Schedule it in now to join us Nov. 2-5 this year, and plan to bring key people from your team. Time spent working on your business with your SNAPP colleagues is so valuable, and it’s a great way to get the key staff engaged and involved in a shared mission of success. Let them experience the education and networking first-hand. Through these shared collaborations, you can be energized together about implementing new strategies that can help deliver improved patient care and grow your business.

Register now on the Clearwater 2025 page, and learn more about the meeting experience. We'll update this registration site whenever new information becomes available. There’s still time to take advantage of the stipends available for attending, making team attendance an even more affordable investment.

Dr. Kopolow says that the reception among the dozen or so legislators that the group visited was positive. He credits the American Optometric Association (AOA) with its support of state advocacy issues. “If you’re not a member of the AOA—and membership is not limited to optometrists—you should be. The level of advocacy they’ve provided to advance the rights and scope of optometry has been excellent.”

Track Nevada Bill AB448 here.

Dr. Kopolow (second from right) and a team from the NOA with their lobbyist visited legislators

Hawley says that there was a lot to learn from the close-knit camaraderie of a focused group. “It’s a place to share the more intimate details of the business, the financials and other issues faced when managing people,” she says. “That’s big for me because I’m reminded that I’m not alone in the day-to-day.”

Hawley enjoys attending the annual SNAPP meeting each year, and she also makes time to connect with her SNAPPGroupMasterminds group twice in person and twice virtually per year. SNAPPGroupMasterminds focuses on four main points: profitability, operations, identity and enterprise. The program has provided specific insights of her business metrics, which has led to a better understanding of how to use this data to make tweaks and identify areas to focus on as well as set goals.

Support Throughout the Year

The shared group chat extends the conversation, and she says it’s active on a weekly basis. “There are people asking questions, giving updates and sharing something that they found or a fix for something,” Hawley says. She’s implemented many great ideas from her SNAPPGroupMasterminds colleagues, including a system for tracking trays in the lab as well as utilized services that others were using such as a billing company.

Hawley says her overall goal in joining this group was to “learn more about my business and use my peers as a good resource. There are a lot of good, business-minded Pearle owners out there, and we can learn from each other.” She’s pleased that the program has delivered just what she was looking for; as she and colleagues share their similar encounters and pain points, Hawley says it validates that her experiences are normal. “The mix of ODs and people like me—who are opticians—have two very different perspectives on the business. It’s valuable understanding the other’s point of view and areas that are not in my wheelhouse,” from discussions on equipment and contact lenses to how to manage the doctors on her team.

Tap Into the Potential

SNAPPGroupMasterminds is limited in size to maintain the depth of discussion and personalized support, including deep-diving expert group analysis of financial data, introspective examination of perceived market position and much more. Interested in applying for one of the limited slots available? Email SNAPP Member Services at memberservices@snappgroup.org to learn more.

Eye care professionals (ECPs) know that Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) provides two sets of codes for doctors to represent office visits on claims: the evaluation and management series codes (992xx) and the general ophthalmological service codes (920xx). ECPs also recognize that these 13 available codes are further broken down into 6 viable codes for “new” patients and 7 for “established” ones. But what’s the real difference between “new” vs. “established” and why does it matter?

Compliance: Choosing the Right Code

For starters, it matters for compliance purposes. CPT defines the requirements for each code that might be applied to a claim. And since it’s part of the doctor’s responsibility to select the code that most accurately represents the service provided, failure to do so can result in challenges in an audit.

Reimbursement: Understanding Fee Differences

This differentiation also matters for fee schedules and reimbursements. Payors recognize that “new” patients require a bit more time and work than established ones. As such, the relative value units (RVUs) of these services are higher and, accordingly, so are the reimbursements. Thus, a logic-based fee schedule for a practice should also consider this difference in patient status.

Defining "New" vs. "Established"

With that in mind, a ”new” patient is one who hasn’t received professional services from you or any other provider of the same specialty in the same practice within the last three years. That means if you saw a patient four years ago and they are now returning to the practice for care, they would be considered “New” for coding purposes even though you had seen them before. On the other hand, if that patient saw another optometrist in your practice two years ago, they would be considered “established” for today’s visit even though it has been four years since you were their provider.

Reach out to the HELIX team with any billing questions you have. We might have the solution for you.

Photo credits—Getty images: top column: jacoblund; what's new: ninitta; update: Melpomenem; steps: ckbaby; rosemary: WebMD