We just started taking this. :( I would like to know everyones experience with them. I understand we can use any lab which is nice. We stopped doing Spectra glasses because the lab was so bad.
Anyone else take them?
We just started taking this. :( I would like to know everyones experience with them. I understand we can use any lab which is nice. We stopped doing Spectra glasses because the lab was so bad.
Anyone else take them?
eyemed isnt as bad as spectera you dont get the negative balances when you have to charge for extras. as long as your pricing is ok you should be ok.
Eyemed has been ok ut since the merger has been difficult to distinguish between the cole pateints and the eyemed patients. I hope they straighten this out soon. Eyemed in my opnion is definitley better than Spectera, I agree with you there. Specteras lab is horrible to say the least, although I find it funny that a local retail optical here can make their Spectera glasses onsite. Never have received an answer from Spectera on why this is.
Shellrob,
I make my glasses on site for spectera. You have to have more than a certain amount of stores, and have a central lab for all of them. When you do, the reimburements are better than eyemed -by far.
So, do you know what the criteria is to be able to do so?
As I said in the previous post, you have to have more than a certain amount of stores, (which is different by region) and have your own lab.
EyeMed is absolutely horrible. Some plans only reimburse at $38 for a comprehensive exam...hell, my wife pays more than 3 times that for her hair cut!!! (HIGH MAINTENANCE :) Also, I just got a letter in the mail from EyeMed saying that they are no longer going to reimburse for tint on the GM employees plan (was only $7) so it's like handing out free tint jobs. Absolutely ridiculous. That put me over the edge so I am dropping EyeMed.
Yea, I don't like it much either but now a ton of my vsp patients all switched to eyemed after Jan 1. It sucks, but geez, what do you do??????
If a large local employer sees the same providers for Eyemed as VSP, why shouldn't they cross over if it cost less?
Careful about signing on for plans you don't like. YOUR OFFICE IS USED AS A SELLING POINT.
Harry
Heck OHIO MedicAid pays better, than thatOriginally Posted by dlongod
. Thats really bite. Our service as independent ECP has just, gone to mare crap. The verticle intergration of channel of distribution by the big corporation is going to be monopolized by LUX. Where are our representative, that supposively protecting the public interest?
Ok.. they reimburse $38 but what is the patient's copay. I have VSP patients with this low of a reimbursement, but then I get a $20-25 copay out of them as well.
Cassandra
"Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate. But I believe that happiness is something we create."-Something More by Sugarland
With GM, normally the co-pay is NADA or ZIP. You get what u conracted for and they get a little bit, to get the independent out of business & cheap labor from the DOCOR and a GREAT MARketing plan HA.
[QUOTE=dlongod Also, I just got a letter in the mail from EyeMed saying that they are no longer going to reimburse for tint on the GM employees plan (was only $7) so it's like handing out free tint jobs. Absolutely ridiculous. That put me over the edge so I am dropping EyeMed.[/QUOTE]
What am I missing here? If Eyemed says they won't reimburse you for tints, doesn't that mean that the patient pays out of pocket ?
It does in my office !
The last time I had my tires changed, they charged me an $8 tire disposal fee. I paid it.
I went back to my office and had someone there with an NVA insurance. I charged them a $5 insurance administration fee. They paid it.
My thinking is that the tire manufacturer doesn't tell the mechanic what to charge to dipsose of the tires. Then insurance co. shouldn't be able to tell me how much I can charge to:
1. Fill out the paperwork.
2. Accept less money.
3 Wait for the money.
We've been charging fees since December, and no complaints. We charge different fees for different companies depending on how long we are on hold, how easy it is to verify coverage, how much the reimbursements are and so on. These are all items that increase my overhead. If someone is on hold w/ an insurance company, they can't be helping a customer.
For Spectera and Eyemed and a few others, we get paid fast, reimbursements are easy, and there few little hassles. We charge no extra fees to the patient. The lower tier plans, including the cheesy discount plans, we charge a fee. If fewer of those folks come back, so be it.
Does anybody else charge admin/service fees for insurances ?
Wow ... Eyemed has nothin' on Spectera, as far as we're concerned! PA's Medicaid pays what, $21.50 towards an exam? We get so much of that - $38 is great, especially with the usual $10 copay. Plus we make our own glasses in our own lab. We'll take it!!
Why I am really responding is to TOTALLY AGREE with the *Spectera sucks* postings. Our office also dropped them when their lab's glasses took a month to get in and then when the quality was poor on top of that! We had no idea until reading these posts that other offices felt the same (coulda guessed it though).
And just an idea ... we offer a 20% discount to our Spectera patients (on exam and all materials but contact lenses), and give them a extra copy of their statement to send in to the insurance. The reimbursement + the 20% discount ends up saving the patient more than they would have saved using Spectera in-network. So we keep the patient, and we keep the patient happy. Plus the small amount we lose in discounts is NOTHING compared to the amount we'd lose if we gave up all those patients!
Marcy
Great Post Marcy. We started to do this for the Spectera patients. As we all know, Crown lab is ****ty, and it takes average around 3 to 4 weeks to get their glasses back. We let the patients know this in advance. We also offered 20 % discount on complete pair, give them the itemized receipt and let spectera reimburse them directly. So far, it has been working out great. I would say half of my spectera patients agreed to this since they can get their glasses in a day if we stock their lenses. We still can submit for exam only and allow the patients to file out of network.
Any insurances that allow us to pick our own labs is great. We can control the quality of the frame and lenses making which will bring patients satisfaction. I hate pointing figure to Spectera, VSP etc... So, in my book, Eyemed is great.
Shellrob,
I know for a fact that Eyemaster can make spectera lenses for their patients.
You know if the optical industry stopped taking eyecare insurance for eyeglasses, then people would have to pay for their glasses again.....maybe we should figure out how to get that started.
Call Spectera, they will explain to you how you can use your in-house lab. It's called the Patriot Plan. You have to have at least 5 stores.
Now, maybe if you were to start a co-op (for insurance purposes only) you could band together under one name and have 200 stores (Optiboard Optical!) and cut your own. But why go through all of that for the privlege of making less profit?
I work for a private office that has only one store. We still take Spectra for exams and contacts. We give a 20% discount on the glasses. I don't miss it at all. I can't understand how a lab can be that bad.
Check this out www.cafepress.com/mikescreations
Still not cool.
Johns,
Is it legal to charge this to select insurance patients? When I mean legal, I mean within the guidelines of that insurance plan, not within the law.
If yes, then I'll start doing it too.
Anyone have an opinion on this?
I'm not sure. We tell them that if you pay cash/check/charge, that there is no paperwork involved. It does cost us more to administer the plans, and they understand, and nobody has complained (yet). Shippers are charging fuel charges, airport are charging security charges, and we are charging admin. charges.
We charge it on a seperate invoice, so it is not involved in the actual eyewear billing. We also charge a deposit on all of our contact trial lenses, and one company started to tell we couldn't do it. I told the company that we'd expect free shipping and they backed off rather quickly.
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