Cottage [Cheese] Industry: Insurance Billing for Stupid Optometrists)
With Walmart’s announcement of a sweeping change about getting out of the business of billing vision insurance companies for their doctors, a whole new cottage industry has sprung up. Businesses are soliciting Walmart doctors to let them handle all the insurance billing.
Yup, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Ophthalmic vendors think we optometrists are so stupid. Just because we picked this profession, they think we are prone to making poor financial choices just like some people are accident prone.
Any of you vendors seeking to do insurance billing for me are wasting your time. All I need is my practice management software and Apex EDI. It’s as automated as can be. Most of the vision insurances have their own website for authorization and billing, and then I use Apex EDI for my BlueCross, Medicaid, DMBA, and other miscellaneous insurance companies. (You can do Medicare also, but I am disinclined to participate with them.)
Apex EDI works great. It’s fast and easy. And I don’t need no stinking slick Rick to be some unnecessary middle man. It’s cheap too. I pay 43 cents per claim, less than a postage stamp these days. I also pay the extra $20 a month for the ERAs and Electronic Tools which make my life a lot easier, so it’s worth it.
Call up Apex EDI and tell them I sent you. Use my Champions Code (sales code) to get a better deal: Champ148. I use it in my practice (VisionHealth EyeCare PLLC), and you can use it in yours without the growing cottage cheese industry of Walmart insurance billing middle men.
[Note to Slick Ricks: Any more “comments” made by you to advertise your middle man services will be marked as Spam and deleted. Do us all a favor and go con some other profession.]
Tags: Consultants, insurance, management, Wal-Mart
Though your personal opinion is greatly valued and encouraged in these United States, it is sometimes necessary to ensure your opinion is based on fact and not just, well, your own opinion. Optometric Billing is not a new industry that has sprung up as an answer to Walmart’s decision to stop billing for their doctors. My company, RLR Consulting, has been around for almost 20 years and has specialized in Optometric Billing since its inception.
I was never solicited on my blog for billing services until Walmart changed their policy.
We optometrists are smart enough to bill ourselves (or train a staff member to do it), and it’s quick enough thanks to practice management software and Apex EDI.
So, no thanks.