For the past few months RLR Consulting has been dropping hints that it has a product in the works aimed directly and solely at optometrists. Today that day has come!
As of this week, RLR Consulting officially announces the release of its FREE, Optometric Billing Software and optometric billing services known as, "opticXpress". With the opticXpress software at its core, RLR Consulting is now a full service optometric billing company. RLR Consulting now provides not only billing services for optometrists, but they are also a software company and Optometric Clearinghouse as well.
Moving forward, opticXpress software is and always will be a FREE software to the RLR Consulting client. Currently this software allows providers to focus on patients and quality of care while reducing the amount of time spent coding and submiting insurance transactions. This is because opticXpress's intuitive design and ease of use allow the Optometrist to only input information about the patient...RLR Consulting handles the rest!
Over the next few months, as government guidelines for EMR/EHR software become available, opticXpress will be updated and become a full featured office management software that will include the easiest interface to Electronic Medical Records and Electronic Health Records available to the Optometric Client. Best of all, opticXpress will remain...FREE!
How can RLR Consulting do this? The answer is simple: RLR Consulting is a DEBT FREE company and can compete with even the largest clearing houses (such as Emdeon and Mckesson) on claim submission rates. This allows RLR to focus solely on their clients and the needs of their clients while keeping costs low and competetive year in and year out.
More information can be found at: www.opticXpress.com
opticXpress is an optometric billing company that provides a clearinghouse, billing service and software strictly for optometrists.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
New Optometric Billing Software for Walmart OD's...FREE!
RLR Consulting has written and released FREE optometric billing software for Walmart Optometrists.
Andrew Roy, the owner and president of RLR Consulting, was asked why the company decided to release this software for Walmart OD's to which he replied, " Walmart Optometrists represent a significant part of the market that encompasses not only Walmart vision centers, but other commercial franchises as well. The state of the economy is such, that many national optical corporations are trying to cut costs by no longer providing billing services as a benefit for the private OD's and optometric groups that provide the exams in their stores. As a result, many of these doctors are finding it necessary to either hire personnel to perform their medical billing or do it themselves, both of which represent a huge cost increase; something no business owner wants to encounter in this economic climate.
In order to meet the growing demand for cost saving solutions that allow OD's to perfrom their billing and remain competetive, RLR Consulting authored a FREE piece of software known as "Optic-Express". We believe that optic express is perfect for the Wal-mart OD, as well as all OD's, as it is written in such a way that it allows the doctor to see as many patients per day as possible but WITHOUT sacrificing quality of care. Optic-Express's intuitive design also generates daily medical insurance claims automatically, thereby establishing a constant and reliable cash-flow for the OD that is utilizing the software.
Another value-added feature of optic-express is that it is written to grow over time with the doctor's practice and is gauranteed to remain compliant with the ever changing EHR/EMR requirements set to be imposed by the U.S. government. These features will always remain free and the software will always remain updated, free-of charge to the provider."
More information about RLR Consulting's Walmart Billing Services.
Andrew Roy, the owner and president of RLR Consulting, was asked why the company decided to release this software for Walmart OD's to which he replied, " Walmart Optometrists represent a significant part of the market that encompasses not only Walmart vision centers, but other commercial franchises as well. The state of the economy is such, that many national optical corporations are trying to cut costs by no longer providing billing services as a benefit for the private OD's and optometric groups that provide the exams in their stores. As a result, many of these doctors are finding it necessary to either hire personnel to perform their medical billing or do it themselves, both of which represent a huge cost increase; something no business owner wants to encounter in this economic climate.
In order to meet the growing demand for cost saving solutions that allow OD's to perfrom their billing and remain competetive, RLR Consulting authored a FREE piece of software known as "Optic-Express". We believe that optic express is perfect for the Wal-mart OD, as well as all OD's, as it is written in such a way that it allows the doctor to see as many patients per day as possible but WITHOUT sacrificing quality of care. Optic-Express's intuitive design also generates daily medical insurance claims automatically, thereby establishing a constant and reliable cash-flow for the OD that is utilizing the software.
