As most of you probably already know, VSP is about to start some new changes beginning July 1, 2009. In case you've been asleep, here they are https://doctor.vsp.com/vspdctr/html/plan-changes.htm.
- Removing your $2 case fee.
- No more dispensing fee for a patient's own frame job.
- 30% off same day purchase discount.
- New contact lens program. (This is the ship sinker)
It's almost humorous how misleading they are about these changes with wording such as "Supports your professional judgment."
If you look at the contact lens changes, they have added almost everything to their formulary (with the exception of many Ciba products) which means you'll be forking over a lot more product than you can afford. On average in our office, it looks like we'll turn a profit of about $2 on Acuvue Oasys products, and this doesn't include our overhead and employee wages.
So tell me VSP, how does that support our professional judgment? The OD, is now going to fit what (s)he can afford, and believe me it's not going to be the AV OASYS that America demands. Nope, we're going to have to look at it from the P&L standpoint, which believe me, doesn't support anyone's professional judgment in terms of ocular healthcare.
When soft lenses came out, the OD practice started changing, starting a debate between how much our services are worth and the cost of the products. Soon after, everyone started charging for the contact lens fit/evaluation fees which patients often times get confused about and may even try to refuse to pay. Now, VSP is just trying to kick us while we're down, because the only way we can profit from contact lens patients is fitting fees and second pair optical sales.
I found this insteresting page that was pretty humorous. http://eyeoverheard.wordpress.com/20...t-and-like-it/.
This guy is right, soon VSP will be in lens crafters and our equipment will be on craigslist.
So how do we stay afloat in this sinking ship? Well from what I can come up with, it looks like second pair sales is our only strategy. Doctors will have to PRESCRIBE multiple Rx's for optical sales, so we can get some cash from our 3rd party VSP patients. So if your practice isn't full of sales driven opticians, you'd better look out!
Rant over :angry:
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