think! Enjoy and don't forget what we were all taught as children...SHARE!
opticXpress is an optometric billing company that provides a clearinghouse, billing service and software strictly for optometrists.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Optometric Billing-Another Hilarious Video!
Another Hilarious "optifog" video...were gonna have them make us an optometric billing commercial I
think! Enjoy and don't forget what we were all taught as children...SHARE!
think! Enjoy and don't forget what we were all taught as children...SHARE!
Optometric Billing- 25% Of All U.S Physicians Own a Tablet!
At least twice per month it seems that we bring to light just how important it will be for optometrists to "Jumb on the iPad bandwagon"! Well, today, our friends at Noble Vision have said the same thing. They posted an article today that highlighted just how important these new tools are/can be.
"Today, 25 percent of all US physicians own a tablet device, while average consumers can use mobile devices asdiagnostic tools and share healthcare information via social networking. Mobile devices also provide consumers with the concept of “quantified self,” helping them monitor and improve their health."
Read the entire article here
We believe whole heartedly that tablets are the new "PC" and will become more mainstream this year and into 2013. In fact, it was announced yesterday that Apple is now the leading provider of "PC's" thanks to record sales of the iPad in the last quarter '04 having toppled the once dominant Hewlett Packard.
Here at opticXpress we test our optometric billing software and services on tablet devices regularly and encourage clients and non-clients alike to implement tablets into their office structure whenever possible. We encourage you to do the same if you haven't already.
"Today, 25 percent of all US physicians own a tablet device, while average consumers can use mobile devices asdiagnostic tools and share healthcare information via social networking. Mobile devices also provide consumers with the concept of “quantified self,” helping them monitor and improve their health."
Read the entire article here
We believe whole heartedly that tablets are the new "PC" and will become more mainstream this year and into 2013. In fact, it was announced yesterday that Apple is now the leading provider of "PC's" thanks to record sales of the iPad in the last quarter '04 having toppled the once dominant Hewlett Packard.
Here at opticXpress we test our optometric billing software and services on tablet devices regularly and encourage clients and non-clients alike to implement tablets into their office structure whenever possible. We encourage you to do the same if you haven't already.
RELATED POSTS:
Monday, January 30, 2012
Optometric Billing-Getting The Most Out of Medicare
I received a letter from one of my doctors today concerning certain types of Medicare Rejections having to do with patients that have Medicare but are actually covered by another insurance company for vision services. He asked me for some tips as to how to minimize these rejections and get more out of his services to Medicare patients. The following excerpt from my reply letter to him should efficiently help any optometric practice or optometrist who has the same questions regarding the billing of Medicare.
***Please note that you will see references in this excerpt to the opticXpress software system. Though most of you do not use it just know that if you do use it to bill Medicare we can virtually guarantee the payment of your Medicare claims provided you enter the required information into the system correctly.
TIPS ON GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR MEDICARE BILLING FOR OPTOMETRIC SERVICES
Here are some things that you should follow when performing an exam on a Medicare patient:
1) Medicare does not cover refractions. Make the patient pay for the refraction after you complete
the exam.
2) Make sure your staff collects ALL of the patient's insurance information and scans it into
opticXpress. This includes ID cards, social security cards and driver's liscense. Many times
a staff member sees one insurance card and then stops instead of proceeding forward with finding
out whether the patient has other insurance. If the staff member collects all of this and enters it
into opticXpress then it will be most valuable for us should a claim be denied...it allows us to
work the rejection ASAP.
3) Every medicare patient is required to pay Co-insurance of 20% of the allowed amount of the service.
This means that if your examination fee is $100.00 you should collect $20.00 in addition
to what you are charging for the refraction. If the patient has secondary insurance that will cover
co-insurances and deductibles then Medicare will usually "cross the claim over" to the patient's
secondary if the patient has alerted Medicare of this additional coverage. If the patient has not updated this information with Medicare or they don't have secondary
coverage, than collecting these fees up-front assures cash flow from Medicare while you are
awaiting final payment. Additionally, if your staff has entered all of the patient's insurance
info into the system it allows us to "cross the claim over" to his/her other insurance
on the patient's behalf. You will then receive this additional payment from the patient's secondary
insurance company.
4) Remember that Medicare's deductibles are a yearly payment each patient must pay. That means that
most Medicare patients you serve during the first 4-6 months of the year will owe this deductible
and hence, they will have to pay you for the service out of pocket after Medicare denies or
any secondary (supplemental) coverage will cover it but it will add to the turnaround time on
that claim. Just remember this when working with your Medicare patients and remind them while
they are in the exam room with you or at another designated time. Most Medicare patients are
elderly and it is imperative that you take your time to try and help them understand their
benefits. In the long run, you will profit more.
5) Finally, ask your patients the following before you begin the procedure:
a) "Do you fully understand our policy concerning Medicare patients?"
b) "Are you comfortable or able to pay for a refraction and/or your co-insurance today?"
c) "Do you understand that Medicare requires you to pay a deductible out-of-pocket and
you may owe this if you have not met it for the year and do not have supplemental
coverage to take care of this for you?"
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Optometric Billing-Funny Optical Video!!! Must Read!
