Washington, D.C.—The National Association of Vision Care Plans (NAVCP) announced that it has launched an administrative simplification initiative aimed at improving current vision care treatment and billing coding, an issue identified by its Provider Council as a top concern among eyecare professionals. NAVCP convened the Provider Council two years ago to drive dialogue and build mutual understanding between ECPs and managed vision care plans (MVC). The council is made up of doctors of optometry from various practice settings, including solo practices in urban and rural locations, group practice, independent and franchisee corporate organizations and federally qualified clinic.

Inconsistent use of billing codes and definition of a routine or comprehensive vision exam by MVC plans is a constant source of confusion and unnecessary administrative burden cited by the council, NAVCP reported.

Association council and board members from several industry leading MVC plans met earlier this week to drill down deeper into the issue and discuss potential avenues to address it. That discussion was led by health care coding expert John Rumpakis, OD, MBA.

“The coding discussion is one that very much needs to be had to improve the vision care patient experience,” said Julian Roberts, NAVCP executive director. “Both plans and providers gained valuable insight from the discussion, which will continue until a workable solution that brings uniformity and standardization to the coding process can be achieved.”

An organization spokesperson told VMAIL that the council currently is made up of a dozen ODs. The council reports directly to the board. It meets approximately quarterly. One more call is scheduled for 2019, although the coding discussion may prompt more.

NAVCP is a nonprofit association serving as a unified voice for the managed vision care industry. The association provides a forum for cooperative industry collaboration on initiatives that work to preserve and strengthen consumer access to affordable vision insurance and benefits. NAVCP member companies operate extensive networks of vision care providers in all 50 states. Those networks cover approximately 170 million (53 percent) Americans.