VSP Premier. Should we take it or leave it?

[adoc]

Please do not degenerate this post into another anti VSP rant! Stick to business!

We are debating on whether to take the VSP Premier option. We have been very resistant to stock Altair/Marchon since there is very little profit in selling those frames. My understanding is that we would need to expend $6000 minimum in stocking these frames to participate in the program (or is it $6000/yr)? Obviously we would get increased VSP website recognition ie: more patients and increased reimbursements on Unity products. Does it make good business sense? Are there any other advantages that I haven't mentioned? I noticed they want you to have a retinal camera, why is that? We have a retina camera but tend to use it medically and not really for vision plans. Does VSP pay for retinal imaging on Premier patients? I would love a precise financial breakdown of whether or not it makes sense to go Premier. Currently we do best with frames that we purchase at heavy discounts to the frame facts prices. Therefore, by selling Altair/Marchon we would definitely take a hit. However, I suppose that by extending a bigger benefit to patients they would have more to spend on options on which we get paid something. Furthermore, I think it's almost a sure thing that the increased website exposure would drive more patients to the office. Lastly, since we are pretty satisfied with the Unity offerings it would mean an extra $6 or so for every time we dispense this (this may mitigate somewhat the losses on the frames).

[optical24/7]

Curious about the increased website exposure. I just did a provider search off their website in my area (5 mi. surrounding) out of the 30 providers, the top 3 listed were not Premier.

[newguyaroundhere]

Honestly, it depends. How many VSP patients do you see in your office? If you do not see a ton of patients with VSP, then that additional $8 on SV or $14 on progressives you get back for being premier may not be worth it. Also, as you already know, that you are expected to sell so much in frames from Marchon & Altair and sell so many pairs of Unity lenses and coatings. Is your staff and practice willing to do those things and basically be told what to sell (or expected to sell). We see a ton of VSP patients in our offices (roughly 1900 during the last rolling 12 months according to VSP's reports) so it is expected of us to try to take advantage of that Premier status.

As far as the website exposure, I question it as well. I have checked from time to time on their and seen practices listed above us without the Premier status.

[Jubilee]

Depends upon your size, demographic and your philosophy.

For us, while we see a fair amount of VSP, we have not had the best experience with the Unity products. Others have, but I know in our practice we had less satisfaction with Unity PALs and Coatings than we do with our preferred Shamir/Crizal product.

We have several practices within 10-15 miles of us that are heavy Marchon. Why do I want to carry the same products that my competition does? How does that differentiate us as a practice if we are carrying the same stuff the other provider in our small town does, and the docs that are in the outlying areas around us.

My main concern is they will try to force patients/practices to use their products. Right now it is incentivized..and come July you will be punished if you aren't promoting these products. How does that encourage choice?

I would do the math and soul searching to see if it makes sense for you.

[adoc]

Depends upon your size, demographic and your philosophy.

For us, while we see a fair amount of VSP, we have not had the best experience with the Unity products. Others have, but I know in our practice we had less satisfaction with Unity PALs and Coatings than we do with our preferred Shamir/Crizal product.

We have several practices within 10-15 miles of us that are heavy Marchon. Why do I want to carry the same products that my competition does? How does that differentiate us as a practice if we are carrying the same stuff the other provider in our small town does, and the docs that are in the outlying areas around us.

My main concern is they will try to force patients/practices to use their products. Right now it is incentivized..and come July you will be punished if you aren't promoting these products. How does that encourage choice?

I would do the math and soul searching to see if it makes sense for you.

Jubilee,
I remember this same kind of discussion when HMO's began to march into our area in So. California. We recognized them for the soul sucking, penny pinching, amoral pragmatists that they were. We all prided ourselves for not joining their panels and swore that we would never sully our pristine practices with that kind of filth. I remember how proud I used to feel when I rejected their overtures to join their panels or to accept capitated contracts. Well, I can tell you that the tables have turned. My 100% private, medicare and PPO population has shrunk considerably. I have been forced to join with the enemy and to play ball and to be grateful that they even allow me on their panels. Optical has gone the same way. If you are lucky enough to live in a part of the world where you can thumb your noses at VSP, Eyemed, Spectera and Davis then God bless you. For the rest of us, we all recognize that we are in the process of getting raped but can do nothing about it. My approach is to eke out every advantage that I can get from them until there is nothing left to take. This forum has been terrific for figuring out how to do this.

[Dr. Bill Stacy]

Positioning of a site on google has way more to do with google than with vsp, and with web site design and advertising bucks than with premier status or not. Except maybe on panel doc search done from vsp's site.

