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Thread: Practice management software

  1. #1
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    Practice management software

    Hi,
    Not sure if this is the right board for my question, but I would like people who have used Crystal Practice Management software and also those who have used My vision express give me an input on the ease of use of the software. Or I'm open to recommendations.
    Thanks

  2. #2
    OptiBoardaholic
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    send me a pm, with your email address.....

    also

    www.odemrs.com covers a lot of that stuff.

  3. #3
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter Jubilee's Avatar
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    My Vision Express is great in the fact they listen to their customers input, so they are always enhancing their software.
    The downside is.. they are always enhancing the software so you might need to make some changes.

    I doubt this will be as much of an issue as it had been for us, simply because they have made changes for the better in the inventory/insurance section of things. Being able to have ONE inventory that works for both VSP and other insurances would have made my job significantly easier when we brought it in several years ago. The use of procedure code pricing made it to where we had to rework our fee schedules, however I do notice it being more consistent and operating more intuitively.

    The majority of my support experience with My Vision Express has been superb. I recently switched servers, and ended up having to reset up the system after my initial set up. Seems SQL server had some permission issues that wreaked havoc on MVE. I seriously thought I had a major issue. However one phone call and 30 mins later, Ivan had my system up and running flawlessly.

    I have never tried Crystal so I can not respond with that. My suggestion is to try several different types and see how you like them.
    "Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate. But I believe that happiness is something we create."-Something More by Sugarland

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jubilee View Post
    My Vision Express is great in the fact they listen to their customers input, so they are always enhancing their software.
    The downside is.. they are always enhancing the software so you might need to make some changes.


    The majority of my support experience with My Vision Express has been superb. I recently switched servers, and ended up having to reset up the system after my initial set up. Seems SQL server had some permission issues that wreaked havoc on MVE. I seriously thought I had a major issue. However one phone call and 30 mins later, Ivan had my system up and running flawlessly.

    I have never tried Crystal so I can not respond with that. My suggestion is to try several different types and see how you like them.
    Service after the sale is what you should base your purchase on. For the record, I use MVE, and have been nothing but thrilled by their tech support. I have heard nothing but horror stories about the biggest one out there as far as tech support. You will need support for any of these, no doubt.

    :cheers:

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jubilee View Post
    My Vision Express is great in the fact they listen to their customers input, so they are always enhancing their software.
    I just blew Diet Coke out of my nose. Thanks.

    Edited to add something useful:

    I have 8000 patients in my MyVisionExpress database. No images or PDF's attached to any of them. 9gig sql file on a full backup, not compressed.

    I also have CrystalPM for development purposes. The same data in their database takes up 725mb on a full backup, not compressed.

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    Sorry I don't get allanon's computer terms...I don't know what all the number mean...are you trying to say Crystal is better for storage size?
    MVE seems harder to use for our office, especially when it comes to billing and entering copays. The systems makes us do it backwards (unless we are using it wrong) and the tech support does seem to understand our problem. Anyone having the same issue?

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    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter Jubilee's Avatar
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    what do you mean when it comes to billing and copays it seems backwards? And are you using procedure code pricing or not?
    "Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate. But I believe that happiness is something we create."-Something More by Sugarland

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    Our MVE is very easy to use. Put their insurance co. on the front page of the order, and hit the insurance button on the last page, and it automatically creates the HCFA.

    For each invoice item, such as an exam, or glasses, you can click the item, and send $XX to insurance, and then $XX copay, and you're done.

    I bill via a large clearinghouse (didn't know if I could name them) in the gateway city (!) of St. Louis, and I am paid by bcbs within 8 days.

    Not sure about the size issue. They say size doesn't matter, but who am I to say.

    I have 11K+ patients on in system (I DON'T USE EMR), And my backup is around 2.75 GB. Sure that's large, but I use good computers, so there has never been a problem with speed or backup.

    The only problems I have ever encountered with MVE has been user (myself) created problems, and MVE just logs in and fixes it.

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    For the MVE users out there...we have this difficulty in entering orders....can someone tell me if we are doing this wrong...
    When we enter an job, what is the easiest way to enter the patient's portion of copay without having to do some math on our own...it would seem that the system should do it by itself. For instance, say we enter an order and patient has a copy of $25 for poly, why is it we cannot enter directly $25 into the "patient pays" column? The problem is we have to deduct the patient's copay from our U&C charge to get the correct number into the "patient pays" column. Is there any way to just enter the copy amount as it is into the computer without spending the extra time just to the the system to correctly reflect the patient copay amount in the invoice? The MVE tech support does not seem to understand this isssue when we talked to them.....can we contact anyone who actually uses this software and just have a chat to see what we are doing wrong? Or is the system just difficult to use!

