Specterrible... need info from others

Ok so years ago at a place i worked at, we took it... and we called it specterrible for a reason. If I remember they made you use a certain lab... paper in front of me now says we can use our partner lab...

Now today Doc is all jacked up on adding this because it pays a lil more than vsp.

Our place now does vsp and eyemed. we are beyond busy.... i cant get jobs submitted for 5-6 days from when pt was here. we avg 103 jobs at the lab everyday. We avg 320 job a month with 3 opticians & 2 docs... from what we been told thats well beyond the norm. Numbers say we need 5.25 opticians. I dont want to **** off the long term pts waiting even longer to book. were booked 2 months out on Saturdays... we've been around 40+ years and putting up a new high end building.

If i was to ever look at a new place to work, the 1st question id ask is what insurance do you take..?. if it was davis, specterra or any of these other bs places, id move on.

Please post up your opinions pros and cons. Id like to hear about avg benefits for the pt too... you can PM if needed for that.

Congrats on a successful practice.

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Originally Posted by drk

Congrats on a successful practice.

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sorry didnt mean to sound like a brag post...were just frustrated that there is a direct effect on customer service...we get a lil passionate lol

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Originally Posted by drk

Congrats on a successful practice.

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A busy practice does not necessarily mean a successful practice. If you take every insurance and discount plan under the sun you better be busy because you are making a fraction of the profit that would be made from a cash patient. We all want more patients. But, fewer patients at a higher margin, that I can take better care of sounds a lot better than the non-stop, upsell everyone, rush through every job because we are so far behind environment. Not saying yours isn't successful Slim, just some general thoughts.

It's difficult to work in a busy understaffed practice. You will burn out your opticians and your existing patients will be upset with the poor customer service. Not being able to properly take care of the patients you currently have is not good. I am the lone optician in a 3 doctor practice. I can see up to 75 patients/day (I counted once). It makes it difficult to keep up with things that need to get done...like notifying patients and checking on orders. When you are understaffed, everyone needs to multi task to the nth degree. It can cause your staff to burn out and resent you. It's nice to be busy...but being overwhelmed is not good either.

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Originally Posted by Kwill212

A busy practice does not necessarily mean a successful practice. If you take every insurance and discount plan under the sun you better be busy because you are making a fraction of the profit that would be made from a cash patient. We all want more patients. But, fewer patients at a higher margin, that I can take better care of sounds...

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No Kidding! A Optometry friend of mind bragged about how they billed over 1 Million dollars a few years ago, but when I asked him what he netted he was clueless. Very busy practice but takes very VCP under the sun so I'm fairly certain they are spinning their wheels for pennies on the dollars billed.

Back to the original question, if you practice in a state where you are not required to use a Spcerterible lab it's actually not too different from the plans you already take. As with any VCP the devil is in the details, but if you stay away from 'only what's covered by my plan' you can do well.

VSP is the only vision plan I take. Reimbursement rates are only part of the equation, there are other factors.

Checking coverage (VSP so easy), checking eligibility (never had a verified VSP claim denied), and patient entitlement (Davis does a good job of promoting itself, and makes practioner look bad by hold back the benefits they believe they had).

Spectera recently increased exam rates, but you are getting majorly hosed on dispensing rates.

If you are that busy, you should be dropping vision plans, not adding them.

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Originally Posted by harry888

if you are that busy, you should be dropping vision plans, not adding them.

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great point

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Originally Posted by harry888

If you are that busy, you should be dropping vision plans, not adding them.

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I worked at a place that did just that. Patients left. It was insane. Prices were lower, but all patients heard was that we didn't take their insurance. In the end, we raised the prices and brought back the insurance. People came back. I'm talking about patients that had been coming to the office for 20+ years too! "Loyal" patients. Insane. All people hear is that we don't take their insurance, I have to go somewhere else. They just don't get it. Explain as much as you want.

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Originally Posted by harry888

If you are that busy, you should be dropping vision plans, not adding them.

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I agree 100% but all he sees is $70 for exams... not the trickle down effect.

In this practice that suffered dropping vision plans...............All at once?

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Originally Posted by harry888

In this practice that suffered dropping vision plans...............All at once?

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Yes. They dropped NVA and VSP for about 2 years. Brought them back. It was so weird. Small town too, where everyone grew up with the OD and knew him personally. Yet most of them left. Brought back the insurance and they all came back. Never mind the fact that prices went up due to the insurance. Patients just didn't get it.

Insurance = Free. What about that don't you understand?

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Originally Posted by rbaker

Insurance = Free. What about that don't you understand?

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Yup.

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Originally Posted by mervinek

I worked at a place that did just that. Patients left. It was insane. Prices were lower, but all patients heard was that we didn't take their insurance. In the end, we raised the prices and brought back the insurance. People came back. I'm talking about patients that had been coming to the office for 20+ years too! "Loyal" patients. Insane. All people hear is that we don't take their insurance, I have to go somewhere else. They just don't get it. Explain as much as you want.