Another value-added feature of optic-express is that it is written to grow over time with the doctor's practice and is gauranteed to remain compliant with the ever changing EHR/EMR requirements set to be imposed by the U.S. government. These features will always remain free and the software will always remain updated, free-of charge to the provider."
More information about RLR Consulting's Walmart Billing Services.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Twitter For Optometrists
One of the things that RLR Consulting strives to pass on to its clients is an appreciation for the latest and greatest technology. There is a reason for this, as healthcare advances it can only do so because of the advancement in technology...and so it stands to reason: If you as an optometrist are utilizing the latest and greatest technology to serve your patients then your support staff and support services should utilize the same up-to-date technology as well, or at least be willing to utilize it.
At RLR we are constantly upgrading our computer systems. We are always looking for ways to give our clients access to the latest and greatest information. We take advantage of cutting edge ideas like "cloud computing", which we will push once it starts to become more mainstreem because it will allow for a doctor to turn on any computer, any time, and access his information from all over the world and it will simply, "just work".
Recently we started using Twitter as a tool for updating our clients and prospective clients with information from RLR Consulting. We like it for one very important and basic reason: it answers the question "What are we doing?" which is something that all of our clients and prospective clients would and do want to know. As an optometrist who is utilizing our service or simply looking for a new service provider, you can always count on RLR Consulting to update you on exactly what we are doing and, if you sign up for twitter yourself, you will be able to answer back and even post comments that we read, INSTANTLY!!!
Twitter for Optometrists? One of the best things you can do for yourself, and your practice!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
More information about RLR Consulting and thier optometric billing services can be found at: www.optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com
At RLR we are constantly upgrading our computer systems. We are always looking for ways to give our clients access to the latest and greatest information. We take advantage of cutting edge ideas like "cloud computing", which we will push once it starts to become more mainstreem because it will allow for a doctor to turn on any computer, any time, and access his information from all over the world and it will simply, "just work".
Recently we started using Twitter as a tool for updating our clients and prospective clients with information from RLR Consulting. We like it for one very important and basic reason: it answers the question "What are we doing?" which is something that all of our clients and prospective clients would and do want to know. As an optometrist who is utilizing our service or simply looking for a new service provider, you can always count on RLR Consulting to update you on exactly what we are doing and, if you sign up for twitter yourself, you will be able to answer back and even post comments that we read, INSTANTLY!!!
Twitter for Optometrists? One of the best things you can do for yourself, and your practice!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
More information about RLR Consulting and thier optometric billing services can be found at: www.optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Optometric Billing: A Cottage Cheese Industry?
As an optometric biller, one of my favorite things to do is stay current on my chosen field of work. Many days, when I am not speaking to clients or just can't sleep, I find myself surfing the web looking for information on optometric billing or just searching for optometry information or optometry blogs. Last week, as a result of my incessant surfing, I came across the optoblog, a peronal opinion blog of a wal-mart vision center optometrist.
"EUREKA!" I said to myself, as I eagerly clicked the link and began reading. You see, I had just learned a few days earlier that Wal-mart will no longer be performing the billing for the optometrists. Instead, Wal-Mart has dictated that it is now up to the optometrists to do this billing themselves. I was excited to become a member of the optoblog and contribute to his site, hopefully gaining links to my own website and to let him know that, "Hey, RLR Consulting is out here and we want to help!".
It has always been a business goal of mine to try and get Wal-Mart vision as a client. I mean seriously, it makes great business sense. First of all, Wal-Mart vision is every where and so it is a huge potential for my own brand recognition and a huge cash-flow potential. Also, it would help my company meet one of our stated goals: to become synonimous with Optometric Billing. However, I learned about 3 years ago that Wal-Mart, being the ever inventive business outfit that they are, performed the billing itself through a huge network of billing software coregraphed throughout the company. So I gave up and persued other ventures since we just could not compete. Recently, however, we began writing our own free software specifically for optometry that would be a great fill-in for these optometrists that are being left to fend for themselves by Wal-Mart.
