Ophthalmic Consulting visited my office at a critical time when staff was changing and 3rd parties were auditing. I've been in private practice for over 30 years, but exactly how many frames do I need?, how many techs do I need?, how do I know if they're doing their job effectively?, how do I know if I'm doing my job effectively?, how do I know if my biller and coder is doing her job correctly?, which of my techs would make a good office manager? OC's staff are experts in this business. Compliance has always been an issue for me since I grew up in Optometry in the days of private pay. Even though there are a lot of lectures and seminars on compliance, knowing exactly what to do and what 3rd parties want is hard for me to judge. Again, OC are the experts. After listening to their promotion, and contacting two referrals that I knew, I signed an agreement and am very pleased with the results. I'm only into the year long program for a few months now, but my staff and associates are very happy with the recommendations. I would easily recommend this program for any of my friends in Optometry.

Dr. Steve Smith

We had a wonderful introduction to your organization with your trainers visit to our office this week She was very positive to how our office was already organized, but had many suggestions to help us be even more efficient and leave fewer dollars on the insurance table. I believe all of our staff trusted her immediately, and they are very excited to make positive changes.

We look forward to implementing her suggestions, and to working with other members of your staff over the coming year!

Dr. Erick A. Hartman

I wanted to take a moment to thank you and your team for the efforts you have put forth in working with our clinic. Your extra effort to enhance our compliance and understanding of coding and billing as well as the insurance reimbursement process has made a significant difference for us.

Although as you stated, we were already operating at a high level of efficiency in regards to our medical billing your ability to provide greater insight to me and my entire staff has helped our overall focus and unified our message to patients regarding their eye care. The greater understanding of our patient's insurance benefits and the ability to utilize coordination of benefits with different providers has helped reduce our patient out of pocket expense while increasing our insurance reimbursement.

OC's insight into Medicare's emphasis on criteria for medical necessity has also helped identify areas that EMR systems may lead doctors astray. The confidence I have in our coding & billing has enabled me to identify areas that our EMR system may actually lead to increased audit exposure.

The on-going chart reviews and monthly reviews of our production has helped keep us on path and provided a great tool for tracking changes in billing behavior. I appreciate the follow up.

I would highly recommend your firm to any Optometrist!

Dr. John Kruszewski

Over the years I have invested my time and energy to become well versed in coding and billing as well as compliance and insurance submittals. The time I spent working within an ophthalmology practice added to my understanding of medical coding. When we were first introduced to your company my wife and I struggled with the decision to move forward with your service. Although we thought we could benefit from enhanced compliance we were uncertain as to the “payoff” or the return on the investment.

After 8 months of working with your company I must say that we are pleased with the results. We are seeing the increase in our bottom line and feel more comfortable with our overall compliance.

As we discussed, I had over 10 years of backlogged questions that were left unanswered or not answered to my satisfaction, after attending seminars, discussing with various colleagues or working with other consultants. You, Joyce, Karen and others at OC have worked hard to answer these questions and more, and consistently have gone above and beyond to ensure that we are satisfied. Joyce has been a wealth of information for us!

I would recommend your services to any eye care provider. It’s not a matter of IF you can help them…but HOW MUCH you can help them.

Dr. Michael Zysik

I am writing to recommend that you consider Ophthalmic Consulting (OC) as your partner in compliance, coding & billing, and insurance reimbursement. My experience with the training provided by Jon Weeding, Michael Fuchs and their staff has been wonderful. I have benefited greatly from their easy to implement tools, friendly service, and timely and consistent follow up.

OC had great insight into my unique situation as an Independent Doctor of Optometry that is increasing the medical billing aspect of my practice. As such, their ability to gain "buy in" from the optical staff made for a seamless transition to incorporating the tools necessary to be compliant.

I highly recommend OC and their professional staff for your practice. The peace of mind that comes from knowing your practice is meeting Medicare guidelines with proper systems for you and your staff is invaluable. In addition to ensuring clinic compliance, OC has added significant revenue that had been overlooked and will likely allow me to double my return on my consulting investment in less than 12 months.

Dr. Teal Stefanik

I am writing to encourage you to consider Ophthalmic Consulting as your partner in compliance and revenue growth during these unique economic times. Our experience with Jon Weeding and his staff has been one of excellent customer service, clarity on the issues, and regular communication. On a recent monthly update he made me aware that the practice generated three times the consulting fee in increased revenue. I thought we were ok on medical coding and billing but found we were leaving reimbursements "on the table" when dealing with various insurance plans. Now I have confidence that we are no longer overlooking proper reimbursements and coding is more accurate than it has ever been. One of the additional benefits is that our audit compliance has been enhanced along the way because of their advice.