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We take no insurance at our three locations. We *capture* plenty of patients that have insurance. First off, you have to use the right verbiage; When asked if we take their insurance, we say " YES, we are an out of network provider for your insurance." Using the word No tells them immediately that you can't help them. Saying Yes gives you the 15 seconds to explain what that means and what we are all about. We have a frame "allowance" and discounts on all lens and options. We also give these "benefits" on however many pair they want. (instead of only one per year or two).

We let them know that about the only way they will beat our pricing is if they want the most basic pair. I use Silhouette rimless as an example. With VSP, if they get digital PAL's with a great AR put in a Silh frame we will be about fifty dollars cheaper once they use their out of network benefit. We HIGHLY encourage them to not take our word for it, Please go price compare. We've had dozens upon dozens do so and come right back. Service, quality and selection is what draws them to us. We're not Marchon/Altair heavy like our competitors around us. They all tend to stock the same products in safe colors. We hear "boring" a lot from these patients.

We take our time with them and try to show over the top CS. How a new look can create vibrancy, a more youthful and fun appearance. We strive to make the buying experience fun and uplifting. We want them to be excited about their new look and glasses. We let each patient know that we don't advertise, that their personal satisfaction is critical to our own growth. We hope they will return and recommend us to friends and family. We also have a loyalty/referral program that they can earn in store credit.

We certainly don't get them all, but you get none when you use the word "No."

I absolutely hate when my staff says 'we do NOT take your insurance/VCP', it's crucial to do as the above post states and TRAIN staff about how to deal with OON plans to help capture/retain potential optical customers.

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Originally Posted by rbaker

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Insurance = Free. What about that don't you understand?

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If you are not profitable, it is of no use being in business at all ..........................

Maybe some day the optical retail world will understand that charging for glasses as high, or as low as possible, should not be out front with a big profit included.

By charging a selling price based and separated, on cost + labor + professional time spent, will make the knowledgeable optician the winner over the basic, knowing nothing newcomer.

Consumers would love it, spend less of your time, the better optician would be the winner and the not so good ones would flock to learning centers to get up the ladder.

As my lawyer would tell me years ago, to go on talking as much as I wanted, as his fee was $ 150.00 an hour. I learned fast.

Even insurances will understand that the price and value of an object consists of, materials + labour + profit.




Any comments on a solution of this kind ?

Furthermore you could win over your competition with much better service and more knowhow, even by selling the product at a similar pricing as they do.

Id love to be all cash pay!
maybe im looking at this too generically but I put in numbers for a avg pt with vsp signature plan with a O cat progressive...

exam and gls total was $910
with avg vsp total was $259
with a whopping 40% off $612.

I cant see how I can "get them beat" on cash pay. Id need more than $350 more discounted off...

Might be diff if they had an "access plan..." that was a basic 20% off materials... our exams are 165 for existing and 190 for new...id say most plans out there are exam covered or darn close. it would be hard to find another 150 or so in discounts.

show me the way!

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Originally Posted by Slim

show me the way!

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It is completely doable but you and your staff have to be 100% on board. I'd personally start by cutting out the lowest VCPs first unless VSP is your lowest plaid plan.
You also need an independent optical lab and/or in office lab that gives you great pricing on similar products.

You're not going to be able to compete on exam prices with VCP, unless you can bill medical. But you certainly can on materials.

I would also like to know about Spectera 2017.
Is the system better for those that do accept the plan?Are your favorite labs on the list? How easy is it to get auths and billing?
What I remember from 10+ years ago is Crate 'O Frames and 3-4 week job turnaround with the sloppiest work I had ever seen. We discontinued due to the poor service we were providing our patients.
Thanks in advance for the feedback!

Maybe there is something behind Essilors newest sales tactics just started in the news at "Optometry Today" in the UK.

March 20, 2017
What they are doing in the UK

Independents have welcomed a new multi-pair promotional campaign from Essilor, as a proven way to build footfall and customer satisfaction and generate new customers.

Aimed purely at independent opticians, the £5m ‘Be a Modern Hero’ offer is inspired by the 2016 campaign where 72% of opticians saw sales grow, with 41% who ordered multi-pairs and reported double-digit growth.

Chapman & Myers intends to build on strong 2016 results. The practice's managing director, Andy Chapman, said: “[Last year] we had a record week of orders, with great upgrades on second pairs and patients feeling they were getting excellent value for money. Like all great promotions, it was simple and effective.”

The ‘Be a Modern Hero’ 2017 offer enables opticians to buy a second pair of Crizal lenses in the same prescription at a 50% discount, which practices can pass directly to patients, to boost multi-pair sales.


See all of it: ======
https://www.aop.org.uk/ot/industry/e...-a-modern-hero

Essilor on the success of its latest campaign
20 Mar 2017

OP here... so we looked into it more, and the very tiny list of approved progressives is pathetic. we dont even use but a couple of them at best. at that point we dont even need to look further if we cant even order what lens we need.