CHECKLIST: ASSESS THIRD-PARTY PLANS

STRATEGY SESSION:
     You need a plan ¹

FINANCE:
     Accept or drop? ²

WORKFLOW:
     Improve efficiency ³

THE SERVICE SIDE:
     Diferentiate your practice ⁴

MARKETING:
     Educate the consumer ⁵

1 YOU NEED A PLAN

Scroll through any optometric social media forum, and it won’t be long before you see remarks bemoaning third party vision plans. Regardless of such posts, vision plans are a reality for most practicing O.D.s, for better or worse. Some O.D.s choose to accept very few plans, if any, whereas other O.D.s look for ways to be profitable, accepting several plans. Whatever route you choose, you need a strategy to increase your chance of success. I understand the emotion behind wanting to free yourself from the chains of third party plans, but emotion alone doesn’t pay the bills. You need a strategy!

2 ACCEPT OR DROP?

From a strictly financial standpoint, sometimes an argument can be made for dropping some insurance plans, and other times an argument can be made for adding plans. Despite the low reimbursements, vision plans do provide access to patients. The top three ways O.D.s attract new patients are vision plans, marketing and word-of-mouth. If you eliminate vision plans, make sure these other two categories are strong enough to fill the void.

3 IMPROVE EFFICIENCY

In a world of low reimbursing third party plans, efficiency has become a critical factor to success. To survive, many ODs are forced to see more patients in less time. This trend will likely continue. The key is to do this without compromising clinical care or the patient experience. Look for ways to delegate, automate and streamline your processes.

4 DIFFERENTIATE YOUR PRACTICE

On the other hand, if you choose to accept fewer plans, you need to focus on delivering the level of service for which people are willing to pay out of pocket. You cannot do this alone – it’s a team effort! Invest adequate time in to training your staff on the soft skills. This requires not only a great deal of feedback on proper communication and social skills, but also a willingness of the employee to implement the feedback.

5 EDUCATE THE CONSUMER

Offering specialized private pay services, such as vision therapy or orthokeratology, is one way some practices have broken free from a dependence on vision plans. If this is part of your brand, build this into your marketing mix. The onus is not on the patient to understand why he or she should pay a premium for your services; the onus is on you and your staff to create smarter eye wear consumers in your market. When consumers have greater clarity around the value of a product or service, they are more likely to pay for it. OM

DR. VARGO serves as Optometric Practice Management Consultant for IDOC. A published author and speaker with more than 15 years clinical experience, he is now a full-time consultant advising O.D.s in all areas of practice management and optometric office operations.