From our friends at McLeish Optometrists comes this hilarious video!
Share this with friends, family, colleagues and co-workers!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Optometric Billing-Apple Leading The Way In Mobile Computing
Take a look at this article from ZDnet. It's just one more reason to choose iOS products as your mobile device
of choice to fuel your optometric practice!
"via ZDNet for iOS
Enterprise iPhone 4S activations spike, highlight Apple's halo effect
Apple sold more than 37 million iPhones in its December quarter and apparently a nice chunk of those went to the enterprise, according to Good Technology. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, gave his quarterly nod to the enterprise and highlighted enterprise accounts and Fortune 500 adoption stats of iPhones and iPads. In a nutshell, Apple is seeing a halo effect in its corporate, consumer and education account...(Read more)
RELATED POSTS:
Optometric Billing-More Mobile Platform Information
of choice to fuel your optometric practice!
"via ZDNet for iOS
Enterprise iPhone 4S activations spike, highlight Apple's halo effect
Apple sold more than 37 million iPhones in its December quarter and apparently a nice chunk of those went to the enterprise, according to Good Technology. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, gave his quarterly nod to the enterprise and highlighted enterprise accounts and Fortune 500 adoption stats of iPhones and iPads. In a nutshell, Apple is seeing a halo effect in its corporate, consumer and education account...(Read more)
RELATED POSTS:
Optometric Billing-More Mobile Platform Information
Another Optometric Billing NO-NO!
"A New Whiteland optometrist could retire any time he wanted, but he keeps going because he likes the work and the patients, some of whom he has treated for decades.
Joseph Claudy began his practice after graduating from Indiana University School of Optometry in 1968.
He began his career working from the New Whiteland home he still shares with his wife, Mary Jo, before moving to the current office a short distance away on U.S. 31.
Claudy, 75, works nearly full time. Patty Towles has worked for him for 23 years, scheduling appointments, billing patients and helping repair glasses. (entire article)"
I want to congratulate Dr. Claudy for finding and doing something he loves, it is a rare thing to be able to do that these days, it seems. However, I want to rebuke him for what he has put poor Patty Towles through for 23 years. Dr. Claudy has given a perfect example of the BIGGEST mistake I find being made in optometrist's office day and day out; USING ONE STAFF MEMBER TO DO TOO MANY THINGS.
When we go to Walmart and ONE cashier is ringing out customers don't we get agitated when no one is sent in to open another line and help relieve the traffic at the check out? WE ALL GET AGITATED AT THIS, so doesn't it stand to reason that when we run our practices shouldn't we provide the best customer service possible by not assigning one staff member too much work?
I understand that alot of times this decision is driven by economics. However, it is a proven fact that medical practices whose billing departments are made up of regular office staff routinely post lower collection amounts from insurance than their out sourced counterparts. So, with this in mind, doesn't it make more financial sense as a BUSINESS OWNER (notice the emphasis on business ower) to pay a few extra dollars in the short term to hire someone that specializes in insurance and patient billing than to loose more money in the long run relying on "Patty Towles" to do it all by herself for 23 years?
Claudy, 75, works nearly full time. Patty Towles has worked for him for 23 years, scheduling appointments, billing patients and helping repair glasses. (entire article)"
I want to congratulate Dr. Claudy for finding and doing something he loves, it is a rare thing to be able to do that these days, it seems. However, I want to rebuke him for what he has put poor Patty Towles through for 23 years. Dr. Claudy has given a perfect example of the BIGGEST mistake I find being made in optometrist's office day and day out; USING ONE STAFF MEMBER TO DO TOO MANY THINGS.
When we go to Walmart and ONE cashier is ringing out customers don't we get agitated when no one is sent in to open another line and help relieve the traffic at the check out? WE ALL GET AGITATED AT THIS, so doesn't it stand to reason that when we run our practices shouldn't we provide the best customer service possible by not assigning one staff member too much work?
I understand that alot of times this decision is driven by economics. However, it is a proven fact that medical practices whose billing departments are made up of regular office staff routinely post lower collection amounts from insurance than their out sourced counterparts. So, with this in mind, doesn't it make more financial sense as a BUSINESS OWNER (notice the emphasis on business ower) to pay a few extra dollars in the short term to hire someone that specializes in insurance and patient billing than to loose more money in the long run relying on "Patty Towles" to do it all by herself for 23 years?
RELATED POSTS:
Optometric Billing-The REAL Way To Simplify Insurance Billing
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Optometric Billing-Scientific Fact Of The Day-01/24/2012
A recent study of business school graduates found that people who are 20% or more overweight make approximately $4,000.00 less per year than thinner graduates!
Also...
On Average, women cry 5.3 times per month while thier male counterparts cry only about 1.4 times per month!
Also...
On Average, women cry 5.3 times per month while thier male counterparts cry only about 1.4 times per month!
Optometric Billing-Insurance Fraud
One of our biggest request from potential clients is for us to do things that we believe might be construed as "inusrance fraud". It is our goal as optometric medical billers to provide the best possible service and help optometrists recoup money from insurance as best as possible, but not un-ethically. Take a look at what happened to this Caldwell, ID optometrist:
"A federal grand jury has charged a Caldwell optometrist with swindling more than $1 million from health care benefit programs.
