Summit Vision Center

Dr. Langford August 13th, 2006

Summit Vision Center in Smithfield, UT (435-563-2020) accepts many insurances. If you don’t see yours on the list, then please call 435-563-2020.

Vision Plans:
VSP (Vision Service Plan)
EyeMed

Major Insurance Carriers:
BlueCross BlueShield (Traditional and ValueCare)
Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators (DMBA)
United Health Care (UHC)
Medicare (age 65 and over)
Medicaid (lower income)

Many insurances will let you see any doctor (like Campbell Scientific). Some insurance plans provide an “out-of-network” benefit to allow you to be partially reimbursed, so check your plan.

A word about IHC, now called SelectHealth. If you do a search on the IHC website for optometry providers allowed to bill IHC, then you will find a short list. All of them are outside the Provo-Salt Lake City-Ogden-Logan corridor and in rural areas. (An unusual exception is Brigham City and St. George.)

Of course when I opened my practice, I wanted to be allowed to see IHC beneficiaries. I sent a letter of intent with my credentials to Vickie Szemerey, an Intermountain Healthcare Ancillary Provider Representative. I was hoping Smithfield was considered rural enough, or whatever the requirement is, to allow me, an optometrist, to bill IHC.

They sent me a voice mail back saying that “The panel is limited in that area, and we are not accepting new provider applications at this time. I will keep your letter of request and interest on file so that if there should be a need in that area and we open a panel in the future, I can be sure to get back in touch with you.”

If that is the truth, why would they limit the panel in our area? It can’t be that there isn’t enough demand or need. The ophthalmologists in our area are booked up. The last time I phone shopped (around May 2006), the soonest I could get in for a routine eye exam was one week, the latest was 3 months:
Dr. Siler 10 weeks
Dr. Waterman 5 weeks
Dr. Raymond 3 weeks
Dr Jaussi 1 week
Dr Young- not accepting new patients

I can get you in the same day. The new SelectHealth commercials on TV advertise quick access to care. Waiting over a week to get a routine eye exam when your glasses break is not quick access to care. Having to fight traffic in Logan to be seen for a red eye problem is a hardship. You could just as well see your hometown eye doctor in Smithfield-except your insurance won’t allow/pay for it right now.

I would urge all people with SelectHealth/IHC insurance in Smithfield and north Cache Valley to please contact IHC and ask them to open the eyecare panel in Cache County. A good place to start might be Vickie Szemerey at 1-801-442-5673. You deserve to see any willing provider. It’s no skin off their nose, because they would compensate me the same, if not less, than an ophthalmologist. We must break down what I assume is politics in the IHC administration to allow for quicker, more convenient, access to patient care.

9-5-2006 edited to add:
IHC’s SelectMed Plus and SelectCare Plus beneficiaries may see secondary care out-of-network providers, like Dr. Langford, but then your minimum copay is roughly $35 and the coverage is around 40% after the deductible is met. Dr. Langford would like to become a participating provider with SelectHealth, so IHC beneficiaries should contact SelectHealth and request that the panel be opened for optometry practices in Cache county.

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