Do you process orders with COD's ?

[GOS_Queen]

Now that I'm doing the optical billing processing for a rather large ophthalmology group, I am noticing a lot of invoices with 1/2 down, all COD etc.

Just wondering what you all do ...

Thanks for the information


Karen :)

[Jubilee]

We prefer to have at least half down on glasses orders. On contacts we don't mind so much, since we can always ship them back for credit. For the rare few we can't (Durasoft 3 Opaques for example) then we ask for the half down.

Now, if there is insurance and we know our costs are convered, we may elect to have their portion be COD.

We also have some patients that we do monthly billing (basically extend a line of credit to) and some who repay us in exchange of services. (Advertising, Meat, etc.) It is rare for the doctor to allow us to do billing on Contacts, though we have a couple of families we do this with, mostly we will bill for long time patients going through financial difficulties.

I am not familiar with the other location's finances, but according to the doctor, he may have lost out on the equivalent of one year of income in the number of times he has been left out. On the other hand, he has gained a lot more by working with families, and he can rest easy knowing that someone won't have a wreck because they couldn't see. Since he has been in business for over 30 years.. he has decided the price was well worth it.

Cassandra

[stephanie]

We used to be trusting saints...but now we are "show me the money". Hey, we get stuck with mega bucks tied up in people's stuff that they had no intention of ever picking up, and believe me you get hard core on the stuff. At least I can recoup some of my losses if I have half down.


Steph

[ziggy]

It just depends on the patient...but usualy paid in full at time of order. I also work for an OMD and run less than 1K A/R.

[rj_gonzales]

I prefer payment up front, but I will make an occational acception depending on the patient. Even then I still require at least half down.