Apparently it’s possible to take insurance without having to collect any copays or deductibles from patients. That’s news to me. Apparently Medicare and Medicaid have a waiver you can get to allow this scenario, but the article leads me to believe that with “private” insurances you can just drop the copay. Huh.
The libertarian in me thinks that ideally I should be able to collect or not collect with impunity, but I was sure current contractual agreements with “private” insurers required that I always collect.
(Note: I put quotes around “private” insurance since Obamacare effectively takes the free out of free enterprise.)
Tags: Government, insuranceSo I have OfficeMate in my practice. I started using them in 2006 with release 7.x, and I currently have 8.x. It uses an access database which never really needed a server because it’s just a file that you could put on one computer and share it peer to peer. At the time I went ahead and bought an expensive Windows/Dell server because they recommended it, but I found out later from working with it that I could have just put the OM db file on cheaper network attached storage.
Anyway, along comes progress. OM with release 9 has implemented the famous, awesome SQL database. What makes it famous and awesome is that SQL is opened source and cross platform. So of course OM implements a Microsoft only version of SQL. The Windows Server Small Business that I’ve been using isn’t supported, so now I am faced with paying a whole bunch of money for a new edition of Windows Server standard. If I upgrade to that, I might as well update my client machines to Windows7. If I do that, my current video cards don’t support it, so I’ll have to either buy new video cards or just a new box.
So now, with all that plus the yearly, over $1K fee for OM, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t start over with some other solution. To tell you the truth, the only thing I use OM for is electronic billing. I just scan my paper charts with my awesome and fast Fujitsu Fi-6130 document scanner.
I really wish OfficeMate would have implemented a cross platform implementation of an SQL db. I could have just used a free Linux server to host the db.
Tags: EHR, insurance, management, optometrist, PIMI have a little side project at roadmapplanner.com. It’s especially suitable for students (college or high school), but as a professional I use it too. It’s really helped me since this summer to stop being a slacker spiritually and get on task. My family is happier for my becoming a better person by performing the tasks and achieving the goals I set for myself. Please consider it for a Christmas gift for you or someone you love.
The Roadmap Planner with the Daily Dats System™ is a set of 53 small, portable weekly planners with goal tracking integration and 3 week future calendar and white space for taking down notes.
An 8 1/2″ by 11″ sheet of white, uncoated, card stock paper is scored for a trifold on the y axis, and the user also trifolds it along the X axis. This double trifold design (like a road map 😉 ) compacts the page to a 2 7/8″ by 3 11/16″ footprint that fits in your pocket. Because it’s card stock, it’s rugged enough to last traveling in and out of your pocket the entire week. Fifty-three sheets come in the package, one for each week of the year.
Features:
MBC-CE.com (for private practice optometrists) and OBA-CE.com (for Walmart/Sam’s Club optometrists) have released their 2010 versions of practice metrics/benchmarks.
I’m republishing the pdfs here in case you don’t have access to their sites.[edit: Apparently re-posting their pdfs is copyright infringement, so click on the links to be taken to their websites] (If not, I highly recommend you get a login because they both have really useful information.)
By the way, OBA-CE’s major sponsors are: Ciba, Alcon, Essilor, Topcon, and Transitions.
MBA-CE’s major sponsors are: Ciba, Essilor, American Optometric Society
StainingGrid.com has updated their data to show the new Biotrue MPS from B&L.
Contact lens solutions vs materials vs corneal staining updated 2010-09-16
For you optometry students trying to make up numbers for your business plan, here are some percentages from my average Walmart practice:
In 2007 and 2008 I didn’t track the percentage of patients using insurance because I didn’t have to bill very much back then.
For more interesting stats to help you make your business plan, the OBA-CE has compiled these:
