I'm an optician, and I have been dealing with the so-called insurance part of it all. We have to allocate a lot of the insurance, and I hate it. And oh yeah, I work for Walmart, so that should tell you the rest. And yes, we sometimes use your videos to train a lot of the opticians in our ULearns. Well, that is what we call the classes online that we must take. They help immensely.
John, thank you for addressing this important issue. So much misconception over vision plans and how they operate. Of course it works best if you can get the patient to upgrade but that's not always easy. But I don't accept plans to get rich. As you pointed out, it's designed to get them in and hope they want more than their plan covers.
Hi! I started 3 months ago at NVI and am trying to learn the different types of insurances people come in with. They never know what they have for vision. We have to enter it as eyemed or try different insurances to see if they are eligible. It is very time consuming. There must be an easier way! Can you help me please?
Yeah that is a problem as old as vision care plans. You are not alone. Three months would be about what I would expect to start to pick up on some of the "clues." Learning where people work can help - often you will see large numbers of people from the same local area employers. Insurance should be dealt with at appointment time before they come in and generally that should be receptions problem not the opticians problem. I would say 10 minutes of phone time for about 50% of all new intakes isn't unusual. Ultimately it is the new customer's responsibility to provide you with what you need to find their coverage. I suspect with more time it won't get easier but you will become more efficient at it. A few "cheat sheets" might be in order. It does feel like it takes forever but it is the same for every practice.
As a customer, this is where I struggle. I want to support my local optometrists but I cannot justify the price. My vision plan is from the Evil Empire and in network, does little to nothing for me. How do I try to buy local when membership club stores offer comparable products, at less than half the price, even before out of network reimbursement?
Costco used to rank at the top of Consumer Reports optical. We've had a few pairs made there when I left opticianry for a few years. You have to shop for what you can afford. You could look around for an independent optician but might be tough to find. I think the only places to avoid are the super discount 3 For $99 kind of places.
Wow! Well put. I am an accountant by trade & have spent most of my 40 year career as a business consult - but never in the eyecare industry until 2019. Since 2019 though I have learn the OVERWHELMING majority (100% of OD's & MD's in the eyecare industry) are ABSOLUTELY & COMPLETELY ignorant about vision savings plans which only look out for their own interest (their profitability, their financial success). These "doctors" are so ignorant that their pride doesn't allow them to recognize their ignorance - they have their collective heads up their A$$. What's worse is that they insist on it. I have often said that WE ARE ALL IGNORANT. But we are all ignorant in different subjects. These OD's are being fleeced (raped) yet they don't actually do anything but complain (about vision plans). There are two kinds of OD's those that want to be sheep (employees w/ little or no responsibility) and sheep that accept the crumbs "allowed" by the vision plan companies. Either way, their profession is going the way of pharmacists, which was decimated. Pharmacists have been reduced to employees rather than allowed to flourish as entrepreneurs.
I can so easily see both sides of the coin. If I have $200,000 in student debt and I want all the fancy doctor stuff you can't picture a world without two lanes running 4 - 8 patients an hour five to 6 days a week. At the same time if they could see the forest for the trees they could work less, have two, three, four, five less staff and make more money over time by NOT taking the vision care plans. But - it would be a crazy scary year or so as you built the business. Let's face it as I say "the fix is in." It is almost at a point where the care plans origins - the buying groups concept - needs to rekindle itself. I also wonder how much of it just comes down to competitiveness and a false sense of pride? I can't help but think that if you are a new OD at the big conference and people are discussing, "how many patient's an hour" that when you answer "I see two" that you'll be laughed at. --- "Oh yeah your that one-man shop where I never see any cars parked out front. My practice has a line out the door and we have a take a number system."
For get about both sides of the coin. If after you & your staff work 3, 4, or 5 times as hard as optometrists use to work before these vision plans ever existed, you go to your bank to deposit 100% of your receipts for the day and your bank says you only have 60% available. The other 40% is a WRITE-OFF. What idiot would do business w/ any such a bank? This is exactly what these moron (forgive my language) OD's & MD's are signing up for. What's worse, the young graduates w/ $200K or more are willing to become slaves to these vision plans that are making BILLION$$$ off these doctors' back!!! As for the local communities, they are also sending their money to these parasite vision plan that are NOT even insurance (by definition). That is "complete & utter" ignorance - idiocy! Plain and simple.
Hey All - John Here - Don't skip Part Two which is available now and covers some other super important items about dealing with vision care plans.
