CHANGING FACES!

We are changing faces at Southwest vision. Here's a look at some of favorite new faces in their gorgeous new glasses. Stop in today and see Suzanne or Splendor our Master eyewear consultants and they will give you a whole new look! It's what they love to do! Pictured above are Phyllis Cheney (former fashion model) in her new Fabulous Fendi's, Lora Tebbs in her Super Silhouette's and Richard Vanausdal in his Awesome Oga's.

NEWS: Discount Plans are not Insurance

Here is a story from the AP Wire today. Idaho is warning consumers that discount plans are not the same as insurance. We have labored to educate our own patients that Vision Plans are not true insurance, and in fact, drive the true cost of eye exams up. This fact is usually hidden from plain view by sophisticated marketing scemes and mandated discounts that lower the quality of the end product to the consumer.

If you think about it...a vision plan is a third entity (another middle-man of sorts) that seeks to profit from our routine transaction. True insurance on the other hand, profits from spreading risk and taking the very calculated risk that the premiums you pay will exceed the collective costs of your care.

See this earlier post about the difference.

Why buy Quality?

Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.
William A. Foster

I have always felt that it makes sense to buy quality. Perhaps I inherited this ethic from my parents, who very carefully purchased the best of things that they could find. Being the oldest of ten children, I grew up beneath the governments established poverty level guidelines. We didn't know we were poor, but I understood early in my life that when we bought things, we were buying the best quality available because we couldn't afford to buy them twice. For example, Maytag's reputation for long lasting dependability (which it no longer deserves) sold my Mom on her washer/dryer combo which lasted for eons of time. Back when the Troy Built name was synonymous with quality (which it no longer deserves either) my Dad bought the garden tiller that he still uses nearly 30 years later.

I'll never forget the day in my youth when my Dad told me, "Son, we are becoming a throw away world. You'll see the day when everything is disposable." Appreciating quality isn't just an ethic or nostalgic rejection of today's marketplace full of cheaply manufactured junk...finding and appreciating quality is my passion.

I think in times like these, buying quality makes more sense than ever. As much as we hope you will buy a new pair of glasses to match every outfit every year, we have always provided eyewear that is made to last as long as you wish it to last. Well made European or Japanese frames can last a lifetime, and there is no time limit to the scratch warranty on our lenses. Some of our patients realize very low cost for their eyewear when you compare its lasting quality over time to the frequently replaced lower quality glasses that are built to planned-obsolescence standards. Durability is its own reason for buying good craftsmanship--the benefits of the advanced technology found in premium quality lenses is the subject for another complete post.

The higher initial cost of quality may sting, but the sting shortly becomes satisfaction when the technology performs its lasting duty. Poor craftsmanship causes lingering disappointment--usually intensified by the realization that the product was dressed up to look like quality, but really was not. It reminds me of the rural wisdom found in this mock add for hay I saw in a diner once: "Hay, $200 a ton, or $5 a ton. Price depends on which end of the horse you buy it from."

--Dr. Gooch

Fabulous Readers!

Here is our lovely new patient Toni Johnston in her new gorgeous green readers! Frames by Kliik, made in Denmark.

NEWS: Restasis. Expensive Medicine, or Cost Effective Treatment?

Restasis (cyclosporin ophthalmic drops) is a highly effective theraputic treatment for dry eyes. Presumably, it stimulates tear production by controlling inflamation of the tear producing glands. We have dry eye patients who report dramatic relief from its use. The big complaint however, is "why does it cost so much?"

Here the report of a study that factors in the "cost of dry eye to society," that claims Restasis is cost effective. Click here.


Here is the link to the manufacture's website for additional information. Click here.

NEWS: We Finally Got Paid!

Barri, our Accounts Manager and Billing Specialist, just informed me that we finally got paid on an insurance claim after Two and One Half years of concerted effort by us and the patient to get reimbursed. It was about a $350 claim. Never mind that it cost us more than we received to collect it. I can tell you its a one way street. If the insurance company thinks they overpaid, you will reimburse them YESTERDAY, with interest! But it doesn't really matter when they finally pay you for services rendered... and they don't pay interest when they are late.

I just found this interesting article in today's news and thought, "how apropos."

Check out Dixie's cutest chicks in their new specs!

Modeling our latest fashions are: Chantel Labrum & friends and Ellyse McKenna. Make our frames part of your accessories. Stop by and be a part of our fashion show!

NEWS: Why does Health Care keep getting more Expensive?

As reported in the Review of Optometry, January 15, 2009 issue, by the Nachimson Advisors, a health information consulting firm, just one of the incoming regulatory changes in the works for medicine is set to cost the average small practice like ours $83,290. Mid size practices (10 docs) will spend $285,195 on the upgrade, and large practices (100 docs) will spend an estimated $2.7 million.

At issue is medical coding. Currently, we use ICD-9 codes which define and describe a doctor's findings which are then linked to the procedure/office visit codes that get billed to your insurance company. In short, ICD-9 codes supply the "reason" for testing and office time for which the doctor is trying to get reimbursed. The problem, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is that sometime next year, they will run out of codes in the ICD-9 set.

So HHS is getting ready to adopt a new coding system, the ICD-10 set. The goal is to have it in place by October 2011. Insider analysts think implementing the new ICD-10 coding will be the most costly event medical practices will ever experience.

Here is how it pencils out for us. Rough calculations that include our current costs and average revenue-per-patient collected indicate that our practice would have to see our next 757 patients just to pay for the switch to ICD-10. Of course, like any business, medical practices will need to recoup the added cost of this new mandate to stay solvent. But unlike the regular market place, medical practices can't just increase the rates they charge insurance companies for their service and expect the insurance companies to pay the increase. They will have to make up the difference with their private pay patients, or eliminate other overhead or services which may reduce the quality of care you receive.

ICD-10 coding for diagnoses is just one of the oncoming challenges we have to prepare for. The procedure codes we have to use that describe the time and testing we do in order to get paid is also getting more complicated by orders of magnitude (which is its own subject for another time.) We now have level 2 procedure codes and PQRI codes (quality assurance coding) to include when we bill, just so we can get paid without penalty.

Sometimes I wonder if the increased complexities in coding and billing are just a calculated effort on the part of payers to trim costs by virtue of our reduced compliance as we struggle to figure out and pay for the new programme. Understanding the current system is already so complex that keeping payments coming properly is a non-stop battle. We feel like we have evolved our processes to the point that it works fairly well, and we follow the rules to the "T."

Patients already get frustrated as they try to understand why we code and bill as we do. I fear the new regulations will add more layers of confusion between doctors and consumers of medical care, further separating the two from the normal market forces that control buyer/seller relationships in other market settings.

NEWS: Water-Powered optics

Click here for the full Chicago Tribune article.

A tinkerer/physicist in the U.K. has developed user-adjustable optics using water filled lenses that may make vision correction possible for the worlds poor who have no access to eye care. Here is a big thumbs-up for human ingenuity. One of humanity's critical unmet needs appears to have an inexpensive solution...no expensive government program needed.