Treating friends and family

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Eyeman2

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I was just wondering what you guys think about treating friends and family without exams. For example re-newing their contact lens rx that was from a previous doc. Or prescribing restasis for their dry eye.

Thanks

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sounds like crappy care to me
 
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New docs (of all types) find out very quickly that as soon as they receive their license, family and friends come out of the woodworks. They instantly assume you are a multi-millionare (and will continue to think this no matter what you say or do). Your 3rd cousin on your father's side that you haven't heard from in 20 years, since you both were on the tetter-totter, will call wanting some colored contacts send to him. A girl you went to 1st grade with will call and ask you to give her some drops for her kid's pink eye. And you will be an ass if you refuse to give a kid you went to high school with a extension of his already 3 year overdue contact lens prescription.

It's unfortunate, but if you have your own practice, you have to draw the line some place. If you have an idiotic family like mine, it will cause some friction. I give my immediate family (mom, dad, brother, sister) free care. In-laws are tricky. Could go either way. I don't like my sister-in-law so I charge her full price and she is very cheap so she refuses to come to me. I call that a 'win-win' :)

Good friends (one or two) might get free stuff but other than that, it's full price. Hey, you have a business to run. I do offer anyone that asks, a discount, that I will be happy to provide equal to whatever percentage of my electric bill or rent they are willing to pay that month. SO far in 15 years, I've never had one taker. Damn!

You will lose some friends over the little 'd0 I get a discount' dance we all play.

All the more reason I'm getting run out of business by Mart-Wall and 1-800-Gime-a-CL. Their prices are cheaper than I buy them for from the damn company. :pirate: Oh well, at least there are all these old people with cataracts and jacked up corneas to photograph.
 
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Also, your third grade teacher's uncle's best friend will demand a free pair of glasses, and you will be eating scraps out of the dumpster behind the Walmart across the street for having chosen Optometry as a career. Of course, it may be possible that not every Optometrist will encounter these exact situations, but I've always believed Tippytoe's experiences to be indicative of the profession as a whole.
 
Thanks for the replies! Yea my friend just asked me for a contact lens rx. I told him what you guys said
 
Anybody know the rules for 1800 contacts? What do the pts need to order cls
 
All a human needs to order contact lenses in an internet connection and a credit card. Supposed to have a valid CL Rx...........but in reality............just need a credit card and the Rx off your box. Or if you want colors, just visit any number of your local hair salons or flea markets. In my early years I turned these places in routinely but after seeing nothing ever happening to them, I gave up that fight.

1-800 was the first 'big'boy ' in the game but there are now many others. There is a weak '8-hour' rule where the seller (internet company) has to bother us (even through we have already given the pt the CL Rx) and we are given 8 "business hours" via fax to respond. Mind you, not YOUR business hours---just whatever the online company wants your business hours to be. So if you don't deny them within the 8 hours, the Rx goes through. I seem most of these such faxes on Monday morning when I come into work dated from Saturday 3am or something and the pt has already been shipped their contacts. I don't mind these sneaky tactics much since I've given up any profit on selling CLs years ago. Might as well be OTC actually at this point, as far as I'm concerned.
 
What if I don't have a fax? If my friend goes and buys it and uses my name
 
What if I don't have a fax? If my friend goes and buys it and uses my name

?? I thought you came to the correct conclusion that your friend needs an eye exam and not just use your $200,000 degree as a means to cheap contacts.
If they're getting a comprehensive exam, then they can walk out with the prescription.

Otherwise, the online company will want to verify the Rx with a fax, and if you're not currently working at an office (and having seen the patient), then it should (technically) be denied.
 
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Yea my friend backed off. I asked about the fax just in case. Cause I think my brother needs contacts soon. I gave him an exam last year but he's currently in another state
 
Online CLs is not a battle worth fighting. That ship has sailed long ago.

Before I bought my practice, I worked in a town where there were four ODs. Since my last name started with "E", I was the first doctor listed on the drop down menus for various internet CL sites. Frequently, patients who weren't even in that practice, let alone actually seen by me would try to order online and just use my name because it appeared first on the drop down menu.

Like Tippytoe said, often times those faxes come at odd ours and/or not at all and the lenses still get shipped. I was probably the top CL prescriber in my town for those years. :thumbup:
 
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