Your 24/7 optometry answering service books exams without interrupting pretesting.

Google Calendar or Outlook, because that is where the doctors’ columns live in most practices, plus Calendly if you already book through it. Penny writes the appointment with the exam type, the plan, and the reason for the visit during the call, so the desk sees “contact lens exam, EyeMed, near blur” instead of a callback slip. HubSpot holds the new-patient lead if you market, Slack gets the after-hours alert, and your practice can connect Zapier or a signed webhook to receive the appointment record. Your team configures the receiving system; Penny has no native EHR connection. A text confirmation to the patient sits on Pro.

Penny starts at $29 a month on Starter with annual billing, with Pro at $99 adding the on-call schedule, text confirmations, and photo-by-text, and Business at $249 adding compliance mode with PHI-minimized summaries and a BAA on request. Paid plans include monthly minutes; usage above the allowance is billed at the plan’s per-minute rate. The answering service cost guide walks through both models with current, dated competitor prices.

She asks the questions your desk asks: is this the yearly exam or is something going on, which eye, when did it start. A yearly exam with a new glasses prescription goes in as routine on the vision plan. A red eye, a stye, long-standing floaters without new flashes or vision changes, or a diabetic exam goes in as medical with the carrier on the appointment, and the desk decides the coding. She does not tell the patient which benefit will cover the visit; she puts both answers on the appointment so the desk can verify before they arrive.

She does not read one. She takes the request with the patient’s name and date of birth, notes whether they want the glasses or the contact lens prescription and where to send it, and routes it to the desk, which releases copies under the Eyeglass Rule and the Contact Lens Rule the way you do today. If the prescription has expired, she offers to book the exam instead.

Yes, within the rules you set. She asks when the last contact lens exam was, and a fitting older than the prescription’s term becomes an exam booking, not an order. A reorder request becomes a callback message with the patient’s name and number for optical. Optical verifies the prescription, takes the order and handles payment; Penny does none of those things.

No. She captures the plan name and the subscriber’s name, and the member ID only if you turn that field on, and writes them on the appointment. Your desk runs the verification the way it does now, before the visit instead of at the counter. She does not tell a patient whether a plan covers the exam, what the copay is, or whether a frame allowance applies.

Yes. Tell her which doctor sees children, who does contact lens fittings, who takes medical visits, and how long each exam type runs with pretesting, and she offers slots only on the matching column. A returning patient gets the doctor they saw last unless they ask for someone else. Diabetic exams and dilated visits get the block length you set for them.

Whatever status your optical has set. Mark an order as ready from the dashboard, and Penny answers “are my glasses in?” from that status, then books the pickup or the adjustment on the optical’s calendar. If the order is not marked, she takes the patient’s name and number and tells them the optical will follow up, without guessing at a date.

She stops routine scheduling and follows your clinician-approved immediate-care instructions, including 911 or emergency care when required. The practice receives the caller’s description and callback details through your contact route. Penny does not diagnose the complaint or decide it can wait for an exam. Your doctor reviews the rules before use; the dedicated Emergency Rules page explains the setup.