I highly recommend Ophthalmic Consulting and their professional staff for your practice. I think you will enjoy the peace of mind that comes from proper systems for you and your staff. The added revenue capturing charges that may have been overlooked by even the best practice managers in the industry is an additional benefit.

Dr. Robert Layman

Thank you for assisting us with evaluation of our billing procedures! Your expert advice has resulted in confidence that we are now properly billing for the services that we provide. As you promised, insurance companies are now reimbursing us at their maximum levels leading to increased profits. It is a nice feeling to know that we are no longer leaving money on the table for the insurance companies to profit, but instead collecting what we have earned.

I thought I was well versed in coding, but you taught me several fine points which I was missing. Proper documentation has allowed me to bill certain services at a higher level leading to thousands of dollars in increased gross revenue. Also, our concern with the legality of discounts for our private pay patients was alleviated with the documentation you provided, leading to piece of mind if we are ever audited.

I can't thank you enough for your time and insight in working with our office. I now feel more confident in the fees we charge, the codes we utilize, the documentation we maintain, and the services we provide for our patients.

I would strongly encourage other optometrists to take advantage of your knowledge to benefit their practices, as well!

Dr. Johnathan Schorn

Thank you for taking us "to the next level." You have successfully initiated the transition of our team into a more efficient billing and coding practice.

The time your company has spent with my staff and myself have been much appreciated. Your patience and commitment to providing quality service taught us how to maximize our reimbursements and therefore grow our profits. I now have more comfort in not only the medical billing procedures but also in the proper documentation to capitalize on better reimbursement.

The help desk has also been an added benefit. Your company has saved us time in follow-up with insurance companies on several different avenues. The help desk at O.C. alone has been invaluable.

I have also been impressed at how easy O.C. has been to work with. Your follow up and follow thru has always been timely and efficient and for this I am thankful. As a physician, there is never enough time to get everything done - you recognize time is valuable and always make great use of both our time. Thank you.

I want to again say how much we have enjoyed our partnership with O.C. I know like myself, many other professionals can learn to utilize so many of the benefits that O.C. has to offer.

Thank you for taking such great care of us!

Dr. Rebecca Barnes

Thank you so much for the services your company has provided for my practice. It has been 18 months now since OC came into my practice, and we have the utmost confidence that we are billing properly now.

You and your staff came into my practice and shared your expert coding and billing knowledge in such a professional,helpful, and courteous way. My staff was very apprehensive that they were going to be laughed at or scoffed at, well nothing could have been farther from the truth. Your staff not only understands the information, but clearly is able to teach it well. Our profits are up, our patients out-of-pocket costs are down, and everyone is happy. My staff is confident that they are billing and coding properly, and has no fear of an audit anymore.

We made good use of your high level of training and in-office visits over our 12 month contract. These visits assured my staff of the skill and knowledge they needed to become truly self efficient, thanks!

I know my staff has mentioned a few times how handy and effective the help they received from the EOB/Claims Help Desk too. We have used this a number of times to get a claim paid, or to get the proper help to get it paid. What she appreciated most about this service, is the fact that you not only got the answers you were able to teach her how to do it too.

The decision to work with OC was a very positive one for us. Please feel free to use my name/practice to encourage other optometrists to take advantage of your benefit to their practices.

Dr. Steven Beals

This letter is written after working with your company for one year now. Since beginning with your company's services and advice, we were able to capture many more dollars from reimbursement after doing our fee analysis. We also have had many claims we were struggling with Finally get paid after utilizing the Help Desk and Sharla's assistance. We have had in office training which was helpful and the use of the training manual you provided us was of great help in working through claims and coding properly. We also learned about multiple procedures and billing those visits properly.

We have been impressed since we began with all of your staff's professionalism, knowledge and help in our business. We have felt so pleased that we are signing on for another year with the C3 program to continue helping us when needs arise.

I feel strongly about recommending your company to others in need of your services and if you have anyone who would like to discuss our experiences, please have them contact me directly.

Dr. Jeffrey Bieter

Working with Ophthalmic Consulting has greatly exceeded my expectations! What interested me about your company at first was the fact that you were working with offices in my state. This gave me confidence that you really knew how the insurance industry worked here. I felt I was very knowledgeable about coding but realized I could always learn more. I have attended several lectures over the years on the subject and have implemented some of the things I've learned. With your company I was able to turn all the educating over to your staff to train my staff. I felt the training coming from your staff was important because it just wasn't another idea I learned and was going to implement. The fact that Ophthalmic Consulting did the training was much more effective than if I personally did the training. I could not ask for any more of you than what you have done.

I would highly recommend anyone considering Optometric Consulting to sign on. They would greatly benefit financially and it is easier to implement than they may realize. Your company has a wealth of information to share with those willing to listen and learn.

Dr. Brent Johnson

Thank you for your assistance in our getting up to speed in billing, coding and fees. We are now confident, comfortable and more profitable.

