Retinal Consultants Medical Group, Merced: NPI Registry Record and Eye Exam Cost Context
What the registry record says
- NPI number
- 1942086756
- Legal business name
- Vitreo-Retinal Medical Group, Inc
- Registered trading name
- Retinal Consultants Medical Group
- Primary registered specialty
- Ophthalmology, Retina Specialist (207WX0107X)
- Practice location
- 3185 M St Ste 220
Merced, CA 95348-2404 - Phone on the record
- (209) 549-8444
- NPI issued
- September 6, 2023
- Record last updated by the practice
- September 6, 2023
- Registry status
- NPI registry record, active as reported by CMS August 2026
- Metro area
- Merced, CA
- County
- Merced County
- Parent organization
- Vitreo-Retinal Medical Group, Inc
- Organization subpart
- Yes, this location bills as a subpart of a larger organization
- Locations under this name
- 17 registered nationally
- Location precision
- Street address matched by the US Census geocoder
Reading this record
The practice bills under the legal name Vitreo-Retinal Medical Group, Inc and registered Retinal Consultants Medical Group as its trading name, so an insurance statement may show a name that does not match the sign on the door. CMS records this location as a subpart of Vitreo-Retinal Medical Group, Inc, meaning it bills under its own NPI but belongs to a larger organization. 17 locations nationally are registered under the same name, so pricing and policies are likely to be set at group level rather than at this office. The entry was last refreshed in September 2023. That is neither fresh nor ancient by the standards of this metro, where 2 of 18 records were updated in 2024 or later and 10 predate 2020.
For local context: Merced holds 13 registered eye care practices in this snapshot, 8 of them optometry and 5 ophthalmology, in ZIP codes including 95348. 12 of them took an NPI before this practice did. The closest is Kenneth R Grossman MD Inc in Merced, 0.1 miles away.
None of this is a licensing check. CMS issues an NPI so a provider can be identified in billing transactions, and states plainly that issuance does not ensure or validate that the holder is licensed or credentialed. The California boards hold the licensing record, and the practice itself is the only source for what it charges today.
Nearest registered practices
21 other registered eye care practices sit within 25 miles of this address, a radius that does not stop at the metro boundary. Inside the Merced metro itself there are 18, 12 of them elsewhere in Merced. The closest 5 are below, measured straight line between registered addresses.
| Practice | City | Registered as | Distance | Phone on record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenneth R Grossman MD Inc | Merced | Ophthalmology | 0.1 mi | (209) 383-0989 |
| Merced Cardiology | Merced | Ophthalmology | 0.5 mi | (304) 685-7472 |
| Kellee D. Meyer, O.D., Inc. | Merced | Optometry | 0.6 mi | (209) 383-1408 |
| Gateway Optometric Center | Merced | Optometry | 0.6 mi | (209) 723-3103 |
| Merced Optometry | Merced | Optometry | 0.6 mi | (209) 385-3111 |
Distances are straight line between registered practice locations, not driving distance. Records placed at a ZIP centroid rather than a matched street address are excluded from this comparison.
What to expect to pay at an ophthalmology practice like this
The NPI registry holds no prices, so nothing here is a quote from Retinal Consultants Medical Group. Based on this site's own price research, an ophthalmology practice typically charges $150 to $300 or more for an exam without insurance, against a national average of about $136 and roughly $25 once a vision plan pays its share.
Ophthalmology visits are usually medical rather than routine, which changes who pays: medical insurance and Medicare Part B cover a medically necessary exam, while a routine refraction for glasses is normally not covered. Ask whether the visit will be billed as medical or routine before you book, and compare with the 11 optometry practices on the Merced page if you only need a prescription.