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    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter Jubilee's Avatar
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    How long have you been on MVE? We have been on it for a few years, but some changes in the past few revisions made it necessary for us to go to procedure code pricing to have more control/consistency in the fee schedules working.

    First some questions:
    1) Are you set up for procedure code pricing? I don't think you are

    With procedure code pricing, if you open up the line item, you will see it break down an item by the associated procedure codes attached to that inventory item. So if you are selecting a Poly FT 28 most likely you would have associated with that lens V2200 for the bifocal and V2784 for poly. At the bottom of the line item screen you will see a section that has each code listed with a box that has your U&C, patient pays, insurance pays, a box to check if you want the difference to be written off, then a discount section. I have found this actually a lot more user friendly. You can simply go to line V2784 put 12.50 in the patient pays column, and it will adjust the insurance pays portion accordingly. Or if you have the fee schedules set up and it automatically includes that option, you can simply select "covered service" and it will remove the patient's pay portion , and reflect that insurance will pay the reg service fee associated with the item.

    2) It's all about the fee schedule. Do you have your fee schedules set up? And if so, do you have them set up as "generic plans" or do you have all your main types set up. So if we were talking VSP, do you have just Signature plan in there, or do you have some of your major groups/variances in there. For example we set up a signature kids since they cover poly, but we get no service fee. We have many schools out here that cover photochromic and poly so we set up a plan for the schools so it automatically takes this into account when we plug it in. It took a lot of time to go through and finesse .. (we currently use about 60 fee schedules between the 4 major insurances we take) but they are now saving us a lot of time at check out.

    3) Do you use quickorder or do you go to the patient record to start an order? Personally, I find it easier to go to the patient's file and start the order from there, instead of quickorder. First, when I access the patient record, I can update last date of exam, I recall them right then (we preappoint) and I can make sure I have the correct insurance selected in the insurance tab. Then when I get into the actual order screen, I find it easier to follow the tabs .. Making sure the insurance is selected at the bottom of the first tab, verifying the rx and "filling" it in the order.. Having all the frame information there so its easier to catch if there is an error (say frame comes up as full metal instead of grooved) and being able to make notes for the lab or us for that matter if necessary. I also find it easier to edit line items if necessary and to take care of any juggling of payments (dual coverage so "adjusting" the patient balance to the secondary insurance, etc)

    4) If you want to appeal exclusively to MVE users and get some written support, their community forums are a good place to get info. Sometimes it is helpful to see what others have done, and read the discussion on best practices. You also might find a user close to you that has made it work, and perhaps schedule a chance to see what it is they are doing... and look at the program together. We recently had a few people come to our office to evaluate the EMR module, and we had a discussion about some of these same topics. We both learned a lot from each other.
    Last edited by Jubilee; 06-07-2010 at 06:44 PM.
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    Problem with MVE use

    For the MVE users out there....did you enter ALL of your insurance fee schedules for all of your vision plans? Or are you VSP only? We were told that we have to enter the insurance fee schedule for all plans (ie. the copay for exam, materials, and all of the lens types and coatings)? We accept many different plans and to do that is so much work..plus even withing the same plan there are different fee schedules and reimbursements! MVE told us unless we enter all the fee schedule we have to deal with doing extra math and dividing the sum of charge in two for OD and OS! It's is quite painful to use! Any advise?

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    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter Jubilee's Avatar
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    Here are some things that make it a lot easier!

    1) Simplify where you can. For us, we realized that most of the Eyemed plans fell into a few different categories. Blue View Vision plans all offered the same Total reimbursement for exams and materials. The only difference was how much was paid by Eyemed and how much of that cost was paid by the patient in the form of copays. I set up the individual plans for the ones we see most often. We have a hospital system that covers poly, and a couple of other things. Then we have another company that covers almost EVERYTHING including PALs, Photo, and ARC. WE put those two plans in by their plan number/name. The rest we put under a "generic Blue View Vision" plan where we assumed in our fee schedule that the insurance would cover the maximum amount it ever will. Basically zero copays on the basic lenses and exam, lowest copays on PALs.

