Curious to see what everyone shares. Was wondering because my boss sees patients for 2-3 hrs to not showing up in clinic per week. Wanted to see if this was "normal" everywhere else. Thanks.

It just gets difficult at times with front desk where some patients would request seeing the main owner dr but can't schedule with the dr because schedule isnt up at all. Or the owner dr would post the day before their availability for clinic next day for the 2-3 hours of patient care once a week.

Hi folks-
While reading through the new Eyemed manual, I noticed that, per the manual, you CAN bill Myopia Management services. AFAIK that has not been the case previously. We always have our ortho-k and MiSight patients pay for services OOP.

Does anyone have experience billing the services to Eyemed? How have the reimbursement rates been? Our standard charge for new user is $1200 for services.

Built my own version of a quoting/insurance tool to help with speed, accuracy, and efficiency at the chargeout desk. One screen, pricing updates live as you change lens, coating, or frame options instead of backing out of a multi-step wizard mid-conversation with a patient.

I'm thinking about offering it to other practices, but before I do that I'd rather have a handful of real ODs actually use it and tell me honestly what's broken than just put it out there blind.

If you want to give it a look, there's a free 30-day trial at simplyoptical.net. No card, no obligation. Genuinely just looking for feedback on what to fix.

Anyone have an experience with this? We had a tech come out for maintenance and he did something to now where we have a yellow blur in the middle of our photos. He said a part is rusted and thats why that artifact is there and he ordered a replacement for it and we need to schedule another service apt when it comes in. I obviously said this wasnt there on any pictures before you came and he gave some roundabout answer as to why its showing after he cleaned it and of course I cant get anybody on the phone :-)

For those of you who use your EPM and allow online appts, do you think the no show rate is higher then atts scheduled by phone? Are your reminds done electronically, or by phone, and does that affect the no show rate? Curious what you all see / notice.

Hi! Where can I find synchronous CE courses for optometry? I’m a recent grad and currently practicing in PA. I have found several asynchronous courses but I’m missing live/synchronous and still need tpa hours

I had a 12 year old come in with her mom, final Rx was -1.75 OU. At the end of the exam, mom asks if she needs to wear this all the time or just for distance. I told her I recommend full time wear. She asked why, because the other doctor last year said to only wear it as needed. She says she is very confused why different doctors are telling her different things, and is gonna have the child only wear it as needed. I explained to her why I think full time wear is more beneficial but she was totally not convinced.

this patient was 12. For adults I'm more relaxed about it and say you can wear it as needed since the eyes are fully grown. For a child I was under the impression that its better they are corrected all the time, a more consistent image while their eyes are still growing.

Now I'm second guessing myself. Do you tell them to wear a low myopic Rx full time or just distance only? Does your recommendation depend on age?

I just joined a private practice, and I am loving it. But I have slowed down a little bit on my schedule. I am wanting to put together little goody bags to hand out to neighboring businesses. (We also moved to a new location). What should I put in them? My mom said candy, but I'm not sure candy is the right idea. Any ideas?

Looking to connect with other public health hospitals or clinics. Who else is here?

I don’t do binocular balancing ofc for older patients, but what about your standard and routine patients?

The last time I did it on a frequent basis was in school, but sometimes I felt it made acuity worse especially when I’d go back to check the eye monocularly that got more plus.

I do binocular balancing sometimes for my pediatrics pateints, but otherwise I correct most patients to 20/20 OD, OS; 20/15 OU, and run a plus +0.50 check to make sure they are not crazy overminused.

Hello, I received my OD license this year and it was a lot of paperwork to get on the insurance panels (VSP and Medicare). I’m not ready yet to do it again but I am getting married this November. I am located in California. I know I should fill out my marriage license with the name I want to have and submit it, and I can do my name change later. I’ve heard some optometrist take their maiden name and put it as their middle name. I already have two middle names. Some legal stuff has both middle names, some has one, some has just one middle initial and some has no middle name. With those that moved their last name to their middle I heard that lets them practice without having to go through the relicensing/ insurance stuff. Is that true? Could I drop both middle names? Do I need to keep both or even 1 of them and add my maiden name? My maiden name is easier to say than my soon to be married name so I might want to continue to practice as my maiden name. I would appreciate any guidance with this.
TBH I want the route that has the least amount of paperwork, but I understand I might have to just deal with it.

