Is your shop as inefficient as mine?

[idoctor]

In my shop we are drowning in paper work and redundant tasks. I have a feeling we are not doing things as efficiently as possible. We do mainly VSP and private jobs. Here's a typical scenario for both VSP and private: :hammer:

Optician writes out billing form with all the VSP options (he has to look on a grid for pricing). This form is taken to the front for payment and sent to billing dept. Later, optician inputs pt data into Eyefinity to generate the "Wellness Statement" which is given to the pt on pickup (often the amount is different than what was initially told to pt :finger: ). A copy is sent to billing dept. We write down all the job details all over again on an index card for pt records. :angry: We then generate a packing slip to attach to the frames we send to the VSP lab. We then put pt's name on a tickler system so that we can "look out" for their jobs coming back from the lab.

This system is so laborious that it's exhausting and prone to mistakes. I won't even discuss how cumbersome the process is of inspecting all the lab invoices, verifying their accuracy and matching them to the individual jobs. I have looked at computerized systems but am not sure that they would help unless they completely integrate with Eyefinity.

[Alvaro Cordova]

In my shop we are drowning in paper work and redundant tasks. I have a feeling we are not doing things as efficiently as possible. We do mainly VSP and private jobs. Here's a typical scenario for both VSP and private: :hammer:

Optician writes out billing form with all the VSP options (he has to look on a grid for pricing). This form is taken to the front for payment and sent to billing dept. Later, optician inputs pt data into Eyefinity to generate the "Wellness Statement" which is given to the pt on pickup (often the amount is different than what was initially told to pt :finger: ). A copy is sent to billing dept. We write down all the job details all over again on an index card for pt records. :angry: We then generate a packing slip to attach to the frames we send to the VSP lab. We then put pt's name on a tickler system so that we can "look out" for their jobs coming back from the lab.

This system is so laborious that it's exhausting and prone to mistakes. I won't even discuss how cumbersome the process is of inspecting all the lab invoices, verifying their accuracy and matching them to the individual jobs. I have looked at computerized systems but am not sure that they would help unless they completely integrate with Eyefinity.

I am actually working on a database system that would help cut down on paper work for patients and stuff. I don't know when I'll get done. It's web-based.

[idoctor]

Interesting Dude; I would love to find out more about it. Actually, I recently wrote a very simple but helpful program for Palm PDAs. It calculates all the VSP options accurately without having to go on Eyefinity, use the VSP options grid or a calculator. Essentially, I transferred the entire VSP grid onto the PDA with little checkboxes on the left. You essentially just check off the features that you want eg: Polarized, AR, Polycarbonate multifocal and it tabulates the price automatically. You can also have it add in the frame price (except you have to put that in seperately since it doesn't know which frame you're using). There is a seperate grid program for each VSP plan eg: signature, value etc. Until now my optician has been doing this by hand, with a calculator and the laminated grid sheet in front of him...there's been a lot of mistakes. Now it's almost fool proof. My next project is to figure out how to wirelessly print it at the front desk for billing purposes (so the optician doesn't need to walk it to the front).

[Judy Canty]

Are you using an integrated practice management system?

[Alvaro Cordova]

Interesting Dude; I would love to find out more about it. Actually, I recently wrote a very simple but helpful program for Palm PDAs. It calculates all the VSP options accurately without having to go on Eyefinity, use the VSP options grid or a calculator. Essentially, I transferred the entire VSP grid onto the PDA with little checkboxes on the left. You essentially just check off the features that you want eg: Polarized, AR, Polycarbonate multifocal and it tabulates the price automatically. You can also have it add in the frame price (except you have to put that in seperately since it doesn't know which frame you're using). There is a seperate grid program for each VSP plan eg: signature, value etc. Until now my optician has been doing this by hand, with a calculator and the laminated grid sheet in front of him...there's been a lot of mistakes. Now it's almost fool proof. My next project is to figure out how to wirelessly print it at the front desk for billing purposes (so the optician doesn't need to walk it to the front).

get a wireless router, enable some type on security encryption on it and get a printer that's "network ready." There are also gadgets that can make your current printer into a networked device, but the name escapes me at the moment. Also you will have to set up an office network with static IP adresses preferably. Hardwire connect the router to the printer and install the software on all the machines you want the printer to print from. This will be considered a networked printer. Write that program into a laptop or desktop machine, using an easy interface like a web-based format, that has some type of wireless network card. I'm not too familiar with the abilities of PDAs since I personally find them useless. It's like a calculator on steroids.