So as I was surfing that night and came across the optoblog I immediately began trying to create a business contact with the blog owner, an optometrist at Wal-Mart himself. I left a comment to one of his posts which blasted President Obama saying it was his fault Wal-Mart is doing what they always do, looking for the best way to save money and keep their prices low.
My comment was left amidst a myriad of competitors comments; medical billers who themselves swore they had what it took to do the job for this man. (If you want to see what I feel about medical billers over-extending themselves into areas of billing they have no business being in, see my article posted on this blog entitled: " Optometric Billing....How I See It." ) I told the doc that I specialized in Optometric billing, check my websites and if you don't want us to help at least lend a helping hand by becoming a contributor to our blog so that his voice can help other optometrists and he will get a few links to his own blog in the mean time. A win-win offer I assumed. So I waited eagerly for his reply.
Then, on May 2, 2009, I received my reply. Instead of posting my comment to his article, along side the other people who just plain out advertised to him, the owner of the blog, called optometric billing a cottage cheese industry and a response to Wal-Mart's decision to stop doing it themselves! In fact i quote the optoblog:
"With Walmart’s announcement of a sweeping change about getting out of the business of billing vision insurance companies for their doctors, a whole new cottage industry has sprung up. Businesses are soliciting Walmart doctors to let them handle all the insurance billing.
Yup, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Ophthalmic vendors think we optometrists are so stupid. Just because we picked this profession, they think we are prone to making poor financial choices just like some people are accident prone."
A cottage cheese industry he says! I bet my clients would have some strong words for him about those statments!
Now this optoblog post illustrates some very important facts about optometric billing and medical billing that I have been shouting for years. First, it is obvious that the field of Optometric Billing is largely unknown by those that it is intended to serve. Second, many optometrists, as well as other specialists, are jaded by the idea of outsourcing their billing to someone rather than perform this job themselves or in-house. It is obvious from the cacaphony of medical billers soliciting not only optometrists but the other specialists in the world, that there are too many medical billers who are just searching for work and they do not take the time to specialize in one aspect of the trade. As a result, many doctors have had bad experiences with medical billers they have hired and believe, rightly so, the old addage that "if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself". Lastly, because of said experiences, many doctors do not take the time to even research the idea of outsourcing their billing and as a result are led to have un-founded beliefs about the field that was born out of necessity, which is the mother of all invention, and consequently they themselves and their patients are shortchanged.
The optoblog states that "Opthamalic vendors...think we prone to making poor financial choices". The bottom line is that it is not just opthamalic vendors that assert that poor financial choices are being made. Business owners and colleges of business alike are teaching the benefits of outsourcing, from not only a financial stanpoint but from a customer service standpoint as well. Let me give you an example. Optoblog asserts that it only costs $0.43 cents per claim to perform their medical billing using their own software. The blog writer believes this is a great deal and he is right, in terms of percentage of amount billed, it is a GREAT deal, espescially when it costs me $0.39 cents as a company to submit a piece of paper to the insurance company. However, there are other costs associated with submitting these claims that a business owner generally understands and that an optometrist, or other specialist, takes into consideration when making the decision to outsource his or her billing.
Let me throw some numbers at you for all of those un-believers out there. Let's just assume that an optometrist has decided to hire a biller for his office because he has noticed that business is picking up and he just doesn't have the time to do it anymore. The average starting salary for this position averages about 35-40k nationwide, plus health benefits. Now let's assume that you are using OfficeMate, office management software. At last check it was a few thousand dollars just to purchase officemate+ you need to purchase exam writer seperately. Next it is $1200.00 per year for the annual software maintenance associated with officemate, that comes straight from the horse's mouth over there at optoblog in their February 9th, 2009 blog entitled "OfficeMate and Exam writer VS. Mouse Scroll wheel." So let's add all of these costs up:
- Estimate that it cost you: $2,000.00 to purchase OfficeMate+Exam Writer
- Now add $1,200.00 per year just for software maintenance
- Optoblog owner pays $0.43 cents per claim to submit. An optometrist averages about 160 claims per month so that is $68.80 per month for claims submission or $825.00 per year.
