Topic: Ophthalmology Exchange / Temporary COT help

That sounds great. I will be in touch today.

Topic: Technician Exchange / 11 New COTs!

This is good to know and I will be contacting Jo.

Topic: Technician Exchange / Hi Brad!

Hey Brad! Great site! Best of luck! Hope all is well!
Corinne

Topic: Technician Exchange / Interested in Temporary work

Hello,
I am a COT who was wondering how much demand there would be for temporary COT work, i.e. covering for maternity leave, illness, etc. Are there any locations that have this need?
Thank you.

Topic: Technician Exchange / 11 New COTs!

I am happy that this new website exists!
It has long been needed and I predict will be a great asset to the community.
Here at the Duke Ophthalmic Medical Technician Training Program we have 11 students ready to graduate and sit for the COT. Any one looking for technicians should call me: Jo Legacki 919 681 9157.
Thanks Brad—Best of luck to you.
Jo

Topic: Optometry Exchange / Routine fundus photos....

Hi Sean, good to hear from you! Actually, I’d like to buy a camera at some point, but recent events make the expenditure difficult. I know I should have a pachymeter, but it’s just so hard to part with $2700 knowing I’ll get $11 a pop, and you don’t get to justify its use that often. The one thing I learned about the Optomap (other than the $$$ dynamics don’t work too well) is that unless you have phenomenal techs who are very smart, and unless all your patients have a little exophthalmos, you’ll have a problem seeing parts of the retina easily seen with a 30D lens and a Keeler All-pupil even without dilation. I remember becoming a person I didn’t like when I was selling it all day to make the numbers work. -Rich Langellotti

Topic: Technician Exchange / CE

Thanks gec! Yes, our plan, and we are planning our first event now, is to offer local CE opportunities. We will send out information to all registrants once the planning is complete. We will be in touch!

Topic: Technician Exchange / CE

Will you have any CE seminars listed on your site???
Enjoying the website!

Topic: Optometry Exchange / Routine fundus photos....

As I currently don’t have a camera in the office, this is more an academic discussion for me, but I usually had one at hand. From a strictly medical billing standpoint, you can only bill for photos (CPT 92250) in the presence of appropriate pathology (CIGNA Medicare has, somewhere, a list of “appropriate” diag. codes). However, BCBSNC pays for “routine” photos in the context of a routine eye exam (same 92250 code!). I tend to agree with your approach of only documenting when there is something. One can start quite a philosophical discussion about the value of documenting normal in case there is ever future pathology, assuming that a sufficient percentage of patients ever develop pathology and that they see no other eye doctor than you for the next 25 years (hmmm, long shot). This is probably why most carriers don’t pay unless there is pathology. Now, many offices offer routine photos and “sell” it by making those points I mentioned. Those with an Optomap sell it as an alternative to dilation and say it is more sensitive at detecting some things (I worked with one for 2 years, and I can only lukewarmly agree with those points). In spite of the arguments made in favor of routine photos, it tends to be more of a profit center than anything else. Does that make routine photos inherently evil? I don’t know.
One important point. Since there is only one fundus photo code (92250), there is only one way to bill/code for it. If you charge differently for routine photos than pathology photos, and some insurer decides to audit you, you may be in trouble. So, if routine photography is the rule in one’s office, it’s best to charge all patients the (usually) discounted fee offered on the solicitation sheet patients are given.
Sorry for being long-winded. Hope this helps,
Rich Langellotti, OD

Topic: Administrative Exchange / Introduction

While the uncertainty in the economy will make some people put off their decision to make a large expenditure towards an elective procedure like laser vision correction I believe another factor has equally attributed to the decline.
We saw our volume immediately impacted after the News & Observer ran their first of two negative articles on LASIK late September 2007. It was an extremely one sided article that placed a lot of doubt in people’s minds on the general safety of LASIK and the true outcomes. We had surgery and consultation cancellations with people directly citing the fear they felt after reading the article and concerns are still raised with reference to the article regularly. This article was also timed perfectly to coincide with FSA elections so some people that were planning to put money aside for procedures in 2008 chose not to. The follow up article that the N&O ran a few months ago featuring LASIK patients that were suicidal or had committed suicide didn’t help instill confidence either.
I think the decline we saw in the fall was directly associated with the negative industry publicity and the drop in the first quarter of 08 is a combination of that and economy concerns.
I would recommend looking at your consultation numbers in Q4 2007 vs. Q4 2006. If your consultation numbers were down then it’s not a surprise that surgery numbers are down Q1 2008 too. So many of our Q1 surgeries are driven by FSA’s. We are seeing our inquiry levels and consultations on the upswing and while still not quite up to 2007 levels it is a big percentage improvement over Q4 2007.
Hope that helps and would like to know if other centers in the area agree.
Jill Swartz
Refractive Coordinator
Laser Eye Center of Carolina

Topic: Technician Exchange / Hi Brad!

Thanks nceyetech!

Topic: Surgical Exchange / Much Success to LOCAL EyeSite.com

Dear Brad,
I am so excited for you. This website will be helpful in so many ways to my colleagues and I. Much success to you!
Cheryl Sims

Topic: Surgical Exchange / Refractive Surgery Coord

Where are you Happy Tech.? What practice do you work at ?

Topic: Administrative Exchange / Welcome to Local Eye Site!

Thanks so much…we’re very excited.

Topic: Administrative Exchange / Welcome to Local Eye Site!

Thanks Greta.