Christopher Card, 59, of Caldwell, allegedly lied and submitted false material to several programs, especially to Medicaid and Medicare. He dishonestly billed the programs, the indictment says, for false diagnoses, including glaucoma, color blindness, tension headaches and treatment of eye injuries.
This went on from as early as Sept. 1993 to Aug. 2010, the indictment claims.
The indictment further alleges that — although Card treated only 3.9 percent of Idaho’s Medicaid clients from Jan. 1, 2004 to May 8, 2009 — he reported diagnosing 99 percent of all acquired color deficiency cases among Idaho Medicaid patients. He also diagnosed 92 percent of all glaucomatous atrophy (optic cupping) cases and 86 percent of all chronic angle closure glaucoma cases.
It is also alleged that, in 2008, Card learned about the federal investigation, abruptly stopped submitting claims for glaucoma-related services and began billing for a variety of new diagnoses."
(You can read the article in its entirety by clicking here)
Apparently this Optometrist can see up to 10 years in prision, a fine of $250,000 and an additional 3 years of supervision after his release! It just doesn't pay to bill insurance incorrectly, NO MATTER HOW CROOKED YOU MAY THINK THE INSURANCE PLAN MAY BE!
By hiring a good and knowledgeable optometric billing expert, however, you don't have to worry about finding creative methods to bill insurance. For example, the industry average for collection from insurance is 70% while the average for collection using in-house staff is closer to 60%. opticXpress averages 75% collection rates from insurance. Did you realize that even this doctor and all his fraudulent billing yielded him only about 60-65% collection rates based on those statistics and HE USED FRAUD TO ACCOMPLISH THIS?!
"A federal grand jury has charged a Caldwell optometrist with swindling more than $1 million from health care benefit programs.
Christopher Card, 59, of Caldwell, allegedly lied and submitted false material to several programs, especially to Medicaid and Medicare. He dishonestly billed the programs, the indictment says, for false diagnoses, including glaucoma, color blindness, tension headaches and treatment of eye injuries.
This went on from as early as Sept. 1993 to Aug. 2010, the indictment claims.
The indictment further alleges that — although Card treated only 3.9 percent of Idaho’s Medicaid clients from Jan. 1, 2004 to May 8, 2009 — he reported diagnosing 99 percent of all acquired color deficiency cases among Idaho Medicaid patients. He also diagnosed 92 percent of all glaucomatous atrophy (optic cupping) cases and 86 percent of all chronic angle closure glaucoma cases.
It is also alleged that, in 2008, Card learned about the federal investigation, abruptly stopped submitting claims for glaucoma-related services and began billing for a variety of new diagnoses."
(You can read the article in its entirety by clicking here)
Apparently this Optometrist can see up to 10 years in prision, a fine of $250,000 and an additional 3 years of supervision after his release! It just doesn't pay to bill insurance incorrectly, NO MATTER HOW CROOKED YOU MAY THINK THE INSURANCE PLAN MAY BE!
By hiring a good and knowledgeable optometric billing expert, however, you don't have to worry about finding creative methods to bill insurance. For example, the industry average for collection from insurance is 70% while the average for collection using in-house staff is closer to 60%. opticXpress averages 75% collection rates from insurance. Did you realize that even this doctor and all his fraudulent billing yielded him only about 60-65% collection rates based on those statistics and HE USED FRAUD TO ACCOMPLISH THIS?!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Optometric Billing-Tips For Great Marketing
We here at opticXpress are primarily engaged in medical billing for optometry, otherwise known as "optometric billing". However, we know a thing or two about eye care practices and we are always trying to stay on top of the latest technological trends and advances as it pertains to the optometric practice (see our articles on mobile computing).
Below is an copy of an article written by Peter Ghali, iContact Senior Manager, Product Management, that was reposted and sent to us by our good friends at Mirro, Inc. Mirro, Inc, for those of you who don't know, is a firm that specializes in helping optometric practices better market themselves. Mirro uses advanced education techniques and of course, EMAIL Marketing, designed to get the most out of a practice and it's staff. Please give them a call by clicking here for more help marketing your practice.
Now, without further Ado I present to you the article by Peter Ghali.
TOP FIVE 2012 EMAIL MARKETING TRENDS
For many businesses, 2011 proved to be a challenging year. They had to do more with less while customers became even more demanding. With new online channels emerging and the challenges they bring, marketers will have to improve their email marketing in order to stay relevant and remain effective. Below are five email marketing trends that can help you accomplish your 2012 marketing goals.
Social media and email marketing go hand in hand these days. It is now commonplace for marketers to add social sharing buttons to their emails and to use email marketing to grow their own social network following. The advantage of combining your email and social media marketing is that it gives your subscribers an opportunity to hear from you the way they want to hear from you. Everyone benefits, and this trend will continue into 2012.
Email marketers are realizing that more and more emails are read on smartphones. Over time, this trend has been increasing. In 2012, email marketers will look for guidance and best practices to help them ensure that smartphone users still receive appealing content that engages them while they’re on the go.