I'm an optician, and I have been dealing with the so-called insurance part of it all. We have to allocate a lot of the insurance, and I hate it. And oh yeah, I work for Walmart, so that should tell you the rest. And yes, we sometimes use your videos to train a lot of the opticians in our ULearns. Well, that is what we call the classes online that we must take. They help immensely.
John, thank you for addressing this important issue. So much misconception over vision plans and how they operate. Of course it works best if you can get the patient to upgrade but that's not always easy. But I don't accept plans to get rich. As you pointed out, it's designed to get them in and hope they want more than their plan covers.
Blew my mind. Thank you for educating me!
🎉 you are awesome, thank you! For taking the time to educate us. I never understood why we aren't trained on this nightmare called insurance 😂
Great video!
Hi! I started 3 months ago at NVI and am trying to learn the different types of insurances people come in with. They never know what they have for vision. We have to enter it as eyemed or try different insurances to see if they are eligible. It is very time consuming. There must be an easier way! Can you help me please?
Yeah that is a problem as old as vision care plans. You are not alone. Three months would be about what I would expect to start to pick up on some of the "clues." Learning where people work can help - often you will see large numbers of people from the same local area employers. Insurance should be dealt with at appointment time before they come in and generally that should be receptions problem not the opticians problem. I would say 10 minutes of phone time for about 50% of all new intakes isn't unusual. Ultimately it is the new customer's responsibility to provide you with what you need to find their coverage. I suspect with more time it won't get easier but you will become more efficient at it. A few "cheat sheets" might be in order. It does feel like it takes forever but it is the same for every practice.
As a customer, this is where I struggle. I want to support my local optometrists but I cannot justify the price. My vision plan is from the Evil Empire and in network, does little to nothing for me. How do I try to buy local when membership club stores offer comparable products, at less than half the price, even before out of network reimbursement?
Costco used to rank at the top of Consumer Reports optical. We've had a few pairs made there when I left opticianry for a few years. You have to shop for what you can afford. You could look around for an independent optician but might be tough to find. I think the only places to avoid are the super discount 3 For $99 kind of places.
Wow! Well put. I am an accountant by trade & have spent most of my 40 year career as a business consult - but never in the eyecare industry until 2019. Since 2019 though I have learn the OVERWHELMING majority (100% of OD's & MD's in the eyecare industry) are ABSOLUTELY & COMPLETELY ignorant about vision savings plans which only look out for their own interest (their profitability, their financial success). These "doctors" are so ignorant that their pride doesn't allow them to recognize their ignorance - they have their collective heads up their A$$. What's worse is that they insist on it. I have often said that WE ARE ALL IGNORANT. But we are all ignorant in different subjects. These OD's are being fleeced (raped) yet they don't actually do anything but complain (about vision plans). There are two kinds of OD's those that want to be sheep (employees w/ little or no responsibility) and sheep that accept the crumbs "allowed" by the vision plan companies. Either way, their profession is going the way of pharmacists, which was decimated. Pharmacists have been reduced to employees rather than allowed to flourish as entrepreneurs.
I can so easily see both sides of the coin. If I have $200,000 in student debt and I want all the fancy doctor stuff you can't picture a world without two lanes running 4 - 8 patients an hour five to 6 days a week. At the same time if they could see the forest for the trees they could work less, have two, three, four, five less staff and make more money over time by NOT taking the vision care plans. But - it would be a crazy scary year or so as you built the business. Let's face it as I say "the fix is in." It is almost at a point where the care plans origins - the buying groups concept - needs to rekindle itself.
I also wonder how much of it just comes down to competitiveness and a false sense of pride? I can't help but think that if you are a new OD at the big conference and people are discussing, "how many patient's an hour" that when you answer "I see two" that you'll be laughed at. --- "Oh yeah your that one-man shop where I never see any cars parked out front. My practice has a line out the door and we have a take a number system."
For get about both sides of the coin. If after you & your staff work 3, 4, or 5 times as hard as optometrists use to work before these vision plans ever existed, you go to your bank to deposit 100% of your receipts for the day and your bank says you only have 60% available. The other 40% is a WRITE-OFF. What idiot would do business w/ any such a bank? This is exactly what these moron (forgive my language) OD's & MD's are signing up for. What's worse, the young graduates w/ $200K or more are willing to become slaves to these vision plans that are making BILLION$$$ off these doctors' back!!! As for the local communities, they are also sending their money to these parasite vision plan that are NOT even insurance (by definition). That is "complete & utter" ignorance - idiocy! Plain and simple.
@@zTruthSeeker316 LOL Tell us how you really feel! ;-) Preaching to the choir here. John