Bringing In a Remote Associate
When can a practice add a remote associate?
Your practice must see remote patients for at least three months before adding a Procul Cura remote associate. This gives you experience with the capabilities and limitations of remote technologies.
Why start with a remote associate?
The Incremental Practice Growth plan lets you add remote physician coverage as patient demand grows, reducing the risk of paying a full-time associate before there is enough patient volume to support that role.
You can use your initial remote-care experience to decide whether adding an ophthalmologist or optometrist fits your practice’s growth plans.
How does coverage grow with patient demand?
Procul Cura recommends starting with one remote provider, one day per week, until that provider is consistently booked two weeks in advance. Coverage can then increase as your patient volume grows.
What patient volume is required?
The program has a minimum patient requirement of 16 patients per provider day. Each remote patient requires about 20 minutes of work-up time. With one dedicated lane used for both pre-testing and remote provider care, capacity is approximately 16 patients per day.
As practice efficiency improves and the provider sees more than the daily minimum, the per-patient fee is reduced relative to the larger volume. Capacity and the applicable per-patient rate depend on your practice’s workflow and equipment.
What staffing and equipment affect capacity?
The number of patients a remote provider can see depends on:
- The skill sets of your technicians.
- The sophistication of your in-house refractive technology
- Office layout, equipment placement, and tech support that will allow simultaneous care for multiple patients.
How is provider coverage maintained?
Procul Cura credentials at least two practitioners for each practice to provide coverage during parental leave, sick leave, vacation, education leave, FMLA, military leave, jury duty, and other absences.
As your practice grows, you may choose to add an in-house provider instead of expanding remote coverage.
What are the contract and renewal terms?
Each remote provider’s contract covers one year of care and renews automatically. The agreement can be amended to add remote care with the same or additional providers.
When can a practice reduce remote coverage?
A reduction in remote care can take effect only at renewal, with 90 days’ notice. Contact Procul Cura to discuss the terms that apply to your provider agreement.
- Connectivity will be determined for any vacation location prior to your planning your vacation to ensure connectivity. If connectivity is not available or not secure, options will be reviewed to remedy the situations.
- Upon request, we can provide secure internet connectivity from most international locations. Additional fees may apply.
What is the daily minimum?
Remote provider coverage is charged per patient, with a minimum patient requirement of 16 patients per day.
Each patient requires about 20 minutes of work-up time. One lane used for both pre-testing and remote provider care supports approximately 16 patients per day. Additional efficiencies can increase capacity and reduce the per-patient rate; the applicable rate is specific to your practice.
How are remote associate fees calculated?
Coverage is billed on a per-patient basis with a daily minimum. The minimum patient requirement is 16 patients per provider day, and the minimum daily coverage fee remains the same.
As the provider sees more patients above that minimum, the per-patient fee is reduced relative to the higher volume. Your practice’s patient flow, technicians, equipment, and layout affect capacity and the applicable rate.
What if patient volume fluctuates?
For example, if your practice has four lanes but schedules 32 patients per day, your per-patient fee remains at the established rate.
These are the factors that can lower per-patient costs:
- If your office is equipped to provide multiple tech testing stations so that more than one patient at a time can go through pre-testing, allowing faster patient flow, then the costs would be lowered per patient.
- If your techs or equipment can provide accurate refractions, then the cost per patient beyond the daily minimum would be lowered.
- The minimum daily fee to provide coverage will always be the same.