While email marketers will still focus on list growth (as they should), 2012 will see email engagement become even more critical. Consumers are faced with overcrowded in-boxes, so you’ll need to establish a connection with your subscribers so your message can stand out. Additionally, many email programs (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are adding tools to help their users filter out messages that aren’t important (e.g., Gmail’s Priority Inbox), so it will be imperative for email marketers to increase their focus on engaging users via opens/clicks.
Email marketing is all about delivering value to your subscribers. In 2012, email marketers will need to evaluate their content strategies as they try to increase email engagement. Email marketers also have to consider how their email content can be leveraged for other marketing channels (e.g., social, web). It’s very easy to get overwhelmed with the need to create content to keep your marketing fresh and relevant. In 2012, email marketers will look for better ways to create, curate, and re-purpose content to resonate across channels and drive higher engagement.
2012 will continue to see email marketing garner quite a bit of attention from marketers. As you grow your email marketing, keeping these trends in mind will only help. What other email marketing trends will make a difference in 2012? Feel free to share!
Below is an copy of an article written by Peter Ghali, iContact Senior Manager, Product Management, that was reposted and sent to us by our good friends at Mirro, Inc. Mirro, Inc, for those of you who don't know, is a firm that specializes in helping optometric practices better market themselves. Mirro uses advanced education techniques and of course, EMAIL Marketing, designed to get the most out of a practice and it's staff. Please give them a call by clicking here for more help marketing your practice.
Now, without further Ado I present to you the article by Peter Ghali.
TOP FIVE 2012 EMAIL MARKETING TRENDS
-By Peter Ghali
Social media and email marketing go hand in hand these days. It is now commonplace for marketers to add social sharing buttons to their emails and to use email marketing to grow their own social network following. The advantage of combining your email and social media marketing is that it gives your subscribers an opportunity to hear from you the way they want to hear from you. Everyone benefits, and this trend will continue into 2012.
Email marketers are realizing that more and more emails are read on smartphones. Over time, this trend has been increasing. In 2012, email marketers will look for guidance and best practices to help them ensure that smartphone users still receive appealing content that engages them while they’re on the go.
While email marketers will still focus on list growth (as they should), 2012 will see email engagement become even more critical. Consumers are faced with overcrowded in-boxes, so you’ll need to establish a connection with your subscribers so your message can stand out. Additionally, many email programs (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are adding tools to help their users filter out messages that aren’t important (e.g., Gmail’s Priority Inbox), so it will be imperative for email marketers to increase their focus on engaging users via opens/clicks.
Email marketing is all about delivering value to your subscribers. In 2012, email marketers will need to evaluate their content strategies as they try to increase email engagement. Email marketers also have to consider how their email content can be leveraged for other marketing channels (e.g., social, web). It’s very easy to get overwhelmed with the need to create content to keep your marketing fresh and relevant. In 2012, email marketers will look for better ways to create, curate, and re-purpose content to resonate across channels and drive higher engagement.
2012 will continue to see email marketing garner quite a bit of attention from marketers. As you grow your email marketing, keeping these trends in mind will only help. What other email marketing trends will make a difference in 2012? Feel free to share!
Optometric Billing-Credentialing For Insurance
One of the biggest reasons an optometrist's claims are rejected is because they put the wrong provider information on the claim. This can be avoided, however, by properly credentialing your company. I typically suggest organizing as a group and credentialing with all insurance companies as that group. This helps you to stay organized and makes it more or less a no-brainer when you, your staff or your outsourced biller (think opticXpress) has to file a claim for your patients.
In offices where your numbers might be too low to file as group or you just don't want too you are going to have a harder time. Generally, when you are not a group, credentialing tends to be all over the place. Forms may be filled out with the primary practitioner as the credentialed party. You may have another provider working for you that came from another practice credentialed for a particular insurance, or the forms are filled out with some having your credentials and others not, leading to huge nightmares for those who have to file your claims.
Bottom line: take the time to organize yourself as a group and credential as many of your insurances under that group as possible. Many of your current insurance companies will allow to simply update your status with a copy of a w9, Medicare will be a pain but that's nothing new. If you can't credential with an insurance company as a group then establish a set name, as in spelling, and address that you will use as your backup credentialing for those insurance companies and share the information with your staff and biller(s). Following this advice will make you more money and save a lot of time in the long-run, plus your biller (opticXpress) will thank you!
Related Articles:
In offices where your numbers might be too low to file as group or you just don't want too you are going to have a harder time. Generally, when you are not a group, credentialing tends to be all over the place. Forms may be filled out with the primary practitioner as the credentialed party. You may have another provider working for you that came from another practice credentialed for a particular insurance, or the forms are filled out with some having your credentials and others not, leading to huge nightmares for those who have to file your claims.
Bottom line: take the time to organize yourself as a group and credential as many of your insurances under that group as possible. Many of your current insurance companies will allow to simply update your status with a copy of a w9, Medicare will be a pain but that's nothing new. If you can't credential with an insurance company as a group then establish a set name, as in spelling, and address that you will use as your backup credentialing for those insurance companies and share the information with your staff and biller(s). Following this advice will make you more money and save a lot of time in the long-run, plus your biller (opticXpress) will thank you!