Your help in getting our records compliant and in clarifying various coding mysteries was also invaluable. I do not live in fear of an audit, and the 'nines' are not as intimidating as they once were.

Dr. Granville Lawrence

For years we have been perplexed as to how to improve our fee recovery from the insurance companies and third party administrators. We had attended a multitude of "classes" in hopes of finding the answers. What we found were these classes were sponsored either by the insurance company or another entity that was directly related to the insurance industry. Neither was really concerned that the doctors would end up giving away services because the EOB would be returned stating that the service was a contracted discount.

We had a lot going for us. Our hourly production was good, but could always be better. Our collections have always been great - above 95% and actually closer to 99% consistently for the past 10+ years. We have very few "bad debtors," so that is positive. But we still lacked the knowledge of effective insurance billing for non-routine procedures.

Then we heard of Ophthalmic Consulting LTD. We met with you and Jon several times prior to making the final decision. It was a no-brainer. We would have the hands-on training to help educate all of us in the art of proper coding. Many scenarios arose and you were within a phone call away to guide us and explain the reasons for a specific procedure and diagnosis code versus what we were previously coding. You gave us the confidence to proceed with a new fee schedule, because we now understood that we no longer had to "give away" many of the services.

We incorporated the new system on May 1, 2005. Both May and June were great months. Both months we experienced 40%+ gains in our gross professional fees. June was our largest gross/net month on record (so far!). With only a few days left in July, we are consistently at the 40% increase mark for gross professional fees.

The decision to work with you was a positive one. You may use our office as an example of how an optometric clinic can benefit from not only the education, but also good billing personnel that understand the importance of the operation. Thank you for helping us along the way and being available to answer our questions. We look forward to continuing the benefits of this positive, profitable decision!

Dr. Wayne Hines

I am remiss in not writing sooner to tell you how pleased I am with your service and support. Call this a testimonial, if you will, and feel free to share it with prospective clients.

Although I've worked hard over the years to become an informed coder and biller, I'm convinced there is always room for improvement. In her time here your trainer showed me areas where I could improve. In many cases I was under coding. I'm much more confident, now, submitting the correct code at the highest level and sure that I am compliant with third party payers. Your help desk has been a great resource lately as we've gone 'round and 'round with certain payers regarding our NPI numbers. My staff has enjoyed working with your help desk, and I appreciate their freeing up time to concentrate on our business while handling many of the third party headaches.

For doctors who are wondering if they can afford your services, I'd tell them they can't afford to be without them. From coding and billing, to Medicare compliance, to the help desk, I can't imagine a practice that can't benefit from what OC offers. I look forward to working with you in the future, and would be happy to visit in person, by phone, or email with any doctor that is still on the fence...

Dr. Scott Glaser

I am just completing a one year program with your company. It has been a truly amazing year. This morning, I asked my staff how they felt about the changes we've made in one year. Without exception, they were exuberant and pleased with the results. It was mentioned that I should have done this years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't know about you people earlier.

Over the years, I have attended many courses on insurance coding. I've purchased books on the subject. I've sent my staff to classes. This is all well and good. We've had experience reporting to insurance companies for many years. However, it always seemed like they paid what they wanted and otherwise left us helpless to wonder if we could be getting better payment results. I've hired consultants who advise changing everything to increase patient load, but fail to address money matters like fees, insurance reporting and collections.

When your people arrived on the scene, that all changed. I like the fact that you made a one week in-office audit of procedures we were performing, technology that we utilized, coding that we used and patient handling in general. The new patient registration forms are incredible! We had one insurance company that refused to give us respectable payments. You got on the phone and demanded to know "How come?" They've been paying ever since. I still can't believe it!

Thanks for incredible input to our office. No doubt about it: You people are top quality. As a professional consultant, you are as important to the financial well-being of this office as my professional accountant.

Dr. David Lee

It has been a pleasure working with your consulting firm. With proper billing and coding we have seen tremendous growth in our bottom line. Thank you for your help. I wish we had done this much earlier.

Dr. Gary Hoffard

I'm writing to your firm to tell you that your plan for optometric offices is helpful and rewarding to the O.D. that pursues this approach. While it is difficult to pay someone to do what you probably could have done yourself, it is less difficult when it actually increases your bottom line.

Of more importance than the bottom line is the momentum that your firm can generate within an office. You and your staff help the O.D. put the continuing education practice and care enhancement ideas, which we are exposed to, into practice. This assists the office to expand the level of services to the public while assuring the O.D. of new sources of revenue.

I would ask other O.D.'s to ask themselves: Am I doing all the services that I have been trained to do for the best quality of care? And am I getting a fair reimbursement for those services? Your firm can help with the financial end of those questions. I would encourage other O.D.'s to consider your help with the difficult insurance and reimbursement issues that are found in the healthcare industry today.

