By Cathy Ciccolella
Senior Editor
NEW YORK—A new managed vision care company, ExcelVision, will be at this month’s International Vision Expo East signing up eyecare professionals for its provider network, with a goal of having its panel—representing all three O’s—reach 20,000 providers by this time next year.
After more than a year of planning, ExcelVision is getting underway in the first quarter of this year, and providing its first vision services this month. Jeffrey Cohen, who also retains his position as president of General Vision Services—the regional, union-oriented managed vision firm based here—is ExcelVision’s president, although the two companies remain separate entities. ExcelVision’s chief executive officer is Joe Zambito, whose experience in the managed vision field includes positions with Superior Vision and Pacific Care Dental & Vision.
Another key executive, senior vice president of sales Steve Eisenberg, has nearly 30 years’ experience in the insurance industry.
“ExcelVision has developed a high-quality, fully insured vision plan with a national footprint, with policy filings in 50 states,” Zambito told VM. “Our distribution partners represent a membership base of more than 11 million lives.”
As customers, the new company is targeting both large and small employers, as well as unions, from across the country, and is talking to insurance brokers as well to carry its products. “We’ll be focusing on meeting the needs of our members and also the additional needs of groups, brokers and providers,” Zambito noted. “Although we’ll have providers in all 50 states, to work smarter our strategy will be to focus on the country’s top 100 metropolitan statistical markets, which hold about 80 percent of the country’s population.”
Cohen said the provider panel, while open to ophthalmologists, optometrists and opticians, as well as some chains, will emphasize independent ODs in particular. Some eyewear chains—including franchised locations of Cohen’s Fashion Optical and Sterling Optical—have already signed on, he noted.
“We have innovative products on the drawing board we plan to launch in 2010,” Zambito added. “We’ve designed our products to be very flexible, so groups can pick and choose any kind of benefit they want; we’ll also customize our offerings to meet what brokers want.
“In addition, we’ve invested in information technology that will make us more effective and allow our members and groups to have easy access to information about our programs and eligibility requirements, and submit claims electronically,” he told VM.
The firm’s new Web site, www.ExcelVision.net, is expected to be up and running this month. In the meantime, ExcelVision has an email address specifically for providers seeking more information about the company: [email protected].
Added Cohen, “We’ve taken a booth at Vision Expo East, Booth # 2400, to show our commitment to eyecare providers and to discuss how we can work together. A lot of stores and doctors accept discount plans these days, but we have a fully insured program comparable to what the big names in managed vision are offering.” ■