[Caroline]

*shrug* We do get a lot of patients come in saying, "We came here because we saw you were a Premier location."

[ThatOneGuy]

Please do not degenerate this post into another anti VSP rant! Stick to business!

We are debating on whether to take the VSP Premier option. We have been very resistant to stock Altair/Marchon since there is very little profit in selling those frames. My understanding is that we would need to expend $6000 minimum in stocking these frames to participate in the program (or is it $6000/yr)? Obviously we would get increased VSP website recognition ie: more patients and increased reimbursements on Unity products. Does it make good business sense? Are there any other advantages that I haven't mentioned? I noticed they want you to have a retinal camera, why is that? We have a retina camera but tend to use it medically and not really for vision plans. Does VSP pay for retinal imaging on Premier patients? I would love a precise financial breakdown of whether or not it makes sense to go Premier. Currently we do best with frames that we purchase at heavy discounts to the frame facts prices. Therefore, by selling Altair/Marchon we would definitely take a hit. However, I suppose that by extending a bigger benefit to patients they would have more to spend on options on which we get paid something. Furthermore, I think it's almost a sure thing that the increased website exposure would drive more patients to the office. Lastly, since we are pretty satisfied with the Unity offerings it would mean an extra $6 or so for every time we dispense this (this may mitigate somewhat the losses on the frames).

Does it make business sense?

Depends on the kind of business you run. If your goal is to maximize the dollars earned from VSP, then do it. If your goal is to provide the best products and services you can to every patient, then it is debatable. If your goal is to increase sales/profit on non-vsp patients by educating a large segment of your patients on the importance of state of the art lens tech, then no, it is not worth it.

Understand that a VSP patient knows lots of people around your business who are NOT VSP patients. If premier is going to change the way in which you discuss product to the point that you are not telling people the same thing about care of their eyes, then I seriously question the business sense.

[adoc]

Still a little confused about it (even after getting info sent from VSP). Apparently you have to buy $15,000 worth of Marchon/Altair "net frames purchased in the last 12 monhts". Does this mean that I need to spend $15K on buying these frames or that I sell 15K of these frames?? They also have a line item that says "5% Eye Health Management". What does that mean? They also say that you need to have a retinal camera (which I do), but they don't explain why? Will VSP reimburse you for taking retinal photos if you're a premier member? Also, they say that they will reimburse $10 more per Marchon/Altair frame and $6 more for Unity products. So you'll be spending more on the frames but making back some of it back. I do believe that the increased exposure on their website and the additional $20 spending money that they advertise to patients is worth something (I would conservatively guesstimate about 10% more new patients). Looking at the practice reports from the last few years and the "net vsp revenue" it is plausible that the increased exposure may be worth the increased costs of the frames that they make you buy.

[Jubilee]

We participate with many insurance plans. Trust me, while in an ideal world I would thumb my nose up and most of them, the reality is that most of the patients have some form of vision care plan. I just prefer to participate on my terms. I admit we are already on the higher end of things, and most frames people pick are not covered in full. I refuse to spend 6k on product that will not get me more than 6k back in returns. Let alone to do 15K in a year..

VSP is only one part of my practice. While it makes up about 25% (not counting the medicaid clients that run through there.) Patient find us easily enough via Google, Facebook, and other methods. Our area is small enough we still pop up front page (3rd on the list, the first is technically our doctor too, just previous location..I need to call them about that..)

For premier status, you would need to buy 15k worth of Marchon/ALtair. Buy, not sell. Though they would prefer if you sold that amount too. VSP will not reimburse you for retinal photos, unless their plan specifically states they pay for that benefit. The just want to make sure the providers are able to promote the face of the "medical model." The Eye Health Management is making sure you alert them either on your CMS or through the portal that a patient has one of the conditions they are tracking, such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, etc..

You can get rewards currently for at least promoting Unity product even w/o premier status. Of course you might get higher rewards for Shamir or Kodak, perhaps get better points with Zeiss, or Varilux.. this is not unique to them.

That increase in payment and promotion of their products is worth something. I just don't think it is worth devaluing my brand.. to promote theirs. If my local area didn't have so many practices carrying the product, I might change my tune, or be at least a bit more open minded. However in order to set my practice apart, we need to carry something different than what everyone else in a 15 mile radius of us carries.

[DickR]

jubilee you are right on the mark. Better placements on their website certainly does not have the same value of a 15000 frame purchase for resale to which you will not come close to a good return on that investment. Use some of that money to energize your own web site and social media efforts for more fee for service patients.