- 35k per year, starting salary not including health benefits, for the new biller you just hired.
- Average cost of collecting and organizing resumes, interviewing, hiring and training the new in-house biller, according to CFO2grow, =30% of starting salary, per employee, or $10,500.00.
- Total cost of Optometric Billing for the first year=$49,525.00!!! (This assumes the biller you just hired actually lasts for the entire year, which is not common.)
I ask anyone reading this blog, billers and optometrists alike, does it make more business sense to go through steps 1-6 just to file an insurance claim at a cost of over $20,000 a year, or is it cheeper to let an outside professional handle the same procedures at a cost of about $400.00 per month or $4,800.00 per year? I know if it was my business outsourcing seems like a better decision, a no-brainer if I have done my homework.
Back in the early 90's, Dr. Micheal Sutton of Bloomfield, NJ said it best when he stated, "Anything you spend money on to save time saves people; and people time is the most expensive part of any practice." Dr. Sutton was on to something. He said this when medical billing outsourcing was just starting to come into its own as an invention of necessity. He rightly realized that with the inception of electronic billing and the growth of insurances prolifferating the medical world and increasing the overall cost of providing healthcare, one of the best things he could do for his staff, his practice and his patients was to save them time and headaches by outsourcing his billing and consolidating only the procedures that his staff needed to perform in-house to better serve his clients and save his practice money.
I ask you optoblog and anyone with the same line of thinking as them, is it really a bad idea to outsource your billing or any other procedures in your office? Do you really still think that Optometric Billing is a "Cottage Cheese Industry"? I am sure you do but tell that to all of my clients who have rightly decided to save themselves time and money by researching and outsourcing their billing and receivables functions. Professionals who have put the health of their patients and the health of their practices on the forefront and not their wallet. Are these Optometrists, your colleagues, a part of this cottage cheese industry you so quickly labeled during your un-founded rant?
Our First amendment right to freedom of speech does give us the right as business owners and bloggers to state our opinion freely. Whether it be in a blog, in an article, on the web or in a journal or news paper, we as Americans have the right to voice and express our opinion. Citizenship comes with responsibilty, however, and it is our responsibility as outspoken citizens to make sure that when we express our opinion we do it with the utmost care and research before splattering it all over the web. Maybe optoblog should check and see just what industry they speak out about, It seems to me that their rants are the only thing that smell like cottage cheese around here.
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Andrew Roy owns and operates RLR Consulting, a medical billing firm that specializes in Optometric Billing. You can find out more informtion by visiting their website at: optometricblling.rlrbillingsolutions.com
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Is PQRI really the future of Optometric Billing?
As I was scanning the web, like I always do, looking for information on optometric billing, I came across a letter from the Massachussettes Society of Optometrists to its constituent members ( You can view the letter for yourself by clicking here).
This letter was written in 2007 and outlined the basics of the PQRI program for Optometrists, such as yourselves, in order to make it easier to understand the program and also the procedures one should take when submitting claims containing PQRI codes to Medicare. The funny thing about this letter is that the person writing it and the group he or she represents believe that PQRI coding will be the future of billing; and I quote "This process is voluntary through the end of the year. However, in the future, such reporting is expected to be required by all insurers as they each implement pay-for-performance programs. Please become familiar with these billing-and-coding methods now!"
Now, it is not that I don't believe in paying someone based on their performance but can it be speculated that paying a physician, a specialist at that, based on their performance is a slippery slope in terms of the quality of medical care that one receives?
