How do I build our patient base?

[David_Garza]

Take every insurance known to man. Your business and profits will increase dramatically.

He asked about patients not deadbeat bodies that occupy office space and little more.

[racethe1320]

Working "hard" for managed care pt's will not get you a penny more from the company. In fact, be prepared to simply hand over 60-90% of your potential margins direct to the insurance bank account. Because you will n-e-v-e-r see it.

If you know what you're doing as a business, then you wouldn't want nor indeed need any sort of managed care. And THAT, is good business sense!

Working smart will yield you a very profitable managed care business. If you really think managed care practices aren't profitable, then you are sheltered.

[David_Garza]

Smart and managed care don't really go together well in the same sentence......

[racethe1320]

He asked about patients not deadbeat bodies that occupy office space and little more.

Smart and managed care don't really go together well in the same sentence......

Given your view and likely experience, thanks for leaving those deadbeat bodies for others those of us that know how to make money and run a very lucrative business with managed care. I'm curious, what city are you located in?

[Fezz]

Smart and managed care don't really go together well in the same sentence......

I disagree.

In my practice, managed care is here to stay.

I am trying to get smart, and I think that you have to, about managing managed care. My goal is to educate myself as to how we as a practice can become more efficient, bill appropriately, present eyewear solutions, and prosper in the managed care environment that I know is not going away. I have to get smart about managed care to succeed!

So, yeah.....smart and managed care do go very well together in a sentence as far as I am concerned!

YMMV!!

[AustinEyewear]

To all you managed care guru's out there: What do you think are some commonly overlooked areas that ECP can incorporate to make themselves more efficient and profitable?

[Uilleann]

To all you managed care guru's out there: What do you think are some commonly overlooked areas that ECP can incorporate to make themselves more efficient and profitable?

Show every patient what managed care really does. Show them how they lie, cheat and virtually steal the pt's money out from under their noses. We have a simple illustration we sometimes use to show the difference in what the insurance loves to mislead patients into thinking they're getting, vs reality of what their vision needs truly are:



Worth 1,000 words.

[chip anderson]

You could try being nice and not overcharging. Doesn't help to provide a lot of services free (that some of us think we should charge for) like nose pads and adjustments.

Chip

[David_Garza]

I disagree.

In my practice, managed care is here to stay.

I am trying to get smart, and I think that you have to, about managing managed care. My goal is to educate myself as to how we as a practice can become more efficient, bill appropriately, present eyewear solutions, and prosper in the managed care environment that I know is not going away. I have to get smart about managed care to succeed!

So, yeah.....smart and managed care do go very well together in a sentence as far as I am concerned!

YMMV!!

To each their own I say, but I prefer to work smarter not harder.

Building up managed care volume for ultra thin profits can work, but the headaches and increased staffing required (not to mention the entitlement attitude these types of patients bring) aren't worth the headaches in my opinion. These practices do exist, but I'd hate to associate myself with this type of business model.

[anthonyf1509]

To all you managed care guru's out there: What do you think are some commonly overlooked areas that ECP can incorporate to make themselves more efficient and profitable?

All EyeMed funded plans allow patients buying contacts to also utilize their frame allowance. Sell them sunglasses and Rx lenses.

Davis Vision (sucks) but PM me if you'd like to know how to really do well with it.

VSP we only take out-of-network, so that works fine.

Etc etc....

Either our area is full of people who use insurance as down payment and get all the options they need or were doing something right to make them see it this way. (hint: it's this one)

[sharpstick777]

To all you managed care guru's out there: What do you think are some commonly overlooked areas that ECP can incorporate to make themselves more efficient and profitable?

I varies by insurance company... and wether your practice is low or high end, there a different strategies each way. For example, you can actually do very well with some Eyemed. You don't have to give a frame discount for many high end lines, so you can keep an extra 20%. If you see a lot of VSP Exam Plus, you can do well to send those to a non-IDC lab because a contracted lab has to charge you full retail price, you lose your usual lab discount. With non-IDC labs you can negotiate your own prices.
Also, VSP Signature and Signature Choice are very different plans. If you see a lot of Signature Choice the way the used to calculate the Patient Out of Pocket was based on your Bi-focal price. If you lowered your bifocal price you could get more for progressives.

[AustinEyewear]

Did you see Eyemed 2012 clarification on certain frame lines? I forget the details now.

[sharpstick777]

Did you see Eyemed 2012 clarification on certain frame lines? I forget the details now.

No, I didn't. Can you update the board? Thanks

[Pvtcjhalo]

Yep refferal cards work like a charm. We do a $25 store credit to the current patient and then give the new patien $25 off their purchase. We do allow them to combine that with insurance, but it cannot be used twords doctor services....materials only. Check out VistaPrint.com they have some snazzy styles and are CHEAP! But not cheap looking....I did my wedding invites with them as well. Just be careful with the free magazine offer.....I have Maxim delivered to our office....opps thank god my doctor is cool :) and I am the manager. It must confuse the poor postman...or titilate him. We are an office of all girls, but good to know if they ever offer me anything more racey.

[Pvtcjhalo]

With VSP/Insurance profits...we are billing for every penny we can and upped all our fee's. And get rid of Altair....you make NO profit from their frames. We were able to negotiate an extra $10 bucks per patient for our eye exams. We did have to drop a few frame lines and go with ones that are low priced but high WA's. Been selling new globes, capri and eye-on frames like crazy. We are 99% insurance and had a customer demand for covered frames. I know I keep grumbling, but the ecomomy sucks...3 years ago I was selling $300-600 frames. Now I think the highest we have in our office is $250, and it has been sitting.