Consult a Colleague (Optometrists)
Getting out of Optos lease
Ok, I officially do not like Optos or their lease. I am now 18months into my lease I need to get out of it, desparately, for financial and marital happiness. I have not been able to medically bill it nearly as much as I was lead to believe, it has broken down about every 4-6 months, and is difficult to position anyone with smaller pupils to truly get a quality photo.
So, my question is: anyone out there been able to successfully get out of the Optos lease, and if so, how did you do it? I am willing to pay a bit of a penalty, but not be taken advantage of anymore than I feel I already have been.
Thanks
More On: fundus photography, lease, optos
Comments
Location: Charlotte, NC
Posts: 2
wow! I know the feeling. I
wow! I know the feeling.
I too signed up with Optos (1 year contract) when they offered me $100 a month promotion. What they did not tell me was that I still owed a huge chunk to the leasing company!
Much like your experience, I found that the images were not great. They kept saying it was our technique that was at fault. After 10 months I decided to reduce the footprint it was taking and tried to return and they would not even take it from my office!
I don't have any advice on how to get out of the contract - I guess you have to be persistent in your effort. Good luck...
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 1
I have just joined
I have just joined SightNation and responding very late to this post. However, I want to share the positive experience that we have had with Optos and offer some tips and encouragement. One of the most important starters is to make sure that you have a consistent volume of patients to pay for the machine. If you received poor business advice on this initially, it becomes a very stressful piece of equipment. When we first got the machine, we had one doctor that would not encourage the patients to get the photos. Once we had the support of that doctor, our numbers soared with the help of a consent form that our patients fill out. It is very simple. It explains the importance of evaluating the retina and then gives a side by side comparison of risk vs benefits of Optos and dilation. The patient then signs the consent to either accept or decline the photos. It clearly states the price of the photos and that the insurance does not cover it. If the patient has questions, our front desk answers them. If the patient still waivers, then we just encourage them to talk to the doctor. Would be happy to send you a copy. We have about 75% of our patients consent to the photos. We don't even bother to bill medically. Our machine has had only one service call in 3 years. You might want to really push for them switching out your machine if they won't take it back. Definitely have more training. I personally am not very good at taking photos. On more difficult patients, I have 2 other staff members that are more successful. If the patient is a little wiggly during the photos, one of our doctors numbs their eyes and then does retakes. I also think that some ODs have different comfort levels of what they accept as "adequate" photos. Hope this helps. Good luck! Kindly, Jeanine, Practice Manager at Peepers Optical