Related Articles:
Optometric Billing-Why Don't Patients Pay Their Damn Invoices?!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Optometric Billing-Why Don't Patients Pay Their Damn Invoices?!
One of the most disconcerting things that I encounter as an optometric billing professional on a daily basis is patients that don't pay their invoices. I assume that it is more frustrating for the doctors whose offices do not rely on someone like me to take care of these mundane tasks.
I get calls from patients all day long, every day. The majority of these patients never even pick up the phone to question their bill until they receive one of our "pastel colored" second or third notices. This suddenly wakes them up and says "oh, a bill. Maybe I should call". Now, here in my office we are equipped to deal with this day in and day out. Receiving one of these harrowing phone calls from an irate patient does not interfere with the daily flow of business at the practices we serve. However, can you imagine what it must be like for some of these secretaries who are charged with the responsibilities of not only making sure the office runs smoothly but then have to process insurance, bill patients, speak to these same patients that call me to complain about that bill, call insurance companies, verify benefits etc?!?!?! These poor men and women have to want to shoot themselves at least once per day, every day. I know I do.
This brings me to the conundrum that we all face in this industry, "why don't patients pay their damn invoices"? The majority of invoices that go out are for deductibles, co-insurances, and charges in excess of their maximum yearly benefit. These patients receive a letter from the insurance company explaining these charges called and "E.O.B or Explanation of Benefits". So why does it surprise these people when a bill for those same charges comes in the mail to their home?
The problem begins the moment a patient walks through that office door. In almost every instance I deal with, a patient tells me that "the young lady at the front desk told me insurance would cover it". BIG MISTAKE.
- IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU CALL AND SPEAK TO AN INSURANCE COMPANY, IT IS NOT THE DR'S STAFF, NOT ONE OF THEM, THAT HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF TELLING A PATIENT WHAT IS AND WHAT IS NOT COVERED! LEAVE THAT TO THE INSURANCE COMPANY TO TELL THE PATIENT AFTER THE CLAIM IS ADJUDICATED!
- DRAFT AN ABN AND GIVE IT TO THE PATIENT, EVERY PATIENT, EVEN RETURNING PATIENTS, THE MOMENT THEY LEAVE THE EXAM ROOM. WHEN YOU SEE THE DOCTOR'S FINDING AFTER THE EXAMINATION, YOU WILL THEN BE ABLE TO GIVE THE PATIENT A CLEARER PICTURE OF WHAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE COVERED BY INSURANCE.
Another reason patients don't pay their invoices: THEY NEVER PLANNED ON RETURNING TO YOUR PRACTICE ANYWAY! Yes, believe it or not, especially in the eye field, if you practice out of a large box store like Walmart or Sam's Club a good chunk of your patients do not view you as their every day eye doctor. They are lured into the store by the promise of a cheap eye exam hoping never to return. Even worse, the staff that helps them is not your staff and so wrong information is being slung all over the place at every turn and there IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!
- YOU WANNA GET PAID? TAKE IT UPON YOURSELF AS A DOCTOR TO INFORM THE PATIENT THAT YOU MAY FIND THINGS DURING THE COURSE OF THE EXAMINATION THAT MAY RENDER THEM A BILL AFTER THE INSURANCES PROCESSES THE EXAM. GIVE THE PATIENT AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION!
This brings me to what I believe is the crux of the whole situation; PATIENT'S ARE NOT ABLE TO MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS!
- When you are performing an eye exam, GET TO KNOW YOUR PATIENT! TALK TO HIM OR HER. LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. YOU DON'T THINK THIS WILL HELP? TRY IT FOR A MONTH AND TELL ME IF YOUR PATIENT'S DON'T TRUST AND RESPECT YOU MORE. I SURE AS HELL KNOW I WOULD IF MY DOCTOR WOULD TALK TO ME THE WAY I AM COUNSELING YOU TO SPEAK TO YOUR PATIENTS!
When you communicate EVERYTHING to your patients you will be viewed as more reputable and more professional. You become more than just that "walmart" or "len's crafters" guy. You will be that patient's EYE DOCTOR. You will be the person that the patient comes to rely on for his or her eye health and you will be able to provide that patient with valuable health tips that could even save their life one day. It won't matter where your practice is located and subsequently that patient will be more than happy to pay any balance they owe.
On the flip side of all this some patients think insurance is the cover-all and will take care of anything. They throw all insurance correspondence in the trash thinking it is just informative and never even bother to look at that bill we send them. These patients almost never pay our damn invoices; of course, they don't pay anyone else either :)
opticXpress IS A MEDICAL BILLING COMPANY DEDICATED SOLELY TO OPTOMETRY. CALL US TODAY!
RELATED POSTS:
Optometric Billing-More Mobile Platform Information
The news keeps rolling in about iOS vs. Android for mobile computing dominance and it just doesn't continue to get any better for Android. Take a look at the article below and as yourself when you're done reading it " would I really want to run my optometric practice using this software"?
