Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 31

Thread: Davis Vision

  1. #1
    Bad address email on file sharonm516's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Kentucky
    Occupation
    Ophthalmic Technician
    Posts
    296

    Davis Vision

    I was sent a packet today from them asking my doc to join up. I dont know anything about them. Can anyone share experiences good or bad?
    Thanks
    Sharon

  2. #2
    Master OptiBoarder
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Down in a hole!
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    13,078
    You have just met the:


    ANTI-CHRIST!!!!!

  3. #3
    Bad address email on file sharonm516's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Kentucky
    Occupation
    Ophthalmic Technician
    Posts
    296
    Enough said...lol I dont need anymore insurance troubles...so file 13 it goes!

  4. #4
    Rising Star
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    SD
    Occupation
    Optometrist
    Posts
    77
    FWIW, I accept Davis. Only one big local employer seems to have it. It pays about as well as VSP for an exam (60 vs 63.50). The plan that the big employer has basically covers in full anything they want in their glasses, so in that sense, it's pretty easy to deal with. Not much selling involved. Doesn't pay that great for the materials, but it's not much work either. But from I've heard from others, it's the anti-christ, like someone said. I just haven't had that experience......yet.

  5. #5
    OptiWizard
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    NY
    Occupation
    Optometrist
    Posts
    389
    If you're not taking it, then don't start. It's pretty poor...you have to have a display of their cheap frames, I wouldn't recommend...

  6. #6
    Rising Star
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    SD
    Occupation
    Optometrist
    Posts
    77
    Quote Originally Posted by OHPNTZ View Post
    If you're not taking it, then don't start. It's pretty poor...you have to have a display of their cheap frames, I wouldn't recommend...
    yeah, the davis tower of frames is hideous. I took all the frames off it, put them in cheap plastic trays and store them out of sight. When a Davis patient comes in I take out the trays and say "here's what your insurance covers." They always pick something out of the trays.

  7. #7
    Master OptiBoarder
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Down in a hole!
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    13,078
    Quote Originally Posted by eyestrain View Post
    They always pick something out of the trays.
    Is that a good thing?

  8. #8
    Rising Star
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    SD
    Occupation
    Optometrist
    Posts
    77
    Quote Originally Posted by Fezz View Post
    Is that a good thing?

    Yes, because they give us some stupid wholesale allowance for our frames. Even if they pick our most expensive frame, their out of pocket would be like 20 or 30 bucks. They basically expect you to give your frames away.

  9. #9
    Bad address email on file
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Passaic, New Jersey, United States
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    178
    We accept Davis Vision....
    and we also take Spectera....
    our office manager says Davis is better than Spectera...

    I don't know how much that actually says of Davis....
    so go figure...

  10. #10
    Master OptiBoarder
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    3,951
    Quote Originally Posted by OpticianVlad View Post
    We accept Davis Vision....
    and we also take Spectera....
    our office manager says Davis is better than Spectera...

    I don't know how much that actually says of Davis....
    so go figure...
    Thats like comparing medicaid reimbursement in your state to mine. Run away fast!!!
    Last edited by obxeyeguy; 07-15-2008 at 04:10 PM. Reason: add my real feelings.

  11. #11
    Optical Clairvoyant OptiBoard Bronze Supporter Andrew Weiss's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Brisbane,QLD, Australia
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    1,397
    From an eyewear perspective only, it is extremely difficult (I'd say impossible) to make any profit on Davis Vision patients. My current office doesn't take it, and my last office dumped it.

    I would say don't take it unless the only employer in your area gives Davis to its employees. And even there, I'd proceed with caution.
    Andrew

    "One must remember that at the end of the road, there is a path" --- Fortune Cookie

  12. #12
    Bad address email on file sharonm516's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Kentucky
    Occupation
    Ophthalmic Technician
    Posts
    296
    I showed the posts to my doc...he said "no way in H**L are we taking that!!!" :shiner:

  13. #13
    Master OptiBoarder
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Down in a hole!
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    13,078
    Tell Doc that he/she can send my consulting check direct to me as quickly as it can be sent!

  14. #14
    Optician Extraordinaire
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Somewhere warm
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    3,130
    Quote Originally Posted by eyestrain View Post
    yeah, the davis tower of frames is hideous. I took all the frames off it, put them in cheap plastic trays and store them out of sight. When a Davis patient comes in I take out the trays and say "here's what your insurance covers." They always pick something out of the trays.
    We did the same thing but I wish we had just called and ordered a better tower with newer frames. It wasn't up to me. Most of them are piled in a couple large bins and it looks very tacky to me.

    We usually sell from our main board and not from the bins.

  15. #15
    Master OptiBoarder
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Michigan
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    2,827
    General Motors UAW employees just switched to Davis so we do take it in this area. Their plan is exactly like their old Cole/Eyemed plan which the Salaried workers still have. It pays for the basics the same prices that the old plan did and the old plan hadn't changed in the 30 years I've been in the business. We don't have a tower of frames, never did so don't really know what that is all about. In the metro Detroit area taking these plans for the auto workers is just a given. More a service than anything else and we don't see many here since this is basically a white collar mid-management area.

  16. #16
    Master OptiBoarder
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Kansas
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    2,203
    Quote Originally Posted by obxeyeguy View Post
    Thats like comparing medicaid reimbursement in your state to mine. Run away fast!!!
    Our Medicaid is better than Davis, or Spectera.

  17. #17
    OptiBoard Novice
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    illinois
    Occupation
    Optical Retail
    Posts
    6
    Davis' turnaround time is now at least 3 weeks, easily 4.