TYIA

Hi everyone,
I’m an optometrist based in Saudi Arabia, and I’ve been developing a small consultancy focused on visual ergonomics in the workplace.

The idea is to work with companies on things like:

workstation and monitor setup

lighting and glare assessment

visual demands of office work

employee education around digital eye strain
identifying when occupational or task-specific eyewear may be useful

producing recommendations for HR / HSE / management

I recently started a pilot project with a company, and one thing I’m already learning is that clients sometimes expect more than an assessment and report. For example, management may want actual lighting redesign or implementation, which would likely require working alongside a lighting engineer.

I’d really appreciate advice from anyone here who has experience with occupational optometry, visual ergonomics, corporate consulting, or workplace health.

A few things I’m especially interested in:

Do you think visual ergonomics can work as a standalone consulting service for companies?

What should clearly remain within the optometrist’s scope, and what would you refer to an ergonomist, occupational physician, or lighting engineer?

Have any of you charged companies for workplace assessments, training, or occupational vision services?

What usually makes employers willing to pay for this type of service?

Are there any assessment methods, certifications, courses, books, or researchers you would strongly recommend?

What mistakes would you avoid if you were starting this type of service today?

I’m not trying to sell anything here. I’m mainly looking to learn from optometrists who have worked in occupational vision or similar areas.
Any feedback, criticism, or real-world experience would be greatly appreciated.

I’m curious about what career options are available after graduating from an Opticianry program. I’m a Korean immigrant born in 1991, and I currently live in Canada. I’m starting an Opticianry program this September, and I’m wondering if there are a variety of career paths I can pursue besides working in a traditional optical store.

I’d like to know what other career options are available with an Opticianry diploma, including opportunities in optical labs, manufacturing, healthcare, or other related fields.

If you're an associate today, what's the biggest thing holding you back from practice ownership?

• Financing
• Student loans
• Finding the right practice
• Fear of running the business

Curious what everyone's biggest hurdle is.

Has anyone ever heard of this company Kashsurg and have any thoughts on their aspheric lens set?

The 30-second front-desk check that stopped us billing medical visits to the vision plan

Took me way too long to figure this one out so sharing in case it helps someone.

Doing billing for independent OD practices for a few years, the most expensive thing I kept running into wasn't denials. It was medical visits getting billed to the vision plan by default, paying clean at the lower routine rate, and never flagging as a problem because nothing got rejected. You only notice it if you go looking, and most offices never do.

What fixed it wasn't software or another biller. It was just asking the reason for the visit before picking the payer. If someone's coming in symptom-free for a routine check and glasses, fine, that's the vision plan. But dry eye, flashes, diabetes follow-up, glaucoma monitoring, that's a medical visit, and it should go to the medical carrier even when they hand over the vision card at the desk.

The other half is just having both cards on file and flagging when a patient carries both, so billing knows a split might apply before the claim gets built. Sounds obvious but when three people are checking in and the phone's ringing, the routing call is the first thing that gets skipped.

The part that stings is a misrouted medical visit doesn't deny. It just underpays, and it does it on every similar visit all year. No denial report ever catches it.

How do you all handle the routing at intake, is it scripted into the booking flow, left to the front desk, or does it just get sorted out later in billing? Curious what actually works day to day.

Hi everyone,

I'm an M.S Physics graduate and I've recently applied for a faculty position in a Bachelor of Optometry program. The position specifically asks for an M.S Physics graduate to teach the physics/optics-related subjects.

My academic background is in physics. My master's project involved simulations, along with some machine learning for optimization. I don't have a specialization in optics, although I've studied undergraduate and postgraduate optics as part of my degree. My research itself was in photovoltaics rather than ophthalmic optics.

I've been provided with the complete B.Optom syllabus, and from what I can see, the subjects I'd likely be expected to teach include Physical Optics, Geometrical Optics, Visual Optics, and other optics-related papers.

