Got a visit from the Essilor/Luxottica/EyeMed Rep yesterday........
and now let the games begin......all EyeMed through their Essilor "partner" labs starting Oct. 1st. No in-house edging except for SV, which also must be ordered from EyeMed (even VSP lets you order our of network for a better price)
And please don't feed me the bullcrap that this is all because of "Obamacare". It has NOTHING to do with "Obamacare"....it has everything to do with vertical integration and going head to head with VSP!
"Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde"
I have been "live" since July 29th and it is a nightmare! The jobs are good, but profit has disappeared.
You must ask him to explain what obamacare has to do with eyeglasses. I'd love to hear that conversation.Originally Posted by EyeManFla
And please don't feed me the bullcrap that this is all because of "Obamacare". It has NOTHING to do with "Obamacare"....it has everything to do with vertical integration and going head to head with VSP!
Can you give us some (general) specifics, such as a patient w/Eyemed pre July 29, and a patient post?
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Last edited by Judy Canty; 10-03-2015 at 01:04 PM.
Im not ordering SV from E.... eff that.
yea, we had a visit last week, being a small business we may not be able to keep some of our employees. even MY job isn't safe at this point, and im the lowest paid employee.
Geee...how many more "breakages" will occur now that the edging load will increase exponentially?
Breakages...gotta like that word!
B
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Last edited by Judy Canty; 10-03-2015 at 01:04 PM.
Unlike in the past, where the greedy guys can sign on and clean up, that won't happen. The greedy guys will have nothing but hot seats for exams, and will spin their wheels in the dispensary.
Last edited by Johns; 08-13-2013 at 02:56 PM.
We got a visit from our Essilor Lab rep, which was the first I had heard about the change. We already do it with VSP, and he says it will work pretty much the same, and we will use the same lab. My big concern is the initial quality of work. It sounds like the whole process goes live in October, which will mean a pretty significant increase in frame receiving, and lens edging work at the labs. There will be hiccups I'm sure, but I would think they would have staggered the start, maybe region A week 1, region B week 2. We get great quality with our current lab, so I would hate to see that change, especially since our owner is always looking for a reason to change labs, or get different pricing. He isn't going to like not having choices.
Patient, ".. Doctor says I have a subscription for stigmata.. Can you fill that?"
Me, "..Um.. "
The real losers are the indie labs. And those of us that want indie labs to survive.
Ultimately this VCP behavior will implode. I really believe it.
It's early, but Judy's right about the Spectera analogy. When you drive competition out of the lab business, sure, you may get some efficiency/economy, but ultimately this turns out to be big, impersonal, crappy service.
I'm seeing a small amount of that with the VSP lab. So...what do I have to tell my patient? Their insurance lab screwed up, and they'll have to wait. Not unlike those who provide for UHC (shudder). Same to come with EyeMed: the approved lab gets jobs for nothin' and will have work ethics that would make Greek union workers blush.
It's always that way. It's a cycle.
Vision care plans are not that expensive for employers to carry, but it seems like VSP and Eyemed are either racing each other to the bottom in a death-duel, or the market for bennies is drying up a little. It won't be long before the pendulum swings back to private pay, private labs, etc.
It's just whether the coming drought will kill you.
Last edited by drk; 08-12-2013 at 01:04 PM.
Reading this, I assumed that it was not written by an owner (no offense). Quality is of no concern if there is no substantial profit. Why fret over doing the job at all, if you're not making enough on it to pay your staff?
Im just trying to sum this all up, is every Eyemed plan going to start requiring us to send glasses jobs to a lab of their choice?
Erik Zuniga, ABOC.
Is that not the Big E goal? Those that couldn't be bribed are being forced to use their lab. But alas, there really is no "forcing". It is a choice as to whether or not we take it, and judging from the amount of PM's and e-mails I've received, many of us will choose "NO".
No is good, but they will find new Yes in the heartbeat! At least in our area!
That's the problem Lenny. There are too many optical w-hores. Until enough providers drop ALL ins. The VSP's and EM's will continue on with business as usual. (for them).
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Last edited by Judy Canty; 10-03-2015 at 01:05 PM.
I could not agree more. While Johns has a good point, if you live in a market populated with poor business people willing to take on this bad deal because they are afraid of what will happen if they do not taken Eyemed (or VSP or Davis or anything other dominant player in their market). So you either lose the business waiting for the other guy (who accepts the insurance) to go broke doing losing money on these jobs or you give in and take the loser work because you can't take the hit on volume. You can call it a race to the bottom. A better analogy is water swirling around the drain.
A great thread topic: "Who is worse: Eyemed, VSP or Davis?"
So get out of the water, and help your customers get out as well!
I did a health fair two weeks ago. 700 employees, we do all of their safety, as well as most of their dress glasses . They have Eyemed. When I mentioned to the CEO (he, his wife, and 4 kids are all long-time customers) that we are thinking about not taking Eyemed, he mentioned that they might just go to a HSA type, flat rate for glasses and exams. I assured him we would give them a substantial discount, and he was fine. His exact words were, "We're not married to any insurance company. The employees are used to switching plans, and often expect fewer benefits. This would be a plus for everyone."
This is a company that we talked out of VSP and into Eyemed 4 years ago. They get it, and they listen...
It's been a long time since we dropped Specterrible but as I understood it at the time a "team" of 4 or 5 benchmen got between 400 to 500 jobs a shift and the shift ended when those jobs were done. No penalty for jobs that came back.
Now there's a Dilbert model for you!
Anyone ever hear how that strike a couple years ago came out?
Last edited by Uncle Fester; 08-12-2013 at 02:10 PM.
That is great that you have a relationship big employers where you can have a frank discussion and convince them to change coverages. Not many optical owners have these kind of relationships. The reality is that far too often, vision (and dental for that matter) are afterthoughts when HR people look at insurance renewals. The big dawg is health insurance. When it comes to dental and vision, the attitude is to buy the cheapest coverage available.
We take EyeMed. We have our own surfacing lab. Kill our lab advantage? Better have some really good reimbursement rates, or you can go pound sand. I don't mind working with Luxottica / EyeMed, but I won't work FOR Luxottica / Eyemed.
I would LOVE to drop Davis, but we happen to have our office right accross the street from the Highmark building. We get a lot of their employees as patients and couldn't afford to drop it. I see Eyemed becoming another Davis for us. Horrible!
Makes me SICK to my stomach really... Davis blows, they eff up 50% of the orders, the edges of the lens look like they were chewing on it to shape em. Almost as bad as the prisoners that do our state glasses. I can see labs getting over whelmed to the point of zero effs givin. I run the lab here and my work blows them outta the water. I cringe every time I have to send a VSP job out, and now EM too... Lately we switched to ordering the lens from davis and edging here to at least keep the quality up to my standards.
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