CoFi puts an end to payment pain.

It’s a common scenario that plays out at eye-care offices everywhere: Patient has LASIK procedure. Patient pays ophthalmologist. Patient visits optometrist for follow-up exam. Optometrist charges patient. Patient objects, saying they already paid the bill. Optometrist explains the follow-up visit must be paid for separately.

And so it goes, until the patient finally — sometimes grudgingly — pays the bill.

But scenarios like this are becoming less common, thanks to CoFi, a cloud-based platform described by its developers as a “breakthrough” in payment, compliance and patient convenience for eye-care providers that co-manage elective-procedure patients.

Introduced in spring 2021, CoFi (www.cofimd.com ) enables patients to pay multiple providers — ophthalmologists, surgery centers, comanaging optometrists — in one fell swoop — er, swipe — at the surgeon’s office counter.

“It’s like the ophthalmologist is putting the credit card readers and check deposit apps for all of their comanaging doctors right in their own office, except that we do it through software,” says Sean Hanlon, co-founder and CEO.

According to Mr. Hanlon, CoFi presents a host of advantages for everyone — care providers and patients — involved in premium cataract, LASIK and other elective procedures.

BENEFITS FOR OPHTHALMOLOGISTS AND OPTOMETRISTS

Ophthalmologists using CoFi never have to accept payment on behalf of their co-managing OD or other providers — nor do they have to ask patients to cut multiple checks or call the OD to run their card over the phone.

Optometrists, meanwhile, receive payment upfront at the same time as the surgeon, avoiding the confusing collections event at their office during which patients sometimes believe they have already fully paid for their procedure. CoFi also eliminates the risk of missed revenues from patients who skip post-op care; the overall lack of transparency into the patient’s journey; and the risks of appearing to have violated regulatory standards.

With respect to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, Mr. Hanlon explains, surgical ophthalmologists are wise to avoid collecting fees on behalf of optometrists and then sending them checks, as this could be seen as an “inducement” for referrals.

To reduce even the appearance of impropriety, patients should pay each provider individually. Mr. Hanlon says this can be confusing and, as described in the above scenario, laden with tension for providers and patients alike. CoFi’s collaborative payment platform addresses all of these issues by enabling each provider and the facility to collect directly from the patient in separate transactions — but with just one convenient payment event for the patient at the surgeon’s office.

With CoFi, neither the company nor the ophthalmologist serves as a third-party collection agent.

“There’s no card reader. It’s all done through our software application, which is accessed through a web browser,” Mr. Hanlon says. “CoFi does not take in any money and send it anywhere. Just imagine that behind our website are multiple card readers that you can’t see, one for each party involved in the procedure.”

Ophthalmologists, optometrists, and ASCs opt into the platform individually. Mr. Hanlon says the company charges a small transaction fee for each payment. Providers who don’t join the platform must still be paid separately by the patient. Once the ophthalmology practice engages CoFi, the company does the rest, approaching each optometry practice and ASC on behalf of the ophthalmology practice. After a demonstration of the product, each party signs up as a merchant on the platform to be able to charge patients directly and receive patient payments.

BENEFITS FOR PATIENTS

According to Mr. Hanlon, the company has signed some 400 practices since the platform was launched. Parkhurst NuVision in San Antonio, is one. Founder Gregory Parkhurst, MD, a LASIK and cataract surgeon, says CoFi has been a welcome addition to his practice, its referring independent practitioners and its patients, especially with respect to payment-related issues.

“It’s pretty cumbersome for patients that have to make multiple payments to multiple entities that are involved in a surgical event,” says Dr. Parkhurst, whose practice has used CoFi since August 2021.

That’s especially true of cataract patients, he says, many of whom undergo separate surgeries for each eye within weeks of each other. This requires multiple appointments, including preop visits, the surgical procedure itself and postop visits for each eye. In many cases, patients must also visit different locations — the surgeon’s office, the surgery center and their optometrist’s office if the patient elects to being co-managed.

“It creates a lot of visits, and it creates a lot of opportunity for many different places and entities to generate a bill for their services,” Dr. Parkhurst says. Instead of paying each provider separately, he says, “It’s much more convenient for the patient to just swipe their card once and not have to be reminded of ‘What am I paying you for now? How much do I have to pay here?’ This is especially easy to forget for our older patients.”

“[CoFi] makes the patient experience so much more streamlined and modern,” he adds. “These days we pay with apps like Venmo and we’re all so used to having things be easy and digital and transparent. This platform creates that environment for the patient.” OM

To learn more about CoFi, visit www.cofimd.com .