The inaugural SnappGroupMasterminds meeting, with the backdrop of “Optometry’s Meeting 2022” in Chicago, Illinois, proved to be entertaining and informative.

Participants agreed to collect and submit practice data, and many key performance indicators were reviewed in great detail. Based on all accounts, participants walked away with something valuable to implement in their offices.

At meeting’s end, participants were asked to provide three goals that will be monitored and shared for accountability in the coming months. “We got to know each other better, and as one person raised a challenge, invariably others in the group had faced something similar and could offer recommendations or suggestions,” says SNAPP Group President Lisa Hamilton, OD.

The launch was so successful that the SNAPP Board is considering annual cohort groups going forward. SnappGroupMasterminds is a logical evolution of SNAPP and represents a more intensive look into all aspects of the eye care industry.

The group sent special thanks to VisionWeb and CooperVision for their support while in Chicago!

The best way to ensure that eye care professionals remain at the center of primary eye care and advance the role of SNAPP Group members is to… GET INVOLVED! Involvement can take many forms. Perhaps it’s being an active participant in organized optometry/opticianry. If you’re unable to attend national meetings, try to attend your state or regional optometric association meetings. Volunteer to take on a role, helping ensure that your perspective as a Pearle Licensed Operator becomes heard.

Become active with other groups whose goals match yours. Prominent groups include the American Optometric Association, the American Academy of Optometry and the National Academy of Opticianry. Plan to volunteer for eye care mission events through OneSight or VOSH International.

Advocate on behalf of our professions. Take a look at your patient and customer base. Does it include an elected official or other community influencer? Spend a few extra moments showing that individual how what you do helps improve access to eye care, affordably and efficiently. You never know whom your advocacy touches and what the ripple effect of that can be.

Finally, be open to sharing ideas and hearing those of others. Some of SNAPP’s objectives are to promote collective involvement in helping colleagues and engage with organized eye care for the betterment of our professions and the people we care for.

• Earn up to 11 hours of free COPE CE for doctors (seven hours clinical/four hours practice management).

• Hear top-quality speakers.

• Participate in two SNAPP Member think-tanks.

• Enjoy a fun “Meet Fellow Operators” event.

• Gain firsthand knowledge on increasing revenues and profits.

• Spend direct contact time with vendor partners.

• Gain free access to the Vision Expo West Exhibit Hall.

• Receive cash for attending.

• It’s at the Harrah’s Resort in Fabulous Las Vegas.

• We’re having dinner at the world-famous Las Vegas MOB Museum.

• It’s always fun.

Don’t miss out. Register here.

As you register for Vision Expo West 2022, use this registration site (http://vew2022.com/SNAPP) and your SNAPP discount code for free exhibit hall access will be prefilled.

SNAPP member Eric Bella, OD, is focused on prioritizing the needs of his patients when they visit one of his five sublease locations in the Toronto area. He realizes that the need for quality eye care doesn’t stop when the office is closed. The need for richer education, modernized resources and care in underserved communities never ends.

Dr. Bella

Dr. Bella joined Pearle as a corporate location optometrist about 10 years ago, and he appreciates that the company allows optometrists to make a greater impact outside of the office. He has had the opportunity to participate in 10 OneSight missions; OneSight is an international nonprofit dedicated to bringing vision care to those in need, and Dr. Bella has been to China, Thailand, Chile and, most recently, downtown Toronto. Those journeys have been meaningful as he watches patients come from miles around to get desperately needed eye care and eyeglasses.

Dr. Bella during a OneSight mission trip to Peru in 2015

These missions also reinforce how important his services are to patients in his community. He appreciates how Pearle Vision Center management recognizes this, as well. Dr. Bella says that on multiple occasions when their offices were busy or an employee was out for the day, optical managers took it upon themselves to pitch in to fill the gaps. This allowed Dr. Bella to provide uninterrupted and attentive care to his patients.

“Pearle cares about its optometrists and provides them with the resources to be the best for their patients,” he says.