Here is an example of my thought process. As an optometric billier myself, I know that many high volume optometrists are forced to code their claims after the exam and other procedures have been performed, rather during the time that services are being rendered, because it is necessary in order to save time. On average, this process can add 1-2 hours to a normal work day. Now factor in PQRI reporting and you are adding another 30 minutes or so to that entire process.
The added work of PQRI coding forces a physician to have to do one of two things. Either decrease the amount of patients that he sees in a day or decrease the amount of time he spends with each patient. Most physicians are forced to do the latter because adding 5 or so more patients to the work day only incrementally increases the amount of added work at the end of the day but it substantially increases the over all gross profit for the work day. In other words, added requirements raise the cost of healthcare because they inversely affect the quality of healthcare rather increase the quality of healthcare as programs such as PQRI have been intended to do.
I want to be very clear that I AM NOT SAYING THAT OPTOMETRISTS ARE BECOMING GREEDY. In fact, that is not even close to the truth. I am saying, however, that if PQRI reporting is to be the future of optometric billing one should make sure that their patient's quality of care does not suffer as a result. There are many ways to do this and one of the most fantastic is to consider outsourcing your optometric billing functions. Why? Because outsourcing is a low cost alternative to hiring an in house person or persons to perform the same functions. Also, it allows those that are members of your group or practice to focus solely on maintaining a high standard of care and it alleviates the overall workload on what I am sure is an already, much too busy staff. Remember, "Anything that you spend money on to save time saves people, and people time is the most expensive part of any practice".
As for PQRI, if you are an optometrist and you are not participating as of yet, this is the last year you can do so and receive incentive payments in return. For more information, visit the cms website at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/pqri/ and http://www.massoptom.org/images/customer-files/PQRI_Overview.pdf. I am sure your local Optometric Society will have information as well. You can also contact RLR Consulting by clicking here. Any one of these sources can help to steer you in the right direction.
By the way, do you really think PQRI should be the future of Optometric Billing? Post your comments and let the world know what you think!
____________________________________________________________________
Andrew Roy owns and operates RLR Consulting which specializes in Optometric Billing. For more information, please visit their website at: optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com
This letter was written in 2007 and outlined the basics of the PQRI program for Optometrists, such as yourselves, in order to make it easier to understand the program and also the procedures one should take when submitting claims containing PQRI codes to Medicare. The funny thing about this letter is that the person writing it and the group he or she represents believe that PQRI coding will be the future of billing; and I quote "This process is voluntary through the end of the year. However, in the future, such reporting is expected to be required by all insurers as they each implement pay-for-performance programs. Please become familiar with these billing-and-coding methods now!"
Now, it is not that I don't believe in paying someone based on their performance but can it be speculated that paying a physician, a specialist at that, based on their performance is a slippery slope in terms of the quality of medical care that one receives?
Here is an example of my thought process. As an optometric billier myself, I know that many high volume optometrists are forced to code their claims after the exam and other procedures have been performed, rather during the time that services are being rendered, because it is necessary in order to save time. On average, this process can add 1-2 hours to a normal work day. Now factor in PQRI reporting and you are adding another 30 minutes or so to that entire process.
The added work of PQRI coding forces a physician to have to do one of two things. Either decrease the amount of patients that he sees in a day or decrease the amount of time he spends with each patient. Most physicians are forced to do the latter because adding 5 or so more patients to the work day only incrementally increases the amount of added work at the end of the day but it substantially increases the over all gross profit for the work day. In other words, added requirements raise the cost of healthcare because they inversely affect the quality of healthcare rather increase the quality of healthcare as programs such as PQRI have been intended to do.
I want to be very clear that I AM NOT SAYING THAT OPTOMETRISTS ARE BECOMING GREEDY. In fact, that is not even close to the truth. I am saying, however, that if PQRI reporting is to be the future of optometric billing one should make sure that their patient's quality of care does not suffer as a result. There are many ways to do this and one of the most fantastic is to consider outsourcing your optometric billing functions. Why? Because outsourcing is a low cost alternative to hiring an in house person or persons to perform the same functions. Also, it allows those that are members of your group or practice to focus solely on maintaining a high standard of care and it alleviates the overall workload on what I am sure is an already, much too busy staff. Remember, "Anything that you spend money on to save time saves people, and people time is the most expensive part of any practice".
