EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/511377
EW NEWS & OPINION 24 May 2015 Government relations, headed by our chair, Brock Bakewell, MD— along with Nancey McCann and her staff—keep the members informed weekly through the Washington Watch Weekly. They have won favor- able rulings for ophthalmology on the Medicare ACO exclusivity issue and steam sterilization. Also, due to our advocacy efforts in December of last year, certified ophthalmic scribes can enter CPOE (comput- erized physician order entry) for meaningful use. In addition, we were successful in overturning the CMS policy to transition all 10- and 90-day globals to 0-day globals. This would have had a huge negative impact on oph- thalmology and our patients. This is included in the newly enacted SGR repeal and replace legislation. In addition to the repeal of the SGR, the legislation provides 5 years of a 0.5% positive update to Medicare physician reimbursement and relief from the current quality reporting programs' penalties. This is a huge win for us, so I want to thank all of our members who "got in the game" and participated in the political process. Earlier, I mentioned the impor- tance of innovation in achieving our goals at ASCRS. A positive rela- tionship with the FDA is essential. Nancey, Ashley McGlone, and FDA Committee chair Natalie Afshari, MD, have worked hard to maintain a positive relationship with Malvina Eydelman, MD, and Wiley Chambers, MD, the ophthalmic division chiefs of the FDA. Needless to say, there are challenges, but maintaining that relationship is essential. Humanitarian service is another critical part of the ASCRS mission and something we are most proud of. The Robert Sinskey Eye Insti- tute in Ethiopia treated more than 16,000 patients in 2014. It continues to provide outstanding cataract care and training in a country with very limited ophthalmic resources. For the past 8 years, the ASCRS Foun- dation has been under the strong leadership of Richard Lindstrom, MD. He steps down at this meeting. Clearly, no single individual could fill those shoes. David Chang, MD, will take over the international side and Stephen Lane, MD, on the domestic. This domestic program is called Operation Sight. Starting with a goal to provide cataract service for the indigent in this country, Operation Sight has been a resound- ing success with more than 200 cataracts completed in 2014. This year, Operation Sight started a LASIK program for wounded veterans. Eric Donnenfeld, MD, Francis Mah, MD, and Gary Foster, MD, will perform the first LASIK procedures. More to follow about these remark- able programs. Our sister organization, the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA), has been a shining star under the leadership of Laureen Rowland and Sondra Hoffman. Membership has grown to 2,500. In the last year, they've intro- duced a new online learning center, laid the groundwork for 4 new re- gional meetings, and partnered with ACMS on a certification program for medical scribes. Without question, the clin- ical and meetings department is the backbone for the educational focus of this organization. Edward Holland, MD, has done a fabulous job as program chair. This group is responsible for so much of how we interact with our membership. In addition to the success of national and regional meetings, they oversaw the production of 25 publications and 5 webinars that arose from the work of the Clinical Committees. To those who volunteer for these committees—thank you. The ASCRS membership is strong and active. However, our numbers are not increasing and the demographics are changing. Fewer and fewer physicians are in solo practice. The graduating ophthal- mology residents have different goals than in the past. Most are avoiding private practice, preferring managed care organizations. They have less interest in participating or attending meetings in organizations like ASCRS, preferring online educa- tion. We need to broaden our mem- bership base—currently only 1% of our members are in managed care organizations even though 30% of all physicians are in MCOs. We need to embrace the changes that are occurring and modify our programs accordingly. As an example, we have Richard Lewis, MD, outgoing ASCRS president, discusses his tenure should feel very proud of its achieve- ments. Financially, 2014 was one of the best years in the history of the organization. Advertising revenue in EyeWorld was up 6%. Our programming and content initiatives, in partnership with The Fundingsland Group—developing physician education that's data driven, responsive to members, and measureable—has improved the quality and timeliness of ASCRS education. It will be noted in full force at this meeting. In fact, the 3rd annual ASCRS Clinical Survey is now available for members' comments. Please take time to fill out the su vey online. The use of the ASCRS IOL Calculator is a good example of the web-based education offered by our communications department. Members and nonmembers around the world use it more than 10,000 times per month. This will only increase as new data, supplied by Doug Koch, MD, Warren Hill, MD, and Li Wang, MD, provide the latest information including the effect of the posterior cornea on IOL cal- culations. The newly updated and revised calculator went live on our ASCRS website 3 weeks ago. Dr. Lewis addressed attendees of the 2015 ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress at the Opening General Session on April 18 M ore than 40 years ago, ASCRS was founded to promote innovation and education in ante- rior segment surgery. I am proud to say that it continues to thrive on those same principles today. From femto laser for cataract surgery to collagen crosslinking for keratoconus to MIGS procedures for glaucoma, ASCRS is the organization that clinicians and industry turn to. Ophthalmology is vastly dif- ferent than it was 40 years ago. Yet the focus on innovation remains as strong now as it was then. This does not come without great effort and dedication. To the entire ASCRS staff led by David Karcher and Don Bell, as well as my overachieving col- leagues who serve on the Governing Board and Executive Committee, I am truly honored to have served as president of ASCRS this past year. Those in the crowd who have been involved with this organization Dr. Lewis speaks at the ASCRS Opening General Session. Source: ASCRS continued on page 26