The SNAPP connection

Dr. Bella has been a SNAPP member for years and has attended a number of the SNAPP national meetings. It was there that he learned of SNAPP’s Three Tier Mission of buying discounts, education and camaraderie. “I’m meeting new Licensed Operators (LOs)—optometrists and opticians—who are in the same position I’m in,” Dr. Bella says.

At SNAPP meetings, these LOs recognize the sense of community and support that they receive day in and day out. He enjoys talking with and learning from these LOs who can identify the same challenges within their practices. Even if they are thousands of miles away, they find a common ground in discussing what has and hasn’t worked for them.

Our industry has seen its share of labor shortages in recent years. Though there may have been unavoidable attrition, practices can still make the best of it by ensuring focus is kept during trying times. Avoiding the two billing pitfalls below can help ensure the practice not only survives but flourishes.

Claim Submission Delays

While your staff may have great intentions when it comes to insurance billing, the truth of the matter is that great patient care drives the business and can tend to consume the focus of practice staff. That said, claims management is crucial to your financial well-being. Don’t put claims submission on the back burner. Yes, it can be tedious, but it is necessary. If you are slightly behind now, imagine what things will look like at the end of August, during the back-to-school rush.

Payment Posting/Reconciliation Delays

You received your payment for the claim, so you are done, right? Wrong! Don’t allow the practice to get behind in posting payments to the practice management system. Falling behind can cause the following:

1. Upset patients—By the time the account is reconciled, it could be months or years later before the patient finally receives a statement. That’s a tough one to explain.

2. Lack of claim transparency—If the payments are not posted, it will be challenging to identify if the practice has an issue with a particular payor or procedure not being paid.

3. The snowball effect/ballooning accounts receivable (AR)—Once delayed posting becomes an acceptable practice, it becomes increasingly difficult to overcome the growing issue. It can then take more time to post not only the current but older payments, further perpetuating the time required to become current. Meanwhile, AR is increasing and becoming artificially inflated and the claims that are truly outstanding are harder to identify. This compounds all of the issues, and many practices end up just ignoring claims reconciliation altogether.

If needed, reach out to a trusted colleague or company to increase practice efficiencies during labor shortages. Seeing the practice through another set of eyes and vetting an alternate perspective may result in improvements you didn’t know were there to be made.

Reach out to Amanda with any other billing questions you have here; she might have the solution for you.

From the HR Experts at AmCheck

AmCheck HR Experts field questions on all sorts of HR issues. Here’s one.

A few things to note:

• For nonexempt employees, any extra work time must be compensated at or above minimum wage, and any overtime worked must be paid at the required premium. Properly classified exempt employees don’t need to be paid extra for extra work.

• Employees who haven’t previously been scheduled outside their normal work hours may have conflicts. Giving them a head’s up well in advance of a change to their schedule may increase the chance that they can take on the extra work.

• Some employees may have commitments they can’t change or may otherwise be unable to work the extra hours. If you plan to make the extra work a requirement for certain positions, you may experience unwelcome turnover. 

In the long term, additional hours can lead to burnout. Make sure managers are regularly communicating with their team members about workloads and morale.

The two new powers for this innovative, specially designed lens will allow even more children to benefit from myopia control.

*Indications for Use: MiSight^® 1 day (omafilcon A) soft (hydrophilic) contact lenses for daily wear are indicated for the correction of myopic ametropia and for slowing the progression of myopia in children with non-diseased eyes, who at the initiation of treatment are 8-12 years of age and have a refraction of -0.75D to -4.00D (spherical equivalent) with ≤ 0.75D of astigmatism. The lens is to be discarded after each removal.

¹CVI data on file, 2022. SERE coverage of childhood myopia prescriptions with MiSight^® 1 day for 104,810 eyes in Asia (China, Korea) and 116,336 eyes in Europe and USA aged 8-18 years.

^†Includes prescriptions up to 0.75DC

The company currently has in-store optical departments in 46 locations, after closing six locations since the end of 2021. The company will retain its CVS Optical digital business, according to a spokeswoman. Read more here.

Getty Images photo credits—exit: 101cats; get involved: jayk7; metrics: PeopleImages; and overtime: strut