As for PQRI, if you are an optometrist and you are not participating as of yet, this is the last year you can do so and receive incentive payments in return. For more information, visit the cms website at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/pqri/ and http://www.massoptom.org/images/customer-files/PQRI_Overview.pdf. I am sure your local Optometric Society will have information as well. You can also contact RLR Consulting by clicking here. Any one of these sources can help to steer you in the right direction.
By the way, do you really think PQRI should be the future of Optometric Billing? Post your comments and let the world know what you think!
____________________________________________________________________
Andrew Roy owns and operates RLR Consulting which specializes in Optometric Billing. For more information, please visit their website at: optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Optometric Billing Issues
All over the country we constantly run into optometrists that are concerned with thier billing. The purpose of this post is to entice new visitors to sign up and comment! We want to know what issues you, as optometrists, face every day when it comes to your optometric billing.
Remember, this blog is being monitored by optometrists and optometric billing companies alike, so something you post as an issue in your office just may be resolved by one of the contributing members to this blog.
Happy Posting!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Optometric Billing....How I See It.
We here at RLR Consulting see optometrists as a rather un-represented profession in terms of the amount of software and services designed just for them. For example, if you were to Google the keyword "optometric billing", ther are only three companies in the first 10 listings that are committed solely to the art and practice of optometric billing. Of those three, only one is actually committed to helping the optometric field achieve more independence in terms of the software they can choose or the people they decide to outsource thier billing services too.
Now, one might ask why this is important. Let me ask you a question: If your child has an do take him to your family physician or do you take him to the pediatrician? Most likely, your answer will be. "the pediatrician". Why is this? Because, we tend to place more trust and respect in those that specialize in a service for a particular need. We want to take our child to a doctor that specializes in caring for children because we want our child to have the best care and likewise, an optometrist, or any other physician for that matter, should choose a billing service or software company that specializes in serving optometrists because they stand to offer the best service and have the most knowledge about optometry and the way and optometrist's office functions.
One of the things that I learned early on in my medical billing career was that today too many individuals are going to medical billing and coding schools because they were lured by the promise of fast money and the ability to work from home and be thier own boss. However, once they were enrolled and began learning, they soon realized that it wasn't cheap to attend these schools. Also, they were not really given the ability to specialize in any one field of medical billing. They received an expensive, broad knowledge, quick education but they were not really given the tools that they needed to succeed in thier own business. As a result, too many of these graduates went out and started thier own billing business without knowing just how difficult it was going to be to even get a doctor to agree to give them the responsibility of maintaining thier cash flow, let alone get business to begin with. Consequently, those that were good enough salesmen to sign doctors as clients ended up charging way too much money for a service that is supposed to save the doctor money to begin with. Also, and I have seen this way too often, they were fired or their contracts were canceled within one year after beginning to service the account because they just didn't know squat about billing, let alone the type of doctor they were billing for. Consequently, it has made it that much more difficult to even get business as a medical biller, let alone and optometric biller, because of the bad experiences many doctors have had and shared with their colleagues.
A valuable lesson can and should be learned from this example. IT IS IMPORTANT TO CHOOSE A BILLER BASED ON THIER EXPERIENCE AND TO LOOK FOR SOMEONE WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THE PARTICULAR MEDICAL FIELD THAT YOU, AS A DOCTOR, PRACTICE IN. By doing this and commiting yourself to this idealogy early on, one can reap the benefits of a rewarding relationship with the biller or service that you outsource to. You will be able to communicate with them openly, question thier methods as to why they perform a certain billing function in a particular way, and feel comfortable with the fact that every answer you receive from them comes from a wealth of knowledge that that individual possess based on thier experience in the field.
