Just makes me wonder how we would start billing for this!!!!
"Digitally Active Contact Lenses – Are We Near It's hard to trace the active contact lens' birth date, but the year might be 1973. , researchers at the National Environmental Research Center created a contact lens with a thermocouple built in. The sensor-cum-contact was arguably the first digitally active design to be realized. As the electronics revolution commenced in the 1970s and 1980s, though, little work was done to expand on this precocious design. Interest revived in the late 1990s, but it was not until 2001 that the device began to step from concept into commercial reality. Researchers used micro-electro-mechanic sensors (MEMS) to create a contact lens that monitored ocular pressure -- an important indicator of Glaucoma. The research was presented at the New Directions in Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics conference in Les Diablerets, Switzerland. In 2009, a company Sensimed AG launched the world's first commercial digitally active contact lens. The design, dubbed "Triggerfish", used an embedded a MEMS strain gauge sensor and microprocessor inside a soft silicone contact lens. The circuit elements were exocentric, out of the line of sight. The device received power from and ferried signals via a circular antenna around the eye socket. In the last decade several devising and even more ambitious designs were introduced in this hot field. Among the most noteworthy is Professor Babak Parviz of Seattle's Washington University, who added pixel displays to the mix. Perhaps inspired by Triggerfish - medical sensors, such as a glucose sensor (monitoring tear glucose, an indicator of blood sugar in diabetics), are also inculcated into the design. But creating a contact lens display has been a major obstacle for focusing the image. In short, we need miniature lenses to focus the image on the eye. Ultimately the digitally active contact lens of the future aims to be a high resolution display, which can assert an augmented reality, including text and images over human vision. Such a design would work for business (work displayed right in your eyes), communications (text messages, emails), and pleasure (imagine watching movies or "tripping" without drugs via in-eye vision). The lens will also likely optionally incorporate glucose, occular pressure, and possibly other sensors to monitor eye health and overall body health. , it may be a few decades before the perfected contact lens product is released commercially, but in just 10 years we may have crude commercial contact lens text displays, if you're willing to wearing a bulky wireless power device around your eye socket." (full article here)
Talk Back! Let us Know What You Think!
opticXpress is an optometric billing company that provides a clearinghouse, billing service and software strictly for optometrists.
Friday, February 24, 2012
OpticXpress Handles Optometrists’ Billing
From Elaine Rose at "Press Of Atlantic City"
Full Article Here
Full Article Here
OpticXpress provides medical billing services and office software for optometrists. We give them the software to help comply with records requirements and to connect with patients as part of doing the billing.
We have multiple clients nationwide that use our service and our software.
I work with companies in Vineland for developing software, creativity and for printing forms. I try to work with local companies when practical.
Optometry is an underserved specialty in the medical billing world. There are a lot of nuances in the codes that most generic medical billers are not familiar with.
Entry: Until the early 1990s, optometrists weren't considered to be providing medical services, and dealt with vision insurance. But then the government opened the opportunity for them to provide medical services, which are covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
We were able to capitalize on the change, and could educate doctors. We post a lot of information we get from our community and various articles[ to our blog ] as a resource to help in their practice.
We specialize in post-operative cataract billing. It's an issue that's very hot among optometrists. A lot of them have patients who go to ophthalmologists for the surgery, and then come to optometrists for after care. We can virtually guarantee that an optometrist will get paid for those services.
The average optometrist's practice is small, about $500,000 to [$1.5] million a year in revenue. The biggest challenge is to educate practitioners that it's better to outsource their billing, so they don't have to do it anymore. They often can't afford to hire a billing department, so they rely on untrained staff to bill patients and deal with insurance companies.
The future: We want to become synonymous with optometric medical billing nationwide. We want optometrists seeking to take their practice to the next level to think of OpticXpress.
Staff writer Elaine Rose
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Optometric Billing-Californa Optometric Association Integrates VSP
Recently the California Optometric Association voted to support the inclusion of VSP in the California Health Insurance Exchange.
Read the Letter Below and tell us what you think by using the comment section to talk back! We want to know what you feel!
Read the Letter Below and tell us what you think by using the comment section to talk back! We want to know what you feel!
Optometric Billing- What opticXpress Believes
In this day and age it is hard to find a person, let alone a company, that acts in a moral and ethical manner. Yesterday, for example, it was released that Apple is ordering the investigation of it's manufacturing partners plants in China so as to eliminate harsh working conditions and become the first "fair trade" manufacturing company in the world. However, though this looks great on the outside, a deeper look at the company's profit margins will show that though this is a benevolent undertaking, the roots of this effort have their taps in the lore of marketing. Apple stands to make billions off this approach to becomming "fair trade" as it will undoubtedly give them just the marketing edge they need to justify their higher than average prices on their product. Can't you see the waves of "Apple Nerds" now, wearing their "Apple Fair Trade" t-shirts shouting at you from the top of their lungs while they stand in line waiting to fork over their hard earned cash for the iPad 4?!?!
This being said, I want to tell you exactly what we stand for here at opticXpress. opticXpress is a Christian company. We are a second generation Medical Billing Company owned solely by family members since 1991. Though we are not perfect in all that we undertake, we strive to be honest and loyal; not just to our customer but to The Lord from whom we believe our company has been made possible. We want every single one of our clients, readers and potential clients to know that 10% of our gross revenue is donated Monthly in the form of Tithe and offerings to the local Spanish Seventh Day Adventist Church in Vineland, NJ. With this money, the NJ Conference of Seventh Day Adventists helps fund schools and mission work throughout the state. Specifically, one of the newer and more successful of these schools is the Vineland Regional Adventist School for which we have been a supporter of since its inception just a few short years ago.
"We are God's stewards, entrusted by Him with time and opportunities, abilities and possessions, and the blessings of the earth and its resources. We are responsible to Him for their proper use. We acknowledge God's ownership by faithful service to Him and our fellow men, and by returning tithes and giving offerings for the proclamation of His gospel and the support and growth of His church. Stewardship is a privilege given to us by God for nurture in love and the victory over selfishness and covetousness. The steward rejoices in the blessings that come to others as a result of his faithfulness. (Gen. 1:26-28; 2:15; 1 Chron. 29:14; Haggai 1:3-11; Mal. 3:8-12; 1 Cor. 9:9-14; Matt. 23:23; 2 Cor. 8:1-15; Rom. 15:26, 27.)" (Entire Quote Here)
This being said, I want to tell you exactly what we stand for here at opticXpress. opticXpress is a Christian company. We are a second generation Medical Billing Company owned solely by family members since 1991. Though we are not perfect in all that we undertake, we strive to be honest and loyal; not just to our customer but to The Lord from whom we believe our company has been made possible. We want every single one of our clients, readers and potential clients to know that 10% of our gross revenue is donated Monthly in the form of Tithe and offerings to the local Spanish Seventh Day Adventist Church in Vineland, NJ. With this money, the NJ Conference of Seventh Day Adventists helps fund schools and mission work throughout the state. Specifically, one of the newer and more successful of these schools is the Vineland Regional Adventist School for which we have been a supporter of since its inception just a few short years ago.
"We are God's stewards, entrusted by Him with time and opportunities, abilities and possessions, and the blessings of the earth and its resources. We are responsible to Him for their proper use. We acknowledge God's ownership by faithful service to Him and our fellow men, and by returning tithes and giving offerings for the proclamation of His gospel and the support and growth of His church. Stewardship is a privilege given to us by God for nurture in love and the victory over selfishness and covetousness. The steward rejoices in the blessings that come to others as a result of his faithfulness. (Gen. 1:26-28; 2:15; 1 Chron. 29:14; Haggai 1:3-11; Mal. 3:8-12; 1 Cor. 9:9-14; Matt. 23:23; 2 Cor. 8:1-15; Rom. 15:26, 27.)" (Entire Quote Here)
Though we do not advocate forcing one's religion or beliefs upon another human being it is our goal to be a beacon of light to our customers. To minister to them by our actions so that they can see we truly are moral and ethical.
