus is now on one industry eye care.|ret||ret||tab|

Medical Consulting Group LLC, a fully integrated consulting firm in the field of ophthalmology and elective surgery, Jan. 2 purchased Jay Nicholson & Partners for an undisclosed amount. |ret||ret||tab|

"We purchased the intellectual capital, the intellectual properties of Jay Nicholson & Partners," said William Rabourn, president and founder of Medical Consulting Group, whose headquarters are at 3058 S. Delaware. "Our company had a need for his talents and skills, and the timing was perfect."|ret||ret||tab|

With Medical Consulting Group, Nicholson is director of creative services, a department that comprises 11 employees including Nicholson. Another seven consultants are employed by the company for a total staff of 18.|ret||ret||tab|

In his own company, Nicholson said, he has worked with oral surgeons, clinics, eye doctors and surgeons, dentists, plastic surgeons and general practitioners.|ret||ret||tab|

"That's exactly why we went to Jay," Rabourn added. "Jay's skills and talents ... and his experience were a perfect fit for us."|ret||ret||tab|

In the move, Nicholson has retained two of his own staff and Medical Consulting Group is expanding its office space to accommodate the new employees. It purchased the space next door, which doubled the square footage to 4,250.|ret||ret||tab|

Nicholson said that for him, it's basically a change of scenery.|ret||ret||tab|

"I'm still doing television, radio, outdoor, newspaper, print materials, general consulting so really it's the same thing," he said. "Now I get to concentrate on one industry and do it very well ... instead of being all over the board. That, to me, is refreshing."|ret||ret||tab|

According to Rabourn, Medical Consulting Group is a unique firm in that it offers both consulting and creative services. He said it's one of only two or three in the industry because they assist in all areas of eye care, including overseeing of the physical building, the purchasing of equipment, the licensing procedures, the hiring of staff, practice assessment, internal organization and external appearance and image. |ret||ret||tab|

"All of that's implied to making their practice successful everything from financing all the way down to the blueprints," Nicholson said, describing the company's offerings. "Full turnkey services, from ground-breaking to ribbon cutting, with regard to offices or ambulatory surgery centers."|ret||ret||tab|

But the services do not stop there. Steve Sheppard, one of the com-pany's three shareholders along with Ra-bourn and Joel Nunneley, said they also will bring the client's company to market and assist in communication from physician to patient.|ret||ret||tab|

"They hit the point where they now have a marketable technology that's approved ... but the whole company tends to beengineers and scientists," Sheppard said. |ret||ret||tab|

"We will help them develop the infrastructure to put together a sales and marketing function within the practice. We can estimate and evaluate what the organizations will need to do so that their products will be accepted by the physicians," and then "how the physicians can explain the new technology to the patients and actually create a demand in the patient population," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

Although the company is based in Springfield, it only has two clients in the state. Locally, it does work for Mattax-Neu-Prater Eye Center|bold_on|; in St. Louis it works with the Pepose Vision Institute. |ret||ret||tab|

Rabourn said the rest of the firm's 40 to 50 clients, which are mostly on the corporate level, are spread across the nation. |ret||ret||tab|

Some of Medical Consulting's largest clients are Clinicon, Refractec and Laser Diagnostic Technology, all located in Southern California, and most notably, Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch & Lomb.|ret||ret||tab|

Rabourn said that 90 percent of the company's work is in ophthalmology and the rest is in elective surgeries which include plastic and LASIK surgeries. "Those are really our two main areas of expertise," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

The field of ophthalmology has experienced substantial growth in the last 10 years, Nicholson said, citing advancements in cataract surgeries, as well as eye care treatments like radial keratotomy and LASIK. The LASIK procedure, which stands for laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis, uses computer-calculated laser treatments made on the eye to correct vision problems, Nicholson said.|ret||ret||tab|

"The advancements being made in this industry are phenomenal," he added. "People are being able to see better without contacts or glasses ... and we like being a part of that because we're helping these surgeons make so many people happy."|ret||ret||tab|

The company recently attended The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons Convention in San Diego that boasted around 10,000 attendees, including 6,000 doctors, 3,000 vendors and 1,000 administrators, nurses and technicians. There they learned of the most recent technological advancements in the eye care industry.|ret||ret||tab|

"We go out to those meetings because everybody's there," Sheppard said. "It gives us an opportunity to stay abreast of all of the current technologies."|ret||ret||tab|

Sheppard said one of the newest procedures, being developed by Refractec, is a radio frequency device to treat far-sightedness. It has not yet been approved in the United States, but is being practiced in Europe and Mexico. |ret||ret||tab|

Also, Bausch & Lomb is introducing a new technology called Flying-Spot Laser, Nicholson said, which will present a more accurate and predictable result. |ret||ret||tab|

"Bausch & Lomb is hoping to raise the bar just a little bit ... that's why we're excited about jumping on the band wagon and helping proliferate it throughout the United States," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

engiNicholson said he feels the industry as a whole is evolving and he is looking forward to growing along with it. |ret||ret||tab|

"The industry is so rapidly changing because there is something new everyday," he said. "It's been a dream of mine for many years to have the opportunity like this." |ret||ret||tab|

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