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!

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!