If you feel that you too would like to make a donation in the form of tithe, contact your local church and ask them how to go about doing it. If you would like to become a supporter of the Vineland Regional Adventist School, Please click here and contact Carlos Torres. Maybe your donation will help to train future optometrists!
Optometric Billing-The State Of Optometry
In her "State of Optometry" Address, President of the American Optometric Association, Dori Carlson, discusses, among other things, :
Take a look at the video below and use the comment section to talk back and tell us what you think. How will these advances affect you as a vision care provider?
- The Affordable Health Care Act (Obama Care)
- Children's Eye and Vision Benefits
- Mandatory Vision Care being included in the AHCA
- How organized healthcare resisted these efforts by the AOA and lost
- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- How the AOA has fought for increases in reimbursements from Medicare for Vision Care Providers while reimbursements for other specialties have been lowered.
Take a look at the video below and use the comment section to talk back and tell us what you think. How will these advances affect you as a vision care provider?
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Optometric Billing-Do Your Patients Suffer From Lens "Sticker Shock"?
Do your patients buy designer frames from you but cringe when they find out how much the lenses are? Check out what Micheal Block has to say about this.
Don't forget to talk back to us and tell us what it's like around your office!
Optometric Billing-What Tasks Should My Staff Do?
What should your staff be in charge of ?
In short, the answer to that question is everything but insurance billing, credentialing and A/R. Micheal Sutton of Bloomfield, NJ said it best when he said " Anything you spend money on to save time saves people, and people are the most important part of any practice."
Dr Sutton was smart when he said this. He realized that his budget was limited, his practice was small and he looked hard to find the people that he had working for him. Why would he want to risk loosing them by tasking them with work they had no business or time to be doing?
Apply this to your optometric practices when it comes to your insurance billing, patient invoicing and patient collections. Most optometry practices don't have the budgets it requires to hire a full time billing department so they hire an office manager thinking that person can not only run the office and deal with patients all day but also bill insurance, invoice patients and take the time out of thier busy days to work insurance denials and speak to patients who have questions about thier invoices or account status. STUPID THING FOR ANY PRACTICE OWNER TO DO! The funny thing is that these optometrists sit back and wonder why they are not getting paid the amount of money they feel they should be getting paid by insurance companies and why thier A/R is so high!
IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOUR OFFICE SECRETARY HAS EXPERIENCE IN BILLING INSURANCE! SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE TIME TO DO THE JOB PROPERLY, DON'T ASK HER TO DO IT!
IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOUR OFFICE MANAGER HAS A MEDICAL BILLING DEGREE! IF YOUR MANAGER HAS A BILLING DEGREE WHY ISN'T HE/SHE YOUR FULL TIME BILLER INSTEAD OF YOUR OFFICE MANAGER?
IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER IF YOU CAN AFFORD A FULL TIME BILLING DEPARTMENT! WHY PAY TWO OR THREE PEOPLE A FULL TIME SALARY PLUS BENEFITS THE MONEY THAT IT REQUIRES WHEN YOU COULD OUTSOURCE THIS WORK TO A COMPANY LIKE opticXpress FOR A FRACTION OF THE COST AND ENJOY A HIGHER RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT?
The bottom line is this: your staff in office should have one job and one job only, TAKE CARE OF PATIENTS. Leave insurance and patient invoicing to people that don't need to put patient care first, leave it to opticXpress!
Call opticXpress today and let your staff take care of your patients...we'll take care of insurance!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Optometric Billing-All About Vision Plans
I stumbled across this blog post by Al Clenimann. This is a wonderful write up on the evils of Vision Plans. I sincerely do not advocate an optometrist's use of vision plans. I believe that optometrists are legitimate doctors that need to provide legitimate medical care to their patients and vision plans are not the way to go about it.
Optometric Billing-Retain Customers and Broadcast Legitimacy
One of the most important aspects of owning an optometry practice is customer service. This is ever more important to those optometrists that rent space from a franchise store. The more customers you bring in, the more the franchise benefits. It also helps to cement your "legitimacy" as a primary vision care provider which can be hard to do under this business model because patients tend to view you as more of a provider of "screening" services, rather than medical care providers.