[Alvaro Cordova]

Linksys Print server

It is called a print server. In the case I described above the printserver would have the parallel port that connects to the printer and the rj-r5 connector that would go to the router. I don't know how good they are.

[idoctor]

Linksys Print server

It is called a print server. In the case I described above the printserver would have the parallel port that connects to the printer and the rj-r5 connector that would go to the router. I don't know how good they are.

Actually I have all that. We have a 7 computer network with a print server and wireless internet. The big advantage of the PDA at the optical shop is that it is used at the fitting table where there is no computer. The fitting table is in the center of a big elegant room and I would not be able to run a cable to it to attach a computer (at least not easily). Also, I don't want a computer at the fitting table since we already have one in another part of the optical shop. Therefore, the PDA gives very powerful functionality for the small footprint it occupies. Now if I could network it so it could print in another room...

[Alvaro Cordova]

Is the PDA able to access the Internet?

[idoctor]

Yes. The PDA can access the internet (wireless).

As per Judy's question; I have an integrated practice system that does billing, appointments, recalls etc. However, it has no optical capabilities and therefore is not used at all by the optical department. Ultimately I would like to get something for the optical but it absolutely must segway seamlessly with VSP/Eyefinity else it's useless for us. Unfortunately, over 40% of our optical business is VSP and I am waiting for more software to seg with it. I think as of now there's only Maximize and maybe one or two others.

[Alvaro Cordova]

What type of PDA and operating system do you have?

[rbaker]

On the face of it, Wi-Fi's future in the medical professions looks bleak. The biggest hurdle is HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This sweeping law requires, among other things, that all data on patients be kept secure and private. Given Wi-Fi's security vulnerabilities, a question arises as to the appropriateness of using Wi-Fi to handle medical information.

The issue is complicated by the fact that the government has yet to publish specific regulations defining HIPAA's demands for security and privacy. In other words, while the law demands the security of electronic data, Congress has not yet said what an acceptable level of security might be.

[Alvaro Cordova]

Well I think there are ways of making a place secure. For example, there is a paint now that reflects and interferes with wifi signals preventing some stranger from piggybacking on your network. They would have to be inside the building to use your connection.

Force Field Wireless

[idoctor]

It is my personal opinion that HIPAA is a huge joke. I never spent a penny on HIPAA during the days that "consultants" were charging my colleagues $5000 to make them "HIPAA compliant". I spent $40 on a plastic plaque with the privacy rules and a few handouts that patients could take if they wanted (I don't think more than 5 wanted it in 2 years). There are less than 100 HIPAA inspectors for over 800,000 medical practices and they are focused on large practices that bill Medicare over 3 million dollars a year (or some such threshold). Most practices simply don't fly into HIPAA's radar screen and never will. Incidentally, this privacy thing has gone way overboard. The government really doesn't care whether or not Joe Schmoe's spectacle prescription and job order on your wireless platform is available to "hackers". The intent of the privacy laws was really to safeguard patients from being preyed upon by giant insurance carriers who would trade their medical information to deny them medical care if they had claims (used to be a common practice). Or for unscrupulous companies that would market to individuals based on their medical needs etc. In short, I believe that HIPAA is similar to the Y2K issue...an entity that has been blown entirely out of proportion by a predatory industry banking on the fact that we would spend millions of dollars trying to be " compliant". I'm not saying that Y2K or that HIPAA were not relevant for certain companies or certain industries, but not for 99% of us. As I structure wireless solutions to my various IT needs, HIPAA factors in at exactly zero.

[Sean]

Well I think there are ways of making a place secure. For example, there is a paint now that reflects and interferes with wifi signals preventing some stranger from piggybacking on your network. They would have to be inside the building to use your connection.

