Coding & Billing: Incorporating Lifestyle History Into Medical History

By Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD and Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD
Wednesday, February 20, 2019 11:30 AM NEW YORK—When you care about your patient, you learn about their lifestyle and incorporate these important facts into your medical history. Often, we think of the Lifestyle History as separate from the Medical History and the Demographic History. Because documenting the Medical History is essential to coding correctly and it is often time consuming, it’s not unusual to find that the Medical History has increased in importance and the Lifestyle questioning has decreased in importance.

An Online Resource That Makes Coding for Medicare Easier

By Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD and Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD


Tuesday, October 16, 2018 11:20 AM NEW YORK—Coding for Medicare can be challenging. Here’s an online resource that can answer your questions as they arise, and help you increase your reimbursements. Medicare created resources to help providers and the Medicare Learning Network is one of those resources.

E-Blasts Are Low-Cost But Bring High-Impact

By Agustin Gonzalez, OD, FAAO, ABCMO
Monday, May 22, 2017 4:15 PM

Your patients receive e-mails every day from many businesses. Shouldn’t an e-mail, at least once in a while, be from your practice? This is how my practice ensures e-blasts to patients have an impact–even when they aren’t opened.

Five Common Social Media Blunders—and How to Avoid Them

By Maria Higgins, OD
Thursday, March 9, 2017 12:15 PM

Social media presents a prime opportunity to market your practice, but missteps can bring major downsides. Here are five common mistakes–and how to avoid them.

Five Common Social Media Blunders—and How to Avoid Them

By Maria Higgins, OD
Wednesday, December 14, 2016 1:15 PM

FREDERICK, Md.—As the owner of The Unique Technique, a business and marketing consultancy, where I am heavily involved in social media marketing for both clients and myself, I advise practices on how to use this new medium to communicate with their community and promote their practice.

EHR & PM Systems: Make Data-Based Improvements in Work Flow & Efficiency

By Gary Gerber, OD
Monday, April 11, 2016 12:00 AM Current systems for electronic health records (EHR) and practice management (PM) include specialized tools that allow you to enhance your practice efficiency, workflow and patient experience. These features help you schedule more efficiently, avoid exam lane bottlenecks and analyze how you can increase profitability by being more effective from the front office all the way through to billing

Sometimes Bonuses Work...Sometimes They Don’t

By Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD
Friday, February 5, 2016 9:05 AM
One of the issues that always comes up is should I bonus my staff, or should I just pay a flat salary. There are two different sides to this argument. One side says just pay a healthy wage and they’ll do everything that you ask of them. The other side, which is the side I tend to think about more, is that we all work on bonuses.

How Shopping Can Teach You to Increase Sales:
Stitch Fix Inspires One OD

By Jennifer Jabaley, OD
Wednesday, January 13, 2016 12:45 PM

A few years ago, I found myself in an interesting predicament while shopping for clothes to wear to a party. When I exited the fitting room to look in a mirror, the sales girl smirked that the skirt I was tugging down my legs was, in fact, a tube top. Enter humiliation. And a realization that I could no longer, in good faith, shop in the junior’s department. But where to go? I wasn’t ready for the old lady stores with boxy, embroidered sweaters, either.

When Considering EHR and Practice Management Systems: Make Data-Based Improvements in Workflow and Efficiency

By Gary Gerber, OD
Monday, June 15, 2015 12:00 AM FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J.—At The Power Practice, we work with hundreds of doctors who are constantly challenged with improving their practice workflow using EHR and practice management technology.

New SECO President, Stan Dickerson, OD, Outlines His Initiatives for the Coming Year

By Stan Dickerson, OD
Tuesday, March 31, 2015 12:07 PM ATLANTA—What an honor, privilege and feeling of real responsibility it is to be assuming the position of president of the Southern Council of Optometrists. SECO has been a leader in continuing education for 90+ years, so part of what I want to accomplish is to make sure we maintain that position in a world that’s ever changing.

Dynamically Digital Refraction

By Cheryl G. Murphy, OD
Monday, November 17, 2014 12:04 AM The refractor or phoropter has been a long-standing symbol of eye exams and optometry. But in recent years noteworthy advances have been made in the realm of refraction and to the phoropter itself. These innovations are changing the face of the exam room and the way in which subjective refractions are performed.

Sometimes Bonuses Work...Sometimes They Don’t

By Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD
Wednesday, November 5, 2014 12:05 AM
One of the issues that always comes up is should I bonus my staff, or should I just pay a flat salary. There are two different sides to this argument. One side says just pay a healthy wage and they’ll do everything that you ask of them. The other side, which is the side I tend to think about more, is that we all work on bonuses.

When Bonuses Work... and When They Don’t

By Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD
Thursday, August 21, 2014 9:30 AM One of the issues that always comes up is should I bonus my staff, or should I just pay a flat salary. There are two different sides to this argument.

Classes for the Masses: CE Shines at Vision Expo

By Cheryl Murphy, OD
Thursday, April 3, 2014 1:05 PM NEW YORK—The extensive continuing education program at Vision Expo East offers eyecare professionals the chance to brush up on the latest treatments and technologies and covers everything from contact lens to business management to disease and pharmaceuticals. But what topics were ODs most excited about learning this year and how will they use this newfound knowledge in their practice?

A Way to Manage Your Practice's Social Media Posts With Buffer

By Alan Glazier, OD, FAAO
Wednesday, November 27, 2013 7:18 AM ROCKVILLE, Md.—Social media is a thing to share and be shared. It is acceptable to share content you create, or content which you find brings value to your audience.