Eyecare Practice Efficiency is one of those things that can be difficult for a practice to identify. If you aren't sure if your practice is efficient or not, you might want to be on the lookout for these 4 tell-tale signs that your eyecare practice efficiency could use some improving.
1. You're Still Getting Calls from Your Labs to Fix Errors
If your practice is still using the phone and fax machine to place patient's orders, you are definitely in need of increased eyecare practice efficiency. Ordering ophthalmic products is something that your practice has to do, that's a given. But too many practice are clinging to old ordering habits that are time consuming and error-prone.
The emergence of the internet has given you the ability to order products online - a vital tool to make ordering more efficient. A good online ordering service for opticians is equipped with error-checking features so that you know your order are correct, and order than you place online go directly into processing at the lab, skipping orders that are received via phone/fax, which means you get orders back faster and more accurately.
2. It Takes Over 5 Minutes to Check a Patients Eligibility
Let's face it, calling insurance payers to check patient eligibility is a nightmare. So stop doing it! When you call your payer to check on eligibility, you'll end up spending at least 3-5 minutes on the phone per patient. And sometimes payers put a limit on the number of eligibility checks per day. This means you could be making multiple calls to the same payer through the day. (Do the math, what kind of time is that taking away from your practice?)
You can get this same information online, and you'll probably find that the electronic format comes with more detail than you can get on the phone. Most payers give you access to this on their site, or you can get it through a clearinghouse service.
3. Only Some of Your Staff Knows How to Use Your Practice Management System
Practice Management Solutions for eye care practices is a major investment. So why wouldn't you want to get the most out of your investment? You don't won't be getting anything from your practice management system if your staff isn't properly trained how to use it. Be sure to train your ENTIRE staff, otherwise there could be discrepancies at every turn.
4. You Still Receive Paper Explanation of Benefits Summaries
Is reconciling your paper EOB driving you crazy? Looking for a clearinghouse solution might be a good idea! Clearinghouses are equipped with extremely detailed reporting and analytics features that let you stay on top of your claims through every step of the process. You will know within hours if your claims have been accepted for processing, sent from the clearinghouse to the payer, or if there is an error in the claim. That means you can quickly react if a claim needs attention.