This brings me back to my original point and the mantra that I live by here in my office. We decided long ago to focus solely on Optometry as our chosen field of billing. Not because it is lucrative or easy but because it is an un-represented field of professionals among the medical billing and practice management realm. Sure there are plenty of people out there that offer billing and management services that CAN BE USED by an optometrist but how many of them have been DESIGNED FOR AN OPTOMETRIST?
If you are an Optometrist reading this, whether it be in a blog, in a journal or in some online article database, you should ask yourself, "Am I receiving the best level of customer service that I can receive from my biller?" "Am I even sure that the person or service I hired and entrusted my cash flow too has the correct knowledge to really even be considered the best for the job?" "Is my practice receiving the best level of care that it can be receiving or should I hire a specialist that knows my needs and my wants and is willing to help me fulfill my desires?"
This is just the business I am in, the career I have chosen, THE WAY I SEE IT, the question remains, is this how you want it to be seen as a professional that I represent?*
______________________________________________________________
Andrew Roy owns and operates RLR Consulting which is a medical billing firm that specializes in Optometric Billing. You can find out more about RLR Consulting by visiting their websites: www.rlrbillingsolutions.com or www.optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com. You can also subscribe to RLR's blog and news feed to stay current on thing are happening in the billing field and optometric billing field as well.
Now, one might ask why this is important. Let me ask you a question: If your child has an do take him to your family physician or do you take him to the pediatrician? Most likely, your answer will be. "the pediatrician". Why is this? Because, we tend to place more trust and respect in those that specialize in a service for a particular need. We want to take our child to a doctor that specializes in caring for children because we want our child to have the best care and likewise, an optometrist, or any other physician for that matter, should choose a billing service or software company that specializes in serving optometrists because they stand to offer the best service and have the most knowledge about optometry and the way and optometrist's office functions.
One of the things that I learned early on in my medical billing career was that today too many individuals are going to medical billing and coding schools because they were lured by the promise of fast money and the ability to work from home and be thier own boss. However, once they were enrolled and began learning, they soon realized that it wasn't cheap to attend these schools. Also, they were not really given the ability to specialize in any one field of medical billing. They received an expensive, broad knowledge, quick education but they were not really given the tools that they needed to succeed in thier own business. As a result, too many of these graduates went out and started thier own billing business without knowing just how difficult it was going to be to even get a doctor to agree to give them the responsibility of maintaining thier cash flow, let alone get business to begin with. Consequently, those that were good enough salesmen to sign doctors as clients ended up charging way too much money for a service that is supposed to save the doctor money to begin with. Also, and I have seen this way too often, they were fired or their contracts were canceled within one year after beginning to service the account because they just didn't know squat about billing, let alone the type of doctor they were billing for. Consequently, it has made it that much more difficult to even get business as a medical biller, let alone and optometric biller, because of the bad experiences many doctors have had and shared with their colleagues.
A valuable lesson can and should be learned from this example. IT IS IMPORTANT TO CHOOSE A BILLER BASED ON THIER EXPERIENCE AND TO LOOK FOR SOMEONE WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THE PARTICULAR MEDICAL FIELD THAT YOU, AS A DOCTOR, PRACTICE IN. By doing this and commiting yourself to this idealogy early on, one can reap the benefits of a rewarding relationship with the biller or service that you outsource to. You will be able to communicate with them openly, question thier methods as to why they perform a certain billing function in a particular way, and feel comfortable with the fact that every answer you receive from them comes from a wealth of knowledge that that individual possess based on thier experience in the field.
This brings me back to my original point and the mantra that I live by here in my office. We decided long ago to focus solely on Optometry as our chosen field of billing. Not because it is lucrative or easy but because it is an un-represented field of professionals among the medical billing and practice management realm. Sure there are plenty of people out there that offer billing and management services that CAN BE USED by an optometrist but how many of them have been DESIGNED FOR AN OPTOMETRIST?
If you are an Optometrist reading this, whether it be in a blog, in a journal or in some online article database, you should ask yourself, "Am I receiving the best level of customer service that I can receive from my biller?" "Am I even sure that the person or service I hired and entrusted my cash flow too has the correct knowledge to really even be considered the best for the job?" "Is my practice receiving the best level of care that it can be receiving or should I hire a specialist that knows my needs and my wants and is willing to help me fulfill my desires?"
This is just the business I am in, the career I have chosen, THE WAY I SEE IT, the question remains, is this how you want it to be seen as a professional that I represent?*
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Andrew Roy owns and operates RLR Consulting which is a medical billing firm that specializes in Optometric Billing. You can find out more about RLR Consulting by visiting their websites: www.rlrbillingsolutions.com or www.optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com. You can also subscribe to RLR's blog and news feed to stay current on thing are happening in the billing field and optometric billing field as well.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Optometric Billing- What We Are Up Too!
RLR Consulting Announces New
Optometric Billing Website
""RLR Consulting has re-vamped their Optometric Billing Website:Optometric Billing Website
www.optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com. MORE CHANGES STILL TO COME!""
RLR Consulting, of Vineland, NJ announces today that they have updated their Optometric
Billing website. The updates are part of a new marketing campaign set to begin in June of
2009 aimed at creating brand recognition for their name and new software created
specifically for optometrists and optometric billing professionals.
The official name of this software has not yet been released but all indications are that it will
be released as two separate types of software one for just claim and patient management
and the other will be a full optometric office management solution. Both pieces of software
are guaranteed to be compliant with the government's EMR and EHR guidelines and will be
offered to clients FREE FOR LIFE!
More information about RLR Consulting, their Optometric Billing services and this exciting
new software can be found on their website at www.optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com
in the coming weeks and months. Also, information about government EMR and EHR
guideline implementation can be found there as well, so be sure to check the website often
for these exciting and important updates!
http://www.optometricbilling.rlrbillingsolutions.com
Welcome!
Hello out there! This is the first official post on the Optometric Billing Spot. It is my intention that this blog become a popular place for interested individuals and corporations to come and voice their opinions and concerns about this field of medical billing. Over time I also hope that this site will become a valuable resource of information concerning anything and everything that relates to the Optometric Billing Field.
First things first though, let me introduce you to myself and my organization.
My name is Andrew Roy and I own and Operate RLR Consulting. I inherited the business from my father after he died in 2005 and continued his time honored tradition of focusing on niche markets in business. Ever since its inception in the early 1990's, RLR Consulting has specialized in Optometric Billing and now, almost 20 years later, we have a website dedicated to optometric billing, a website dedicated to medical billing news, our own software, and this blog! I truly hope that everyone that comes across this will enjoy it and find it useful.
For more information about RLR Consulting and our services, please visit:
The RLR Consulting Medical Billing Home Page and,
The RLR Consulting Optometric Billing Home Page .
And please, don't forget to bookmark this page, subscribe to our feed and contribute to our content as well. We look forward to hearing from you, TODAY AND IN THE FUTURE!
First things first though, let me introduce you to myself and my organization.
My name is Andrew Roy and I own and Operate RLR Consulting. I inherited the business from my father after he died in 2005 and continued his time honored tradition of focusing on niche markets in business. Ever since its inception in the early 1990's, RLR Consulting has specialized in Optometric Billing and now, almost 20 years later, we have a website dedicated to optometric billing, a website dedicated to medical billing news, our own software, and this blog! I truly hope that everyone that comes across this will enjoy it and find it useful.
For more information about RLR Consulting and our services, please visit:
The RLR Consulting Medical Billing Home Page and,
The RLR Consulting Optometric Billing Home Page .
And please, don't forget to bookmark this page, subscribe to our feed and contribute to our content as well. We look forward to hearing from you, TODAY AND IN THE FUTURE!
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