Super Bowl Sunday was the culmination of a long journey for the Los Angeles Rams, defensive tackle Aaron Donald, quarterback Matthew Stafford, and many others. But for a corner of the eye care industry, it was actually the start of a different kind of adventure.

This trek may not end in Canton nor will it culminate with a Super Bowl ring. However, it offers eye care professionals a win that’s no less important: The financial freedom to build their independent vision.

Anagram joined ODs on Finance on Super Bowl Sunday for a discussion on dropping vision plans. Steve Alexander, Anagram’s head of partnerships and marketing, discussed the problem vision plans present many practitioners, detailed dropping them and previewed what comes next.

The problem with vision plans

After almost 30 years, can anyone really say that vision plans are delivering on their promises? Promises are one thing, but their track record leaves much to be desired.

Over the last few decades vision plans have lowered reimbursements while placing heavier and more burdensome resections on practices to participate. Sure, they drive patients through practice doors. But even with the best-paying vision plans, ECPs realize a mere 40% to 60% of the revenue they would with private pay patients.

Meanwhile, vision plan-owned or- affiliated competitors are cropping up in communities across the country. They’re using the money you send them in order to fund the competition that’s trying to funnel patients away from you.

How can you tackle the competition when you’re paying them?

The solution? Punt on vision plans

The solution is to punt vision plans. You don’t need them anymore. Punt them away to the insurance-chasers who don't value quality care. They’re out there and they’re a perfect match for vision plans’ standard of care. You should be focusing on your own standard of care and the patients who are loyal to it.

To start: Assess your practice’s financial standing and how vision plans affect it. Are you getting the right return for time invested? If not, maybe you should start thinking about how you can cut that vision plan from the team.

Once you’ve cut one underperforming plan you can take time to ascertain how that affects your practice. How easy is it to maintain out-of-network patients? Do the patients who leave eventually return for the quality care you offer? Were you able to replace lost business with cash-pay patients? Your unique experience with dropping one plan should inform the steps you take to separate from the other plans hindering practice performance.

Doing the work behind winning

Eye care champions are the ones who provide their patients with the best experiences without giving third-party constraints a chance to clamp down on quality of care. That means doing the work to ensure you’re providing patients a unique experience that stands out from what the vision plans are offering.

Anagram delivers the game plan that helps you score on the opposition. Our software suite for independent eye care ensures that from the exam room to the optical you and your team are providing patients with the experiences that keep them coming back.

To learn more about how you can build a winning out-of-network game plan click below: