FQHCs are community-based, non-profit health centers that provide healthcare services to underserved areas and populations. Although FQHCs predominantly provide primary care, they can also provide specialty care services, including optometry. FQHCs receive grant funding from the federal government and receive enhanced reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid. FQHCs were early adopters of integrated delivery models and thus have been trailblazers in delivering “whole person” care.
Serves underserved communities
Serves migrant and seasonal agricultural workers and their families
Serves the homeless population
Serves public housing residents
FQHCs are structured quite differently than large-scale optometry practices since they have a multi-disciplinary clinical workforce. Their leadership structures can be complex with multiple people to contact if you want to begin discussions on integrating optometry into a health center. FQHCs are required to have patients represented on the board of doctors of directors, so their governance structure is deeply rooted in their respective communities.
It is a term for a patient visit in an FQHC. The visit must be face-to-face at the FQHC site and can include one or more services. For example, a patient visits an FQHC and receives a physical, immunizations and eye exam all in the same day. This scenario constitutes one encounter.
It is the primary method of payment for FQHCs. Medicaid payments for healthcare services are made based on a predetermined fixed amount. The FQHC receives the predetermined amount for each patient’s encounter, regardless of the number and type of services delivered. Each FQHC can have a different predetermined fixed amount. PPS rates tend to be higher than fee-for-service or capitated payment rates for optometry.
Yes. An optometric patient visit is an encounter, just like any other service provided within the FQHC. Thus, the health center would receive the PPS (predetermined rate) for the encounter which includes any number of optometric and other medical services delivered in the patient’s visit to the FQHC.
It varies. Some health centers directly employ while others contract with optometrists. Optometrists’ hours vary from full-time to part-time depending on the arrangement they made with the FQHC.
Every FQHC is unique and has a different business model for optometry. Some have opticals within the FQHC and use a sliding fee scale for the sale of eyeglasses. Other FQHCs do not have opticals and instead strictly provide comprehensive eye exams and medical eye care.
A health center that meets all of the federal government’s FQHC requirements and receives enhanced reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, but does not receive grant funding from the federal government.
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Chief Strategy Officer
Dr. Lance Anderson is the Chief Strategy Officer at PECAA, where he is engaged in all aspects of company strategy. He co-founded PECAA in 2007 and helped lead the organization as it grew from a small local Portland study group to a national alliance of independently owned eye care practices. He served as a board member of Rev-360 from 2015 – 2021 and helped oversee the management and successful sale of Revolution EHR, Visionary Partners, and eventually PECAA.
He earned his Doctor of Optometry degree from Pacific University in 1991. He started his own optometry practice in 1993 in Hillsboro, OR, and was able to grow the practice into a busy three-doctor clinic. He retired from clinical care in 2021 and then moved to New York City where he was tasked with helping to integrate PECAA with the HEA buying group. He recently moved to Nashville, TN where he will continue to be actively involved in creating the future vision for PECAA as it is integrated into the VSP family of businesses.
Chief Member Experience Officer
Dr. Justin Manning is the Chief Member Experience Officer at PECAA, where he leads the member experience team, encompassing member education, the Member Business Advisory services, Events, and the Cold Start program. He is the founder and host of the Practice Advantage podcast. Prior to joining PECAA, he founded The Keratoconus and Scleral Lens Institute at Bettner Vision in Colorado Springs, and eyeLeader, a consulting company focused on leadership development, technology in eyecare, and population health.
He has contributed to Review of Optometric Business and has lectured nationally and internationally on specialty contact lenses, design thinking, population health, and the patient experience. He earned his Doctor of Optometry degree from The Ohio State University and completed a residency in Geriatric Optometry at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System in Tacoma, WA, a Master of Public Health degree at Salus University, and a graduate certificate in Customer Experience from the CU Boulder Leeds School of Business. He is driven to help all independent eye care professionals grow their businesses and enjoy their practices every single day.
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