My esteemed colleague at Mirro, Inc. wrote a piece about motivating your employees in order to motivate your customers...which is the essence of customer service. Take a look at his article below.
Motivated Employees Create Motivated Customers!
"The best way to ensure everyone around you is motivated is to get rid of the people who aren't motivated." ~ Lou Holtz
This statement couldn't be truer! Have you ever walked into a restaurant or retail store and talked to an employee who wasn't excited to be at work? I have. It sucks. The only thing I can ever think about is why is that person here and how fast can I leave. If you have employees working for you that could qualify as "not motivated" I have to ask you one question: How many of your patients feel the same way I do in the example above when they encounter that employee? Probably most. Employees who are motivated to be at work create a positive environment, for other employees and most importantly, PATIENTS.
When patients are having a good time or enjoy their environment, they spend more money! If in 2012, one of your practice's goals is to increase your profits (which should be a goal every year), than you need to take a detailed audit of your staff and follow Lou Holtz's advice. You just might see immediate results!
Remember, in this economic environment, fire fast and hire slow!
(Mike Rolih is the President of MIRRO, Inc. a cutting edge consulting firm focused on providing eyecare professionals with training, marketing, and human resource solutions. For more information, you can visit MIRRO at www.mirroinc.com. )
Are there any techniques that you employ in your office that helps you provider top customer service? Talk back in the comment section below and let us know!
Remember, opticXpress is your one stop for all your medical billing needs. We provide full revenue cycle management and excellent customer service to your patients. Please, CALL US TODAY!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Optometric Billing-Funny Photo For The Day!
Here is a great photo to lighten the mood around your office!
Remember, optometric billing is serious work...we have to post this stuff to lighten the mood sometimes!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Optometric Billing-One More Way to Bill for Contact Lens Bandages
Here is one more possible way to bill for the contact lens bandage. This was found at the Review of Optometetry and written by Dr. Sorrenson. I would save this method only in the event that 92071 is not covered. Not because I don't think it is good but because it doesn't make great business sense from a Return on Investment (ROI) standpoint...it is just too time consuming. This is definitely a last case scenario in that respect.
"Billing problems can arise in both diagnosing and fitting keratoconus patients. Diagnosis is typically suspected during a routine exam, then confirmed with corneal topography. Medical carriers vary considerably in topography reimbursement. Unfortunately, many wont pay for the procedure, regardless of your appeals.
Once you confirm the diagnosis and counsel the patient, finalize your decision to fit the patient in contact lenses. This is the first step where many offices fail to bill properly. The code for bandage lens fitting and supply [92071] is a poor choice for keratoconus fits because the reimbursement$60 to $85 for the fit and lenses, per eye is a fraction of the proper amount for a case of such complexity.
A better approach: Bill the code for contact lens fitting (92310) and append modifier -22 to alert the carrier to the greater amount of time and complexity for this proceduretriple the usual rate is not uncommon. Expect to submit further documentation to the carrier to justify this higher fee. A letter of explanation including full color topographic maps often fulfills this requirement." Read the Entire Article Here
Do you have any experience trying to bill for Contact Lens Bandages? Have you tried either of the methods listed above? Use the comment section below to talk back and let us know!
Optometric Billing-Mobile Devices Changing Healthcare
"As healthcare costs continue to rise, tablet and smartphone apps are steadily entering the mainstream as appealing and less expensive alternatives to non-invasive procedures and tests. People can now test their vision, count calories, send microscopic images, and more, all using mobile devices."
Our Friends at Noble Vision believe it and so do we! Get on board in your office with mobile devices today! (read entire article here)Are you using mobile technology in your office? Why or Why Not? Tell us below!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Optometric Billing-Today's Hillarious Video
Today's Hillarious Video for all to enjoy! Please share this with everyone you know!
Remember, opticXpress doesn't take your optometric billing as a joke!
Optometric Billing-Dry Eye and the Schirmer Test
Laurie Barber, MD, University of Arkansas Ophthalmology Professor, Interviewed by Sharon Kleyne about the Schirmer Test for Dry Eye, Eye Drop Allergies, Eye Mist, and Water.
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