Dr. Michael Hanen-Smith

I wanted to drop you a note to let you know how pleased we have been with the services that your company has provided to our offices.

Practicing in a commercial environment I was a little skeptical as to how the medical billing model would integrate into our offices. Helping us restructure our fees so that they are more in line with private practice as well as maximize insurance reimbursements has had a huge impact on per patient revenue. Many of our patients have less out of pocket expense now than before and are quite pleased that we are involved with medical billing.

The chart reviews were an invaluable tool in teaching us to keep better records, document appropriately and help assure us that we can survive an insurance audit should that ever arise. All of my associates feel like we are practicing 'better optometry' since OC's training.

Mostly, I feel that your group helps our profession go in the direction that it needs to go. I have been practicing for 22 years now and have seen our services used as loss leaders in many commercial establishments. I hope the days of $39 eye exams are numbered and those trends begin to reverse. I believe that OC can and will have a pivotal role in that transformation and I am living proof that your model does work in a retail setting.

Again, many thanks for taking our clinics to the next level and providing the necessary tools for us to be confident in our billing practices.

Dr. W. Jeffrey Geisert

I am writing this testimonial to explain the multiple benefits of working with Ophthalmic Consulting. It has changed our practice for the better - in both profit as well as my understanding of proper billing and coding.

Before Ophthalmic Consulting, the office did not medically bill any services. It seems as optometrists, we feel guilty taking out-of-pocket expenses from patients. No longer is this an issue for us and I feel very comfortable submitting medical charges when needed. I also did not feel pressured by your company to exclusively or extensively medical bill. I am still at ease with using patients vision insurance benefits for routine visits.

Another extreme benefit in working with Ophthalmic Consulting has been the chart reviews. It is very advantageous to have someone actually sit down like an auditor and tell you exactly what you missed on your charts and what you can improve on to pass an audit. The paperwork Ophthalmic Consulting provided also made our patient history much more complete and accurate.

Thanks again for all your help.

Dr. Kelly Robertson

I just want to thank you for speaking to us about proper coding and billing. Our offices were long overdue for the information that you shared with us and we are extremely grateful for the time and terrific instruction that you gave us.

As you know we have three locations that provide optometric care for a diverse patient population. We needed help in learning how to properly code and bill for the services that we are providing our patients at each location. You and your staff have given us wonderful information and guidance as to how to do this correctly. Thanks to you, we now have the knowledge to take care of our patients by better utilizing their health insurance that they are already paying for. In so many instances, this has increased our bottom line and our patients pay less out of pocket.

In short, you have made our practices better, our incomes have grown and our patients have paid less of their own cash, all in an ethical manner. I suspect there are numerous other practices that could benefit from your knowledge just as we have. Thanks again.

Dr. Matthew Johnson

The service you have provided us is of significant value to our business in many ways. Processing claims with various insurance companies can be a very time consuming, frustrating and stressful to say the least. With the assistance of your help desk we are able to alleviate a lot of our frustrations. The information that you have provided allows us to remain in compliance and get maximum reimbursements. We know our fees are in line with the industry, and we are more comfortable in giving our private pay patients the Time of Service discounts.

In addition, the information you provided our Doctor is insurmountable. We were not billing office visits at all. You showed our Doctor what is billable and at what level. You provided us with the proper tools and knowledge. As a result, we are now billing more than ever and have increased profits.

Becky Kerkow, Business Owner

I just want to say thanks again for bringing us out of the “Dark Ages”. Billing and coding properly for professional services is so convoluted and changes so often. It was a blessing to cross paths with your group to learn how to properly bill and code. I have attended many seminars and my staff as well. We always learned a little here and a little there, but bringing it all together always eluded us. We all know how helpful insurance companies are at explaining how to bill things out properly and which codes will get us paid. It was very nice to finally have someone who could help tie things together nicely, Keeping us legal from a HIPPA standpoint and from the insurance companies perspective also.

As we all know in private optometry practices, things always fall on our (the Doctors) shoulders, having Optometric Consulting on our team helps me pay more attention where it belongs, on the patient. I didn’t go to school to be an accountant, willing agent or lawyer and these days we need to be savvy in many areas. You helped my office tremendously by showing me, in a very direct way, coming trends and how to stay ahead of the billing and coding curve, thus increasing my cash flow and office efficiency. By keeping insurance companies honest, we also have save out patients thousands of dollars by getting insurance companies to properly reimburse for services, not shifting it to “Patient Pays” on the EOB’s. Thanks again for a productive relationship; it has been enlightening and instructive. Like I said earlier, I can spend more time on important things like patient care and practice enhancements and growth.

Dr. Larry Schlauderaff