We sat down with VP of Professional Relations & Marketing Melissa Palmer and Chief Financial Officer Mark Scharnberg to learn how adopting CoFi has benefited Vance Thompson Vision. From improving the patient payment experience to simplifying workflows, CoFi has helped Vance Thompson Vision make payments for co-managed procedures easier for everyone involved.

What was the patient payment experience like at Vance Thompson Vision before CoFi?

Melissa: Any time a patient is counseled for a surgical procedure, especially an advanced cataract procedure, it can get complicated quickly. There's a lot to remember. They've received a lot of information. A lot of people don’t understand how their insurance works anyway, and now there’s this extra fee they owe to the co-managing OD. They’re back in the OD’s office wondering, ‘What is this fee?’ It became something that was confusing for patients. We’re all about the patient experience here at Vance Thompson Vision, and so our goal is to make things as seamless and easy as possible for the patient to understand.

How has CoFi impacted the patient payment experience at Vance Thompson Vision?

Mark: What CoFi has done has really dovetailed seamlessly into our existing process. We’re able to continue with the education of the patient and easily pull up an invoice and coordinate payment from the patient to the provider of their choice. CoFi has made things really simple for our team, and even simpler for our patients. It created transparency for the patient and the doctor providing their aftercare, so they both know exactly what to expect.

What challenges were you facing working with your co-managing optometrists?

Melissa: We work alongside a lot of ODs. We care for patients in some rural communities, and a lot of those patients want to do their after-care back home. We love how convenient that is for patients. We want those patients to have a really good understanding of their financial responsibility, but also for the offices to have a really good understanding of what they're collecting. Sometimes, there can just be a disconnect. The goal is a seamless process. Part of that is ensuring the patient payment process, from what they owe our office for our services to what they owe the OD office, is really clear. That wasn't always the case prior to us engaging with CoFi.

What was it like introducing CoFi to your network of ODs?

Melissa: In partnership with CoFi, we’ve been successful at onboarding the ODs we work with. As we rolled the platform out, we really took the approach of providing that warm handoff, just as we do with our patients when they go back to their OD for their aftercare. There were some who were a little resistant initially because it was a change, who came around when they saw how much easier it is when patients come back to them and the payment stage is already out of the way. They can just focus on the patient in front of them.

How has CoFi improved your workflows for your staff?

Melissa: One of the things that CoFi has allowed our team to do is when they are educating patients on what it is that they're going to owe for their medical portion, as well as what they will be owing the doctor who’s doing the aftercare, they're able to process both payments right then and there when the patient is educated on it. Being able to seamlessly take care of payment at that point when the patient is in our office makes it so much easier for both the patient and our team.

How has CoFi's Multi-Party Financing Integration helped your practice & patients?

Mark: To me, it’s a no brainer. Vance Thompson Vision has been partnered with CareCredit Credit Card for as long as it’s been around, and it’s been a huge benefit to our patients. We were already using the CareCredit Credit Card often for patients and then to make their lives that much easier by facilitating the aftercare payment to the OD made so much sense. It gave them just one less thing to worry about.

Has CoFi helped with compliance?

Melissa: We work really hard to maintain compliance, especially when it comes to co-managing patients. CoFi supports this by ensuring the patient pays each provider separately and directly for their respective fees. One of the things that CoFi has facilitated is better understanding for our optometrists on what it is they are collecting payment for when they provide aftercare to patients, especially the refractive aftercare for advanced cataract patients.

Mark: We did our due diligence - we went to our legal counsel and wanted to make sure from a compliance standpoint that what we were doing at the time, which was compliant, wouldn’t be compromised. It wasn’t, and in fact, CoFi enhanced it and made it simpler.

Any final thoughts about CoFi?

Melissa: For us, CoFi was an easy yes. One of the legs on our three-legged stool at Vance Thompson Vision is to always do the right thing, and if we can make the right thing to do the easiest thing to do then that’s even better. CoFi has allowed us to make the patient experience better by making the patient’s payment experience better in a way that’s compliant for both our office & the OD doing the aftercare.