As I've said before, I am pro iOS in terms of a mobile computing platform. We use it here at our office extensively and are even testing ways to allow doctors to perfrom eye exams and send us optometric billing information using it. Until Windows 8 comes out or Android somehow floors me, we're going to continue operating like this and articles like the one below are a primary reason why.
Happy reading! Remember, contact opticXpress for all your optometric billing needs. We are standing by!
As I've said before, I am pro iOS in terms of a mobile computing platform. We use it here at our office extensively and are even testing ways to allow doctors to perfrom eye exams and send us optometric billing information using it. Until Windows 8 comes out or Android somehow floors me, we're going to continue operating like this and articles like the one below are a primary reason why.
Happy reading! Remember, contact opticXpress for all your optometric billing needs. We are standing by!
On Tablets, Android 4.0 is an Ice Cream Headache
For the last two weeks, I’ve exclusively been using Google’s Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” for all of my tablet computing needs.
As I explained in my last piece on January 4, I had already installed and tested various pre-release community versions for my Motorola XOOM. The XOOM, unlike other 10.1″ Honeycomb tablets is a Google Experience device, is popular with Android tablet developers because it is a stable piece of hardware, and thus has been one of the very first tablet devices to receive the latest Android software.
The version I eventually settled on and used for most of the last two weeks was one put together by the talented folks at Team EOS, formerly known as “Tiamat” which has produced various customized “rooted” ROMs and overclocked kernels for the XOOM in the past, as well as early support for the tablet’s MicroSD card even before Motorola itself provided it in an update months later.
It has only been in the last two days that I have been able to obtain and install the semi-official Motorola XOOM Android 4.0.3 ROM, build IML77. I say semi-official because it is considered to be a “soak build” that the company is currently seeding to a pilot group of testers.
However, it is almost certainly going to be very close to the finalized software that most XOOM owners will receive as an Over the Air (OTA) update very shortly.
That being said, my experience with the Team EOS and Motorola IML77 builds have been extremely similar. I have used the same group of applications with both, and have experienced similar behavior and issues with the OS, so the likelyhood of there being ROM-specific issues affecting my general observations is quite small.
Before I get accused of being an Android hater, let me make one thing perfectly clear, and that is I like Android a lot. I use an Android phone (a Verizon Galaxy Nexus) and I’ve been an Android user for the past two years. I’m also quite educated in the systems architecture of the OS itself.
So whatever comments that follow in this piece, please keep that in mind before pulling out the flame thrower.
I’ve been bringing the XOOM with Ice Cream Sandwich on the road with me for two weeks, back and forth to Chicago. I’ve used it extensively while tethering via Wi-Fi to 4G and also connected to fast broadband in my hotels and in my home, so I have a good sampling as to how it performs. Overall, I’m not happy with it.
Now, there are certain aspects of Ice Cream Sandwich which certainly feel more responsive than its predecessor, Honeycomb 3.2. I’ve said so previously. Generally speaking, the UI is snappier.
However, it doesn’t have the benefit of a year’s worth of bugfixes and thus there are times when the software is actually less stable than Honeycomb. A lot of apps have unusually long startup times and render slowly or freeze up on the screen, even if you force the GPU to render 2D operations in the “Developer Options” menu.
And then there’s the dreaded “This App is not responding” dialog which gives you the option to wait or force close the app. But sometimes you’re not so lucky and you need to shut down the OS and re-start to get a stable environment again.
I have a whole bunch of personal issues with the way the UI is designed and is implemented on Android tablets that I’ve documented previously which could very will hurt the platform’s market acceptance, but those could be boiled down to overall aesthetic issues, not actual functional problems. This is not to say that aesthetic issues and UI design isn’t important, but app compatibility and performance issues rank much higher on my list of peeves.
And yes, I still hate the way Android’s multitasking is implemented.
- Also Read: Dear Google, Android’s Multitasking Sucks
Having researched the multitasking changes in Ice Cream Sandwich a bit further, I now realize that the “Recent tasks” button is in fact a task switcher that can in fact stop tasks, but it’s not a particularly useful one because even though it is supposed to “nice kill” the processes when you stop them, it doesn’t stop services from re-spawning and it won’t necessarily kill badly-behaving applications, like say, Facebook, which has to be one of the most awfully written pieces of garbage since iTunes.
So you have to end up using the real task killer in the Settings menu anyway.
It also doesn’t distinguish between tasks you “recently started” and tasks that are actually still running either. And it won’t stop services and apps from re-spawning themselves when you don’t want them to, and there’s no way to control apps which re-spawn services on a global operating system level and on a granular basis, just like iOS has with push notifications which you can turn on and off on an app by app basis.
That sort of thing is left up to the Android app developer, which may or may not put in a setting to turn off things such as polling of the network, et cetera.
I’m also aware of the “unused memory is wasted memory” argument and that Android releases resources on its own and also caches processes and apps so they start up faster.
Well guess what. If the memory isn’t there when a demanding application needs it, and the task killer, automatic or not is unable to stop an errant process, you’re screwed. Sorry folks, but if kill an app using a task manager or switcher, I really want to know that it is actually gone. And I suspect so do a majority of end-users that don’t work with things like Linux every day.