Good point.......a couple of other things you can do that would prevent access even if someone was right next to the router would be to first disable the SSID broadcast ...then apply WEP,WPA, or WPA/Radius encryption.You can also take security up another level by assigning MAC addresses and shared key authentication to the router.

[slaboff]

In my shop we are drowning in paper work and redundant tasks. I have a feeling we are not doing things as efficiently as possible. We do mainly VSP and private jobs. Here's a typical scenario for both VSP and private: :hammer:

Optician writes out billing form with all the VSP options (he has to look on a grid for pricing). This form is taken to the front for payment and sent to billing dept. Later, optician inputs pt data into Eyefinity to generate the "Wellness Statement" which is given to the pt on pickup (often the amount is different than what was initially told to pt :finger: ). A copy is sent to billing dept. We write down all the job details all over again on an index card for pt records. :angry: We then generate a packing slip to attach to the frames we send to the VSP lab. We then put pt's name on a tickler system so that we can "look out" for their jobs coming back from the lab.

This system is so laborious that it's exhausting and prone to mistakes. I won't even discuss how cumbersome the process is of inspecting all the lab invoices, verifying their accuracy and matching them to the individual jobs. I have looked at computerized systems but am not sure that they would help unless they completely integrate with Eyefinity.

Have your optician memorize the prices (although lately they have been changing about every 6 months to a year... If you have your optician do their own data entry (this helps with the memorization process because when you print out the savings statements you can review the statement to see if everything was billed properly)... I agree with the fact that it is not very efficient however I do not see how using a palm pilot (additional data entry) is more efficient.

When seeing patients I simply write down the information and do data entry later... works for me, nothing fancy

[Alvaro Cordova]

Interesting Dude; I would love to find out more about it. Actually, I recently wrote a very simple but helpful program for Palm PDAs. It calculates all the VSP options accurately without having to go on Eyefinity, use the VSP options grid or a calculator. Essentially, I transferred the entire VSP grid onto the PDA with little checkboxes on the left. You essentially just check off the features that you want eg: Polarized, AR, Polycarbonate multifocal and it tabulates the price automatically. You can also have it add in the frame price (except you have to put that in seperately since it doesn't know which frame you're using). There is a seperate grid program for each VSP plan eg: signature, value etc. Until now my optician has been doing this by hand, with a calculator and the laminated grid sheet in front of him...there's been a lot of mistakes. Now it's almost fool proof. My next project is to figure out how to wirelessly print it at the front desk for billing purposes (so the optician doesn't need to walk it to the front).

Optometry Database

I have a demo up that deals with an optometry database I wrote about a year ago. It is a work in progress, but it is functional in that you can store patient and Rx info as well as look for it. I need to add a scheduling portion and an insurance section to it. As you can [probably tell I'm real big on web based technology. The only thing that is bad is that the database is not transactional because Lunarpages (has my web hosting account) doesn't support transactions on their servers. Lunarpages is awesome by the way. They offer all kinds of perks. Transactions would bog down their servers considerably. A transaction for those who don't know is a set of database instructions that must, as a whole, be inserted into a database. It's an all or nothing deal. Such transactions that are typical on the web is a shopping cart. Your purchase in order to be valid must include your items, purchaser info and payment. If any of those are missing, Houston has a problem. The way the computer geeks get around this is to lock a database and insert everything making sure there isn't any mix ups. So if enough people use a non-transactional database like the one above, they could theoretically mismatch info or get some type of error. I want to add an inventory section to the program as well.

I was thinking of starting an independent optician initiative that helps opticians who want to become independent practitioners have as many of the tools necessary to be free standing and viably competitive with discount chains. What I would offer is my program, (hopefully completed soon), free. This would allow the three O's to manage their practice without resorting to an expensive and often useless program. What I would need from you guys is some feedback. Bear in mind, I'm just one guy doing this and have an addiction to Halo and HalfLife². I really wish I could get more people to help out, because it would seriously speed everything up.

