Direct billing is here: EyecareX now integrates with TELUS Health eClaims
Every front desk knows the ritual. A patient picks out a $600 pair of frames, hands over a credit card for the full amount, then waits weeks for their insurer to reimburse them. Some patients skip the upgrade altogether once they see the full sticker price at checkout. Others call back a week later asking your staff to walk them through their insurer's claim form.
None of that is a clinical problem. It's a billing friction problem, and it's been costing optometry practices patient goodwill and, in many cases, sales.
That's the gap EyecareX is closing with our new integration with TELUS Health eClaims, now available to EyecareX clinics.
What changes for your clinic
With eClaims connected inside EyecareX, your team can submit claims directly to a patient's insurer at the point of sale, right from the same workflow you already use for exams, orders and payments. A few concrete effects:
Patients pay only their portion. Instead of collecting the full amount and waiting on a reimbursement, your staff can bill the patient for just the balance not covered by insurance.
Coverage verification happens in real time. No more guessing what a plan covers or calling an insurer's support line while a patient waits at the counter.
Less paperwork on both sides. Patients don't have to file their own claims, and your team spends less time on manual submissions and follow-up calls.
Lower card-processing costs. Because you're billing smaller, patient-portion amounts instead of full invoice totals, your clinic's credit card fees drop accordingly.
TELUS Health eClaims already connects the majority of Canadians with private insurance to their coverage: about 70% of Canadians with private insurers use a plan supported by eClaims, and TELUS Health has over 100,000 healthcare professionals signed up nationally. In a 2023 survey of eClaims users, 94% said they'd recommend it to a peer. Bringing that network directly into EyecareX means your clinic gets the benefit without a separate system to log into or reconcile.
Built to disappear into your existing workflow
Most direct billing setups still ask your front desk to do two things at once: work the sale in your PMS, then work the claim in a separate insurer portal. That's an extra login, an extra screen, and an extra place for a number to get mistyped.
In EyecareX, submitting an eClaims claim is a single click from the same checkout screen your staff already uses. There's no separate portal to learn, no re-entering patient or plan details, and no new software to train new hires on. If someone can process a sale in EyecareX, they can already submit a claim.
The bigger time sink usually isn't submitting the claim, it's reconciling it afterward: matching what the insurer paid against what was billed, chasing down partial payments and catching discrepancies before they turn into an end-of-month scramble. EyecareX handles that automatically. Our AI reconciles eClaims payments against your billing records in the background, flags mismatches, and keeps your financials current without anyone on staff manually cross-checking statements.
That's the part that actually saves your team hours, not just at the counter, but at month-end close.
Getting started
If your clinic is live on EyecareX, direct billing through eClaims is available now. Your team can:
Confirm your clinic's eClaims registration status inside your EyecareX dashboard
Estimate your potential credit card savings using TELUS Health's savings calculator
Reach out to your EyecareX account contact to activate direct billing at your location
Once it's on, there's nothing extra to teach your staff. They check out a patient, click to submit the claim, and EyecareX takes care of matching the payment when it comes in. Patients simply see a smaller balance due at checkout, and a faster, simpler visit overall.
Direct billing is provided through TELUS Health eClaims. Feature availability may vary by insurer — check the eClaims FAQ for details on your patients' specific coverage.
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Optometry practice management software that automates charting, recalls, billing, and pre-visit testing.
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