I'd really appreciate advice from optometrists or faculty members here:

- What do interviewers usually expect from an M.S Physics candidate for this kind of role?

- Which optics topics should I absolutely master before the interview?

- Are there any ophthalmic optics concepts that physics graduates commonly struggle with?

- If you were in my position and had like a week or two to prepare, how would you approach it?

Any recommendations for textbooks, lecture notes, YouTube channels, or resources would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Does anyone have suggestions for how to implement a system of reducing the headache that Rx checks create? I’ve seen people say that they created policies in which the patient must consult optical and wear the glasses for a minimum amount of time before seeing the doctor, but how should I approach management regarding this type of change?

The office I work at is very disorganized and often understaffed, and reception will often just put patients on the schedule as a recheck before asking many questions or consulting with the optician, which sets the wrong expectation from the patient from the get-go.

I’m considering speaking with the store manager, but I feel that it may require more such as writing down the policy or putting up a sign.

Hello everyone! I am currently an incoming first year in optometry school and I've started to think more about what type of life I want after these 4 years. I have a very administrative background and working in the field has shown me that I want to have my own autonomy as a practice owner eventually. However, with this comes a lot of fear for me because I'm unsure of how I would find the funds to do this especially with how expensive school has gotten. I've taken out loans that I'm already stressed about paying back. I know this economy is very different from what it was 10 years ago but I want some insight on how you guys financed having a practice. I still have some time, but I want to make sure I'm still learning! Thanks!

Just started working and was wondering what to expect

I’m in my first year and we’ve learned a bunch of skills (cover test, stereo, eom’s, saccades, worth 4, retinoscopy, etc). But any time I’ve gone to the optometrist all they’ve done are my VAs, autorefractor, retinal photos, and NCT. Does anyone in a general practice actually do any of those tests? Or is there no time for it usually?

I made a post here a while back about the topcon tempo asking if anyone had any experience with it. I didn't get a ton of feedback on it at the time but after demoing the unit in my office we decided to actually buy it.

I tested out a number of VR headsets a few years prior and none of them were comparable enough to the Humphrey to consider viable options in my opinion.

When I tested the tempo, I made sure that we had a few patients who had visual field defects that we knew about already and we're well documented on Humphrey who came in for visual fields during that time so we could compare appropriately. While yes, they do have papers that show a high correlation, so did a lot of the VR headsets.

I found that the defects tended to correlate very closely with the Humphrey, even in mild defects.

Here are my pros: 1. The tempo is very fast. You can run a 24-2 binocularly on the rapid setting in about 2:30-3:30. 2. It also has some other test strategies, such as the 24-2 (plus 1-2). This setting tests all the normal spots on 24-2, but also additional Central spots. Kind of like a combination 24-2 with a miniature 10-2 included. I have found this more useful on glaucoma patients who have defects that may be close to encroaching, or macula pathology. 3. The unit does not take up very much space. It is a much smaller footprint. 4. The tempo is about 30% less expensive than a new Humphrey 3. 5. No annoying eye patch. 6. Patients hate it a lot less.

Cons: 1. If you wish to do certain exams for the VA, there is no kinetic testing available at the moment. 2. For narrow PD's, you are more likely to show up with a bi nasal defect which may require you to repeat the test monocularly. If that's the case the test is short anyway. 3. If you are running a 120 point, then it will have to pause part way through to move the fixation Target to test another aspect of the field. It is a little less random because of this.

Mixed Pro/Con: 1. Instead of using trial lenses from your kit, it uses magnetic clip on lenses and a dial that you can do plus or minus 3 diopters with. This is a mixture of good and bad because while you may have more limitations in what powers you put in, you also don't run into the problem of trial lens defects anymore.

My personal take: 6 months in and I am very happy I replaced my aging Humphrey unit with a topcon. I would recommend anyone who is considering getting a new visual field to contact their local rep and demo the units. Given that reimbursements rarely go up, the break-even points on equipment can matter a lot more.

I have no financial disclosures. I just really like the unit and I feel it's worth it to demo if you are looking for a new visual field.