Enough with the multitasking arguments that I’m never going to win with the fandroids. Let’s get back to apps.
The apps that seem to run slowly, have long startup times and freeze up in Ice Cream Sandwich are graphics intensive programs that are are built in Dalvik, aka Java bytecode. The worst offenders I have seen have been Netflix’s main movie browsing UI, the Pulse newsreader, Weatherbug HD and yes, Facebook.
It’s difficult to tell exactly if there is a pattern to which sort of apps are the most problematic because unlike Apple, which periodically makes their developers re-certify on new OS releases or face exclusion from their App Store, Google doesn’t blacklist apps on the Android Market that were built to older Android APIs which might not run correctly.
And the Android Market doesn’t classify apps by what level of APIs they use, so you can’t selectively choose the newest or most updated stuff. Or even filter out older apps accordingly.
But I suspect that anything that was not built to take advantage of Honeycomb’s APIs to specifically run as a tablet app is going to have issues.
Google has improved screen rendering issues by allowing apps that were designed for smartphones (such as FaceBook) to either stretch to fill the screen or rasterize in their native resolution, a la iPhone apps on the iPad. But it’s not a totally foolproof process as on Apple’s iOS.
For the most part when I found an app that was designed to take advantage of Honeycomb (3.0, 3.1, 3.2) and was pure Dalvik, such as IMDB or Flixter, it ran well, although still not as responsive as their iOS counterparts. But the vast majority of the apps which exist on the Android Market or Amazon’s own Appstore are written against APIs for 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3.
Google’s own ICS 4.0.3 apps such as GMail, YouTube, G+, Google Books and the Browser all run well, but that’s to be expected, since the company knows its OS and APIs better than anyone else and can optimize accordingly.
3rd-party Applications built in the Native Development Kit (NDK) which are written in native C++ fare far better. But the majority of these apps are games, and the basic architecture of the NDK hasn’t changed substantially since Honeycomb, so you expect stuff that runs effectively on the metal to still run pretty well.
Aye, and there’s the rub. NDK apps which run in C++ run great. Optimized Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich Dalvik (Java) apps run better than they did previously, but not as fast as native C++.
Of course, I’ve been running all my Ice Cream Sandwich tablet tests on a XOOM, which is an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core design. Already, the Tegra 3 quad-core tablets with faster GPUs such as the Asus Transformer Prime are starting to ship, but there are a few Tegra 2’s that just started shipping as well.
So does that mean in order to get optimal Android 4.0 performance, one should get a newer quad-core tablet and lower their expectations on existing models receiving the update?
That’s a bit of a nasty flavor of ice cream to swallow, considering that Apple has managed to exact extremely fluid performance out of even the first-generation iPad on iOS 5, using all native C++ and Objective-C based applications, which has a measly single core processor and 256MB of RAM, nevermind the iPad 2 with dual-core A5, which only has half the RAM of last year’s Honeycomb tablets but compensates with a more powerful GPU and more efficient apps.
I think we have to manage our expectations about Android overall. Because it uses Dalvik as its primary application engine, we have to realize that it is less efficient than an OS that runs only native C++ or Objective-C applications. So that means it needs to use more RAM, and also more CPU horsepower to give you an equivalent experience with ambitious tablet apps.
And that also means that the trend for the Bill of Materials (BOM) on full-size Android tablets in order to keep pace with the iPad is going to tend to be higher than Apple’s no matter what, even if they keep pushing up the specs to keep pace on only a pure performance level.
Nevermind stuffing these tablets full of worthless stuff like high-res cameras and HDMI ports and expansion memory slots that nobody really uses just for the sake of competitive feature creep.
And I don’t even want to get into Apple’s supply chain advantages which Google’s OEM partners are going to have a very difficult time catching up with.
So I’ve used Android 4.0 for two weeks on a tablet. Is it better than Honeycomb? Yes. But it’s not without its own share of problems. It’s going to take some time for apps to catch up to it, and you might want to consider using hardware that is actually up to the task of providing an optimal experience with the new OS.
Have you used Android 4.0 on a tablet yet? Talk Back and Let Me Know.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Optometric Billing-Martin Luther King JR Day
We here at opticXpress want to wish everyone a happy Martin Luther King JR day. He was a truly inspirational figure in American History and we honored to revere this holiday in his honor. May all of you have a wonderful day today and hopefully each and every one of you will be able to take a moment to reflect on just what this day means to all of you.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15. The floating holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, though the act predated the establishment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by 15 years.
King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after hisassassination in 1968. Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.
Related Posts:
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Optometric Billing-More Help Choosing A Mobile Platform
This comes again from the tech blogs at ZDnet. In a related post I put up earlier in the week I counciled practice owners to choose wisely when I comes to choosing which platform to deploy in their practice when employing tablets and smartphones for every day use. I have a personal bias toward iOS for multiple reasons, Chief among them is the fact that Apple products are currently more secure than their Android counterparts.
The article below not only proves that my theory is correct but it also highlights that IOS is beginning to be more widely adopted by some of the world's largest corporations, most notably large firms that specialize in health care and bio-technology. Not only does large scale adoption of a product this early in its life-cycle signify that it is a product that at least warrants serious though about, adoptions on the scale of the one below by a bio-tech firm prove that this is a platform who's security is the one most worth entrusting your valuable information too.
