Products & ideas for the laboratory professional.
Issue link: https://opticallabproducts.epubxp.com/i/92532
Q&As; VSP & CONTRACT LABS VSP Discusses Future Plans for UNITY Lenses and Signature Choice In April of this year the California Optical Laboratory Association (COLA), gathered for its semi-annual meeting in Temecula, CA. As part of this year's educational program, COLA sent out questionnaires to its members requesting opinions about VSP Optics Group's Contract Lab system. VSP executives Jeff DeRose and Adam Winkelman stood in front of the group and answered those questions. BY ADAM WINKELMAN AND JEFF DEROSE SIGNATURE CHOICE Q Will Contract Laboratories have the option to participate in the Choice plans in the future? A Currently all contract labs are Choice labs. Today, Choice routing of orders only impacts choice claims placed by California and Ohio doctors. There are no near future plans to change the current model. As business needs change, so can policy. Adam Q Initially, Choice plans were targeted to government em- ployees. When and why did they get opened to everyone? A The Choice plan was created in 2006 (released in 2007) because past attempts at bidding the federal government with Signature were unsuccessful. Though it was created for that purpose, it was always open for everyone. VSP would much rather sell Signature work. With the economic downturn in 2008, selling Signature became much more difficult. Q Does VSP currently subcon- tract out overflow Choice plan orders for those labs that have a lower bid price for their regular VSP orders? 14 november 2012 Winkelman A We do not currently subcontract Choice orders. With changing business needs, almost anything is possible in the future. Q How do you respond to an OD who refuses to send you the Choice plan work citing poor quality and turnaround? A Being the recipient of forced work is often times not pleasant. By and large, the doctors accept the model, sometimes not happily. The doctor service representatives at the labs, customer service at VSP, and other provider service folks will work with any doctors where issues are escalated. Q Do ODs have an alternative to Jeff DeRose sending Choice plan orders to the Sacramento or San Diego lab facilities? A Under the VSP In-Office Finishing (IOF) program, any doctor with finishing capabilities can finish Single Vision stock lens orders in their offices. Q Are California and Ohio the only states where ODs do not have a choice of where these Choice plan Rx's are sent. A Yes, they are the only states. Q By taking over the Signature Choice Plan from all of the contract labs in California, how are the two VSP labs in Califor- nia able to handle all of the Rx work that came with it? A So far they have the capacity to handle the work and have increased shifts to compensate. Q Does VSP see the Signature Choice Plan to be the main vision plan of choice now and in the future for businesses that deal with VSP insurance? A VSP would much rather sell the Signature plan over Choice. That being said, in today's economy, Signature is certainly more difficult to sell. You sell what you can. Q Did VSP come up with the Choice plan to compete with Davis Vision, EyeMed, and Spectera? A Yes. Q Why aren't the contract labs able to process Choice Plan jobs? A Today only California and Ohio doctors are routed to VSP labs. In the beginning, Choice volume was quite low. Given the competitive (low) pricing of this plan, creative means were required to keep it solvent. A way totallyoptical.com