Things to do:

Prism Calculator 80% done
Add Saggitta Calculator 0% done
Add Lens Option Finder 0% done
Faceform & Panto combination Calculator 10% done
New Theme to Opticiansfriend.com 15% done
Optometry Database System 35% done

Busy Busy Busy.

[cinders831]

It is my personal opinion that HIPAA is a huge joke. I never spent a penny on HIPAA during the days that "consultants" were charging my colleagues $5000 to make them "HIPAA compliant". I spent $40 on a plastic plaque with the privacy rules and a few handouts that patients could take if they wanted (I don't think more than 5 wanted it in 2 years). There are less than 100 HIPAA inspectors for over 800,000 medical practices and they are focused on large practices that bill Medicare over 3 million dollars a year (or some such threshold). Most practices simply don't fly into HIPAA's radar screen and never will. Incidentally, this privacy thing has gone way overboard. The government really doesn't care whether or not Joe Schmoe's spectacle prescription and job order on your wireless platform is available to "hackers". The intent of the privacy laws was really to safeguard patients from being preyed upon by giant insurance carriers who would trade their medical information to deny them medical care if they had claims (used to be a common practice). Or for unscrupulous companies that would market to individuals based on their medical needs etc. In short, I believe that HIPAA is similar to the Y2K issue...an entity that has been blown entirely out of proportion by a predatory industry banking on the fact that we would spend millions of dollars trying to be " compliant". I'm not saying that Y2K or that HIPAA were not relevant for certain companies or certain industries, but not for 99% of us. As I structure wireless solutions to my various IT needs, HIPAA factors in at exactly zero.

I have a tendancy to agree on a small scale but I will say that I recently filed a claim with the Dept of Health and Human Services against the orthopedic surgeon my husband recently saw....It was ludicrous, we all shared one Dr room and in 30 min I learned the history, meds, ins types and reason for the visit of all pts waiting to be casted.
One little girl was dabetic and a bed wetter, the next guy punched a wall and needed surgery that would leave him off work for weeks....the list continues, the Dr came in and did the exam and consult in the room with everyone else, people were just looking around uncomfortably and I was amazed that no one said anything...as the Dr left each time people just gaulked nervously and finally after the visit I was so disgusted I asked to see the office manager. She proclaimed she new it was an issue but the Drs didnt want to change and so there was nothing she could do. I was disgusted.....if nothing else Hipaa is so people have some small amount of privacy. I will say that in the 30 min of learning I started taking notes so that I could present it as proof and I have pages of very detailed info, and you could tell people were embarrased to be talking so openly about what happened and there histories and meds....thats what hipaa is for. I realize I may get shot for saying it but someone had to draw the line.

Cindy

[Sodium D]

Or to make your life a whole lot easier you could drop VSP. Seriously. Our practice did and we haven't suffered one bit. Your employees will be freed up to focus on more important things than filling out papers. The amount of labour put into VSP compared to what you get is really sad for the ECP.

[gconn77]

Hey man,

That is great stuff! Excellent work on that program. What language is that written in? Is that Java?

Optometry Database

I have a demo up that deals with an optometry database I wrote about a year ago. It is a work in progress, but it is functional in that you can store patient and Rx info as well as look for it. I need to add a scheduling portion and an insurance section to it. As you can [probably tell I'm real big on web based technology. The only thing that is bad is that the database is not transactional because Lunarpages (has my web hosting account) doesn't support transactions on their servers. Lunarpages is awesome by the way. They offer all kinds of perks. Transactions would bog down their servers considerably. A transaction for those who don't know is a set of database instructions that must, as a whole, be inserted into a database. It's an all or nothing deal. Such transactions that are typical on the web is a shopping cart. Your purchase in order to be valid must include your items, purchaser info and payment. If any of those are missing, Houston has a problem. The way the computer geeks get around this is to lock a database and insert everything making sure there isn't any mix ups. So if enough people use a non-transactional database like the one above, they could theoretically mismatch info or get some type of error. I want to add an inventory section to the program as well.