The article below not only proves that my theory is correct but it also highlights that IOS is beginning to be more widely adopted by some of the world's largest corporations, most notably large firms that specialize in health care and bio-technology. Not only does large scale adoption of a product this early in its life-cycle signify that it is a product that at least warrants serious though about, adoptions on the scale of the one below by a bio-tech firm prove that this is a platform who's security is the one most worth entrusting your valuable information too.
"EVEN THOUGH ANDROID SEEMS LIKE IT IS GOING TO BE MORE POPULAR IT IS INHERANTLY LESS SECURE AS A RESULT OF THE FACT IT IS AN OPEN PLATFORM. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO RISK YOUR LISCENSE, YOUR PRACTICE AND VITAL PATIENT INFORMATION BECAUSE AN ANDROID DEVICE WAS CHEEPER OR MORE READILY AVAILABLE?! REMEMBER, HIPPA!"
Remember, opticXpress is your choice for the industry's most advanced and technologically aware optometric billing.
Why this Well-Known Biotech Firm Deploys 17,000 iPads and iPhones
There were some impressive enterprise deployments discussed at theAppNation conference in San Francisco on Thursday.
I’ll lead off with Genentech, the Bay Area biotech firm that is now a subsidiary of Roche. Their 7,000 iPad rollout was news to me, and ranks them sixth on my list of largest iPad deployments in the world.
(View the entire list of more than 530 enterprises that have publicly-confirmed iPad deployments here).
According to mobile application team manager, Paul Lanzi, Genentech has standardized on Apple for mobile, with 17,000 iOS device users worldwide (so by inference, 10,000 iPhones, though it surprises me less and less when I hear about companies deploying iPod Touches, too).
All of the Apple devices are corporate-owned, as the company doesn’t do Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).
Genentech does have 15,000 BlackBerry users, but they are only allowed to do e-mail, no apps. It doesn’t support Android due to the fragmentation-related hassle. “It’s a really tricky one,” Lanzi said.
While many firms talk about how their device deployments are driven by the ROI they hope to get from using apps, Genentech is actually following through. The company has deployed 60-some apps to employees. Indeed, Genentech rolled out its first mobile Web page even before the iPhone was released, said Lanzi. “We’ve already retired some apps,” he said.
The app that Lanzi was most proud of was Genentech’s app for its popular corporate intranet, which recently won an award for its usability. According to Lanzi, it’s not uncommon for several hundred employees to comment on a posted article, or for an article or posting to get 1,000 or more votes of ‘like’ or ‘dislike’. Extending the intranet to iPhone and iPad has significantly contributed to the activity.
Lanzi hopes to extend the app so that employees can write status updates and check-in to various locations on the Genentech campus like the cafeteria, auditorium, or particular branch office - just like people check into their favorite bar or restaurant on Foursquare today.
To date, most Genentech apps are custom-built. Security is eased by the fact that they all data is transmitted via a common Web Services Bus, Lanzi said. Genentech is belatedly starting to offer VPN access now.
Lanzi does expect Genentech to buy more off-the-shelf apps now that the selection is growing. These will be nominated by Genentech employees, not IT, he said. That’s a tangible sign that employees are gaining power on IT decisions impacting them.
Can apps be ’spammy’?
Another interesting enterprise user was medical journal publisher, Elsevier, which was candid about the problems its had pursuing its aggressive app marketing strategy.
The Dutch company has created 150 iOS apps mirroring the content from well-known journals like the Lancet, according to senior vice-president Scott Virkler.
(To learn about how healthcare’s embrace of mobility has also turned dangerous, read here.)
That has caused problems with Apple, which apparently considers Elsevier’s approach to be “spammy,” hypothesizes Virkler, as it rejected three Elsevier’s apps from the App Store last week.
Virkler blames Apple’s bias towards thinking of apps in terms of distinct features, rather than distinct content. Aggregating multiple journals into a single app, as Apple wants Elsevier to do, said Virkler, doesn’t make sense since the audiences for something like the Journal of Cardiology and The Sleep Medicine Review differ greatly.
Virkler does admit that Elsevier’s apps, as they are today, don’t add much value over the journal articles other than bringing them to devices. There are plans to change that, by adding relevant content such as medical databases related to that field or specialty. And possibly prodded by Apple, but Elsevier is also thinking of creating new apps centered around specific topics that would aggregate content from different journals.
SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann gave the keynote speech at AppNation, talking about how SAP has deployed 40-some apps internally to 14,000 iPad users, which ranks it the second-largest user of iPads today. That figure could go grow to 20,000 iPads by year’s end.
If you want to read more about SAP’s aggressive mobile plans for 2012, including around Android, BYOD and apps, read more here. Or if you want to learn more about how SAP is building its own secure, enterprise-friendly alternative to DropBox, read here. Or if you are an enterprise developer wanting to hear more about SAP’s Enterprise App Store and the growing partner ecosystem around it, read this.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Optometric Billing-Which Platform To Choose If you're Going Mobile
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)