Eyeworld

23 EW NEWS & OPINION September 2018 they or someone in their family has an eye disease. As the U.S. popula- tion ages, the burden and need for high-quality ophthalmic care in- creases with every year, yet ophthal- mologist face increasing regulatory restrictions that limit our ability to provide care to our patients. This is something that we as physicians and our patients are painfully aware of. Therefore, it is crucial for us to meet our members of Congress to educate them about how we help patients and how their decisions affect our ability to provide care. I think that physicians at the beginning of their career have less "skin in the game." That is not to say that we don't care about the future of our field or prac- tice, but rather that we may be seen as less influenced by reimbursement. This is especially true for physicians in training; I think it goes a long way to show legislators that we care about decisions being made on Cap- itol Hill and to show them how their decisions impact patient care. I wasn't sure what to expect for the event, as I had never been before. The experience was fantas- tic. There was good education and preparation for me to feel confident about representing our issues. There were also interesting talks from var- ious members of government that gave me insight into questions that I had not considered before. There is tremendous value in attending the Legislative Fly-In; it shows that we are so passionate about caring for our patients that we would take time away from our clinics and families to ensure that we are able to contin- ue to provide care for patients. One memorable experience was meeting with Senator Rob Portman's legislative assistant, who was a social worker prior to joining the Senator's office. It was great to see someone with experience in the healthcare system on the Hill to provide her perspective. She was surprised at our request to maintain MIPS; she had not had anyone come to the office to express our perspective on that issue, and I think we were effective in convincing her of our sincerity. We shared our experience encountering difficulties with prior authorization and how it affected our ability to provide prompt care. She reacted with surprise at the fact Brian Lee, MD Resident, University of Minnesota Medical School Minneapolis It is important for physicians to participate in the Legislative Fly-In to learn about pending legislation that will affect the practice of med- icine and to be involved in making suggestions and providing anecdotes to help shape that legislation. I was concerned that the meetings with legislators would be very formal. Instead, we had a lot of lectures and discussions to prepare us to learn about different political ideas, and the meetings were friend- ly and low key. I learned about how we can provide valuable input into the legislative process by showing up at the Congressional offices and speaking with the members and their aides. I learned that I could advocate for my patients' needs by sharing stories about how we could provide better care for our patients. John Liu, MD Resident, Case Western Reserve University/ University Hospitals Cleveland Ophthalmology is a specialized field, yet we provide necessary care to everyone, from children to the elderly. At the same time, most people don't have much contact or knowledge about our field, unless Visit us at AAO 2018 in Booth #2147 w w w. i n n o v a t i v e x c i m e r. c o m AMOILS EPITHELIAL SCRUBBER Uniform epithelium removal in 5 7 seconds Corneal Xlinking Improved clinical outcomes of CXL and PRK with Amoils Epithelial Scrubber • Minimize total procedure time • Avoid alcohol damage to surrounding tissue • No need for subsequent scraping order online www.innovativexcimer.com T.800.461.1200 www.innovativexcimer.com Achieve superior results with continued on page 24

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