CoFi Announces 300 Eye Care Practices Now Use CoFi’s Compliant Co-Management Payments Tool for Ophthalmology Procedures

CoFi, a provider of a multi-party payments platform for elective medical procedures, announced the growing adoption of its co-management payment solution for ophthalmology procedures with more than 300 practices now using CoFi. 

Throughout ophthalmology, there is increasing awareness of allegations of non-compliance with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute when surgical practices co-manage with optometry practices, including the practice of collecting fees on behalf of optometrists, and essentially paying the optometrists like contractors. With CoFi, each party involved in a procedure (e.g., ophthalmologist, optometrist, ambulatory surgery center) collects directly from the patient, through a single, convenient, and compliant payment event at the surgeon’s office.

“Payment separation – ensuring patients pay each provider directly for their services – avoids the potential for allegations of non-compliance when collecting fees for surgical procedures,” Alan Reider of LSR Consulting, formerly at Arnold & Porter, and a consultant to CoFi, said in a company news release. “CoFi’s design addresses a key payment-related compliance risk around co-management in connection with the implantation of a premium IOL, as well as cash-pay refractive procedures, like LASIK and Refractive Lens Exchange.”