seems like a scam to me...

Hi,

My wife wears contact lenses. She went to a preferred provider (for our insurance) to get her yearly eye exam. While there, the Dr. referred to it as the yearly exam. However, they wrote it up as a contact lens fitting, even though there was no fitting done; her prescription hadn't changed. While an annual exam would be covered by insurance, contact lens fitting isn't, so there is no insurance company negotiated maximum charge. This means we end up paying whatever they decide to charge. This doesn't seem reasonable to me.

Best regards,
Richard

 

**sniff**
**sniff**

Yep - smells like yesterday's diapers!

 

Dr. Who?

 

It's all in how they code it and it sounds like they used the wrong code number for the claim. I'd give them a call, explain what happened and ask if they would double-check the code - and correct it if it's wrong.

 

They coded it as a contact lens fitting with a diagnosis of presbyopia rather than an eye check up. We have talked to them and have gotten no indication that they will change it; as far as we can tell it's the way they do things.

When my wife was there, they made her pay up front (this should have been a tip off) and said that most insurance didn't cover eye check ups and they had had problems getting people to pay (imagine that).

Best regards,
Richard

 

Dr. Who?

 

Hi,

The contact lens saga continues...

First a bit more of what happened:
When my wife was there for the visit she had told them she didn't want them to order lenses at the time but later she noticed they had billed her for them. She called back when she noticed (a couple of days later) and cancelled the lenses (again, that she hadn't ordered but had been charged for). When she was in the office they had told her that it took 2-3 weeks to get lenses if she wanted to order them.

After that, my wife noticed that the prescription had changed slightly and gotten weaker, so she called the office back to see if she could get a pair of the new prescription lenses to make sure they were right. The person that answered the phone seemed surprised that the Dr. hadn't given her a set to try. After putting my wife on hold, the person came back and said that since they had ordered lenses and the lenses had come in and been returned, they didn't have a trial pair for her.

We thought that a trial pair of lenses was what the charge for a contact fitting was all about. Also, it isn't clear how lenses that take 2-3 weeks to get could show up in less than 2 days.


For those who asked the doctor Dr. is Russell Pearlman. The bill says Northern Virginia Vision Center but the web site is www.theeyecenter.com.