Vision Therapy And Third Party Reimbursement.

With any practice, whether specialized or not, reimbursement from third parties is a necessary aspect. Third party reimbursement can determine if some patients will undergo treatment, Some patients are not willing to pay out of pocket it their insurance does not cover the therapy. I had this experience at Ferris State University
Optometry Clinic in the spring of 1993. Vision therapy reimbursement was requested through Medicaid for one of my vision therapy patients. Upon denial due to lack of information, the parents decided to go with strabismus muscle surgery rather than wait for prior approval from Medicaid for vision therapy or pay out of pocket. The strabismus
surgery was immediately approved because it was a surgery which is a medical procedure and does not require prior approval. This experience is what prompted me to do more research and find out if requesting third party reimbursement was always so difficult.
That spring two other Medicaid patients were also submitted for
prior approval for vision therapy reimbursement and were also denied
d ue t o 1 ac k o f 10 n f ormat10 on.