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Thread: Vba?

  1. #1
    Rising Star Cat-Eyes's Avatar
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    Vba?

    Does anyone deal with VBA (vision benefits of america)? Wondering if they are easy to work with from a billing perspective. Any input is appreciated

  2. #2
    OptiBoardaholic
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    Hello Cat-Eyes. I have been a VBA lab provider for years and I have always good luck in dealing with them. Reimbursement rates may not be as high as others but claims are paid quickly and with no hassle. If you have any questions shoot me a PM and I can give you my contact info. I'm in Wheeling WV.

  3. #3
    OptiBoard Moron newguyaroundhere's Avatar
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    What partyoptician said. VBA is pretty easy to deal with and is straight forward. Claims are paid quickly. Clearly lays out what you are getting back and what you should have billed the patient
    Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity

  4. #4
    OptiBoard Moron newguyaroundhere's Avatar
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    Also, if you do have any questions, do not hesitate to talk to provider relations. They recently hired 2 former opticians that used to work in the Pittsburgh area to work in their Provider Relations department so they should be able to give you feedback about the billing process and answer any questions you may have.
    Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity

  5. #5
    Rising Star Cat-Eyes's Avatar
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    Thank you both for the feedback!

  6. #6
    OptiBoardaholic
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    If you need a VBA Lab, I'd be happy to help you out !

  7. #7
    Master OptiBoarder
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    I'm looking into VBA since we are located in a UPMC Pinnacle Building and almost all employees have VBA. Right now the only insurance we participate with is NVA and some medical ones due to post op cataract surgeries. How do the reimbursements compare to NVA? Would you say it's pretty similar?

  8. #8
    My Brain Hurts jpways's Avatar
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    It was my understanding that all UPMC employees were switched over to UPMC Vision Care (administrated by NVA), but if that's not the case:

    We don't take NVA, but looking at the contract that NVA gave us when UPMC started UPMC Vision Care, the lens and frame reimbursements were similar but NVA took away our dispensing fee. Exams with VBA also had a higher reimbursement (not good just higher)

    Think of VBA as VSP, if VSP hadn't raised their exam and dispensing fees for about 5-6 years

  9. #9
    Master OptiBoarder
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    Quote Originally Posted by jpways View Post
    It was my understanding that all UPMC employees were switched over to UPMC Vision Care (administrated by NVA), but if that's not the case:

    We don't take NVA, but looking at the contract that NVA gave us when UPMC started UPMC Vision Care, the lens and frame reimbursements were similar but NVA took away our dispensing fee. Exams with VBA also had a higher reimbursement (not good just higher)

    Think of VBA as VSP, if VSP hadn't raised their exam and dispensing fees for about 5-6 years
    Thank you for the info! Some UPMC employees have an NVA discount plan, but most have opted for the VBA plan. Would you say that perhaps VBA might be a little better than NVA for material reimbursement since you say that VBA also pays a dispensing fee? I know they all kinda suck, but since we are surrounded by a ton of UPMC employees, it was something we were bouncing around.

  10. #10
    Manuf. Lens Surface Treatments
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    Here is their website and you can check it out :

    https://www.vbaplans.com/vision/bene...ducts#Flexible

  11. #11
    My Brain Hurts jpways's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mervinek View Post
    Thank you for the info! Some UPMC employees have an NVA discount plan, but most have opted for the VBA plan. Would you say that perhaps VBA might be a little better than NVA for material reimbursement since you say that VBA also pays a dispensing fee? I know they all kinda suck, but since we are surrounded by a ton of UPMC employees, it was something we were bouncing around.
    I would say that VBA is an adequate vision plan as far a reimbursments. They have an easy to work with customer service and a fairly wide formulary. Their lab system is fairly open (unlike UPMC Vision Plan where you're stuck with just Beitler). I'll send you a link with their full price list, as it has all their reimbursements as well as the formulary.

    A side note on the formulary from experience. For add ons, like a specific SV/BF digital, A/R, photochromic, office lens that is not otherwise listed on the formulary, VBA's policy is, as long as the lab is willing to accept the reimbursement for an option that they list, they will allow it. It may require combining 2 or 3 codes to find the best combination, but as long as you can order them separately you can get pretty much anything that's new. Except for progressive lens designs they have yet to list, but VBA has been the quickest about listing new lenses of any of the other plans I deal with.

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