When a patient comes in for an intermediate appointment, like a contact lens check, a threshold appointment, pressure check, etc-rather than asking the patient to wait for the next available eyewear stylist to “check them out” and post the services on their account/take payments, you as the front desk pro can do what we call a “Quick Check Out” and quickly assist the patient. Please do not attempt to do a quick check out for any exam patients, as they have vision benefits that must be submitted a special way that eyewear stylists are trained to do, as well as eyewear that they most likely need to order.
But for all intermediate appointments, you are welcome to assist the patient and help them leave quickly by completing these Quick Check Out tasks.
to complete a quick check out for a patient
Pull up the patient’s EHR (Exam record) in Eyecare.
Go to the “Routing” tab towards the end of the exam record. On this tab, you will see an office visit code/description to bill-jot this code down on a piece of paper.
Next, on the same tab, look to see if any other boxes are checked (these are other services that were completed during their visit). Write down the codes for the other services that are checked.
Lastly in this tab, look at the notes for the optician/notes for future appointments section. If there are any notes about the patient ordering eyewear: STOP the quick check out and politely let the patient know that you will make sure they are able to see the next eyewear stylist that is available. If there are no notes about ordering eyewear, look for any future appointments that may need to be scheduled for the patient. Jot down the notes about any additional appointments you need to schedule for them, and then “x” out of the exam tab.
Next, pull up the patient’s medical insurance card, and look at the image of the card to see if there is a copay. (IF THIS IS A CONTACT LENS CHECK, THERE WILL BE NO COPAY AND NO CHARGE). If there is a copay listed, jot this down, as this is the amount you will need to collect from the patient today.
Now, you are ready to pull up the patient’s ledger.
On the ledger, click “Service” to add a new service. In the description section, type in the office code to bill, and click “F8” to populate the total for that service. Add you initials to the AUX field, and then in the bottom of the screen, make sure the insurance listed is the patient’s medical insurance. In the amount billed to insurance field, type in the amount of the service that is listed above MINUS their copay. This is the amount that we will bill the insurance company for that service. Click save.
Next, follow the same steps as above to add any additional services that were checked on the routing sheet. Only this time, put the full amount of the service charge in the amount billed to insurance section, as the patient does not have to pay multiple copays. Continue to add services until all the checked services are added. Don’t forget to add your initials to each screen.
Now that all of the services are added, you should see on the ledger that the patient owes their copay amount, and the rest of the charges are billed to insurance. At this time, you can take the payment from the patient for their copay and post the payment on the ledger. (See the module about the Patient Ledger for a refresher on taking payments if you need it). Don’t forget to give the patient a receipt for their payment.
Lastly, you will need to schedule the recommended future appointments for the patient if there were any listed in the routing tab.
You are now finished! Thank the patient for coming in, and they are welcome to leave!