  18. #18
    Optician Extraordinaire
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Somewhere warm
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    3,130
    Quote Originally Posted by glo View Post
    Davis' turnaround time is now at least 3 weeks, easily 4.
    Yes, you need to warn you patients up front. Most of our Davis is Citigroup and it covers EVERYTHING. The only thing the patient might pay for is extra on a frame. So I warn them and they don't mind because they pay nothing on their glasses.

  19. #19
    Rising Star Russ in Texas's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Texas
    Occupation
    Optometrist
    Posts
    66

    Do NOT take it

    I'm stuck with it because a well paying safety account uses it for their employees. Otherwise, I'd take that spinner rack to the dumpster. The only way to have a chance to make any money on them is to get them off that Davis spinner and even then it's not much. I don't know if you can take the contacts only portion of it and not do the glasses, that might be an option.

    It's not just the low payoff that you receive with these type of vision plans, it's the hidden costs like extra staff, time tracking down jobs, sending jobs back to the crummy labs when they screw them up, the complaining "I want my benefits NOW" type patients, etc. It's a false kind of busy to build your business on and I wish I didn't take several of the ones that I'm stuck with.

  20. #20
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter Jubilee's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    United States
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    3,197
    We take Davis.. it is a love/hate relationship.

    We have several large employers, (shipping company with a couple of distribution centers in the area, Citigroup, a few unions) who utilize them. It is a large portion of our practice.

    Reimbursement varies per plan. You can have one that gives you a $40 dispensing fee, and another that gives you only $14. One plan only provides $17 for a frame, and another gives a $60..

    Your davis patient DO NOT have to use a davis frame. (though their quality is getting much better since Viva was purchased by them) We sell many of our Citi and other patients on OUR frames and have them pay more than $20-30 out of pocket if they choose a higher end frame. Their labs process all the materials, and you get a spiff for each option they choose. This Also varies per plan. So the reimbursements you can get can be fairly decent.. to outright pitiful depending on plan. The UAW plan was the only one we were given an option of whether to participate with or not. We chose not to on that one..

    Turn-around can be one week for plain/basic items.. to 3 weeks if you have a progressive with ARC..

    Love the amount of business we get from their clients.. but sometimes their reimbursements make you want to cry, and their service/turnaround can really make you scream..

    However, I would rather deal with them than Spectera any day.

    We also got a new tower this year. Look much better than previous incarnations, and the product mix is certainly better. However it doesn't turn well both in general and on the individual spinners.. so frames get shifted.. often... But it looks great! (so I keep telling myself)
    "Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate. But I believe that happiness is something we create."-Something More by Sugarland

  21. #21
    Master OptiBoarder optical24/7's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Down on the Farm
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    5,809
    If any of you that take Davis Vision want to know how badly you are getting shafted by them, go down to your local EyeMasters and check out patient allowances for the same plans you accept now... (I did this at my last place of employment) .


    When I checked, a Davis patient at EM got a 76 dollar retail allowance toward frames. They paid out of pocket for anything over that amount. Where we were to give the patient a frame just slightly south of that amount in wholesale price! We were to give away a 125 buck retail, but them only 76. Real fair, especially from a company that said they would never deal with chains.....Sound familiar? ........


    Cough, (V), wheeze, (S), Puke!, (P)

  22. #22
    Compulsive Truthteller OptiBoard Gold Supporter Uncle Fester's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    At a position without dimension...
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    5,300

    Fyi...

    I don't know if this model still holds true but as I recall Davis's lab is a union shop. The work is done on an old (1980's?) Japanese work model where a team of 4 workers get a set number of jobs to do. I think it was 400 or so and their shift was done when all those jobs were finished and ready to ship.

    So they recruit heavily from union shops to keep it in the union brotherhood.

    As so many have said before it's a lot of work for little and often no profit IMO also!

    PS- We dropped VIVA when they married Davis.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 07-17-2008 at 02:44 PM. Reason: PS...

  23. #23
    Master OptiBoarder
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Down in a hole!
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    13,078
    We have a few members who work/worked at a Davis Lab. It would be nice to get there input. Sadly, I don't think they would be able to speak *freely*!

    :cheers::cheers::cheers:

  24. #24
    Optician Extraordinaire
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Somewhere warm
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    3,130
    Some of us that take Davis are not the ones who decide which insurance is taken. I have no control over it. We did stop doing Spectra for eyeglasses because so many of our patients were unhappy with the wait and service. It was worse then Davis.

  25. #25
    Master OptiBoarder LENNY's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    BROOKLYNSK, NY USA
    Occupation
    Dispensing Optician
    Posts
    4,351
    I wonder what people that are employed by Davis think about this tread.....
    I also heard that their Plainview lab is the state of the art robotic one!

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Davis Vision
    By beths in forum General Optics and Eyecare Discussion Forum
    Replies: 21
    Last Post: 04-27-2012, 10:39 AM
  2. Davis Vision
    By mrmac in forum General Optics and Eyecare Discussion Forum
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 12-09-2006, 09:00 AM
  3. Davis Vision ?????
    By Mikef in forum General Optics and Eyecare Discussion Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 05-08-2006, 01:02 PM
  4. Davis Vision?
    By Mel in forum General Optics and Eyecare Discussion Forum
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 01-06-2003, 09:42 PM
  5. davis vision
    By paul in forum General Optics and Eyecare Discussion Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 05-30-2000, 10:45 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •