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?*

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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.