I was thinking of starting an independent optician initiative that helps opticians who want to become independent practitioners have as many of the tools necessary to be free standing and viably competitive with discount chains. What I would offer is my program, (hopefully completed soon), free. This would allow the three O's to manage their practice without resorting to an expensive and often useless program. What I would need from you guys is some feedback. Bear in mind, I'm just one guy doing this and have an addiction to Halo and HalfLife². I really wish I could get more people to help out, because it would seriously speed everything up.

Things to do:

Prism Calculator 80% done
Add Saggitta Calculator 0% done
Add Lens Option Finder 0% done
Faceform & Panto combination Calculator 10% done
New Theme to Opticiansfriend.com 15% done
Optometry Database System 35% done

Busy Busy Busy.

[Alvaro Cordova]

Hey man,

That is great stuff! Excellent work on that program. What language is that written in? Is that Java?

Thanks. I use javabeans to serialize (session management) the info which are then inserted, via JSP pages, into a mysql database. MySQL is a great database system that can handle quite a bit of traffic. The one thing I would like to do though is make it work within the struts framework. (Struts, which is written in Java also, acts like a manager that passes info to the appropriate object as oppose to an object making an explicit call.) The advantage is that upgrades and maintanence become 100% easier.

[gconn77]

Could a program this this also be written in php?

I just visited your website. I like it a lot. You have a lot of good info. Also couldn't help but notice that you are a SMF user :D Right on!!! I love that program. For open source software, SMF is pretty cool a lot better than phpbb. Are you not interested in using a custom theme or any of the mod scripts available? I will go register and talk with you over there as well.

Thanks. I use javabeans to serialize (session management) the info which are then inserted, via JSP pages, into a mysql database. MySQL is a great database system that can handle quite a bit of traffic. The one thing I would like to do though is make it work within the struts framework. (Struts, which is written in Java also, acts like a manager that passes info to the appropriate object as oppose to an object making an explicit call.) The advantage is that upgrades and maintanence become 100% easier.

[Alvaro Cordova]

Could a program this this also be written in php?

I just visited your website. I like it a lot. You have a lot of good info. Also couldn't help but notice that you are a SMF user :D Right on!!! I love that program. For open source software, SMF is pretty cool a lot better than phpbb. Are you not interested in using a custom theme or any of the mod scripts available? I will go register and talk with you over there as well.

oh yeah of course. PHP has similar drivers that connect to MySQL like Java. I'm just a Java kind of guy. I know a little bit of PHP and have a hard time with the fact that it isn't a strongly typed langauge. I'm from the C/C++ mentality. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that a $variable can be an int, float, String etc... I have worked with it, just not a lot. I'm trying to work on a theme, but I do like the default theme. Yeah SMF rocks. It has a certain simplicity and wholeness I don't see in many programs.

[gconn77]

Thus the name: Simple Machines Forum :)

oh yeah of course. PHP has similar drivers that connect to MySQL like Java. I'm just a Java kind of guy. I know a little bit of PHP and have a hard time with the fact that it isn't a strongly typed langauge. I'm from the C/C++ mentality. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that a $variable can be an int, float, String etc... I have worked with it, just not a lot. I'm trying to work on a theme, but I do like the default theme. Yeah SMF rocks. It has a certain simplicity and wholeness I don't see in many programs.

[Clive Noble]

Oh Gosh!!!!!

I feel I'm still in the middle ages when I read these postings........

How are we managing? I ask myself; we don't have computers in our stores, everything is still handwritten on cards, we have a block of filing cabinets with tens of thousands of record cards, we do have a fax machine and telephone and all orders are handwritten to the lab. We process between 20 and 30 jobs a day

The lab, on the other hand is modern, we are still using our original Packard Bell 386 (25) with DOS installed and an amazing piece of software I put together on LOTUS twelve years ago and I have to boast, I can find any job that has gone through our lab over these past twelve years in seconds.
I know I shouldn't say it.... tempting fate etc... but it has never let me down!

I have to admit we recently bought a Pentium 4 (3.0) and the Lotus programme now works in tenths of seconds!!!! but we're still backing up also to the old 'puter just in case the new machinery crashes.

I'm frightened to make any changes, everything works just fine but I am aware that the longer we leave it the harder the job will be!!