    What this allows you to do is make use of that copay feature in the patient's file. Say the plan has a $10 exam and $20 mat copays. If you place that in the patient file, it will automatically do the math for you. Listing on a separate line from the exam, Exam copay Patient $10, Insurance -$10. Same with Material Copay. The combined amount between the material copay and the copay listed in the fee schedule should match the amount that the patient would owe for the Progressive under this plan. I can perhaps pm you if you like, or share on the pro's forum a working example.

    2) Use those features in the fee schedule that allow you to sort, filter, copy, etc.

    When I was setting ours up, I would start with one plan in that particular insurance. Say it is VSP. I would start with my services and click on the procedure code to have them listed in order. I would highlight all my 92004 and 92014 to show the insurance allowed amount, the amount insurance covers, and the amount I discount to make the patient's pay portion zero. When I did lenses I would start with a filter for SV lenses, and procedure code V2100. This would list all the base SV lenses and I could then select them all at once, and use the details button to put in all the pertinent information. The same for Bifocal/V2200 and Tri/V2300. By using the combination of type of lens and procedure code, you can make better use of that select and apply details ability.

    3) Once you get that fee schedule perfected, use it as a template for the other plans! Got Plan C3-tier where they cover poly and transitions? Then select the insurance you are wanting to enter fee schedule info for. Use the copy from and select the plan I just finished and then change the details on the items the insurance now covers in full. So instead of doing it all over again, you are simply editing the items you need. So once again use that filter option and select for lenses V2744 and you will have all your photo charges there to edit. You can even narrow the field by using the material option or the lens style option.

    The thing to remember with MVE is that if you have it updated and turned procedure code pricing on, you can still edit on the fly, and in many ways I find it easier to do.

    Didn't get that plan in that covers poly and transitions?

    If the patient has decided to go with a pal in photo poly, you can click on the item to edit. You will see a line for each, V2200, V2781, V2784, and V2744. There is also a box for "covered item" if you select that, it will automatically make the patient's balance 0 for these items, and will adjust the "net" for you. OR you can simply put $0. in the patient's pay box for V2784 and V2744 and adjust the "covered service fee" to reflect the anticipated insurance payment.

    Obviously I am not at my work computer so I can't show you exactly what I am talking about. However if you need clarification on a few things, send me a PM. I will try my best to show you the tricks I have learned.
    "Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate. But I believe that happiness is something we create."-Something More by Sugarland

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    Quote Originally Posted by need2see View Post
    For the MVE users out there....did you enter ALL of your insurance fee schedules for all of your vision plans? Or are you VSP only? We were told that we have to enter the insurance fee schedule for all plans (ie. the copay for exam, materials, and all of the lens types and coatings)? We accept many different plans and to do that is so much work..plus even withing the same plan there are different fee schedules and reimbursements! MVE told us unless we enter all the fee schedule we have to deal with doing extra math and dividing the sum of charge in two for OD and OS! It's is quite painful to use! Any advise?
    To summarize Jubilee's response, you have to enter the plans you want to price accurately for each and every plan you with to price out. You have to price each item you potentially could sell, one at a time. That includes every lens, every coating, every add-on. One at a time. When you decide to change a lens price (like when Essilor or Hoya change their prices), you have to edit each plan and change each line item. I'm not sure there's any polite way to describe what that will do to your soul and to your marriage.

  14. #14
    Bad address email on file fvc2020's Avatar
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    I am in week three of MVE....According to my staff I have not been fun to be around....that being said the more I use it, the better I become with it. That being said I wish training was better and that their training book(which is being redone)was better. As for service I have three gentlemen that I talk to and they are patient and understanding of my frustrations and are will to help me work through problems

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    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter Jubilee's Avatar
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    I can not stress enough how beneficial the sort/filter/duplicate tools are for data entry. Particularly for fee schedules. Then making use of the copy from function to duplicate a plan then make the couple of necessary changes..Since most plans have a basic form, and then make adjustments to the ratio paid by patient and by insurer.

    We have used the system for going on 3 years now. I am much happier with their documentation and training than I was back then, and these added features have really made it a lot easier, and less daunting to go through.

    The other thing I recommend is making sure you check regularly for updates to the plan. They have been making it easier to import VSP's lens database into the system, incorporated prism and power grids, etc to reduce the amount of data entry needed. Their community site also offers a wealth of information on how many of us have set our "best practices" and the opportunity to make suggestions, provide feedback, help them improve the program.

    I wasn't happy having to go back and redo all my fee schedules.. but now that I have seen how much easier it has been the past 2 months both checking out and posting checks.. It was worth all the extra work.
    "Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate. But I believe that happiness is something we create."-Something More by Sugarland

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