Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 30 March 2017 portunity either as a standalone bill or as part of an ACA replacement. Changes to MACRA that further reduce our regulatory burden and are consistent with our core prin- ciples would be another example. If the opportunity arises for more regulations outside of the ACA to be addressed, reduced, or eliminated, we absolutely will support that as well depending on what the replace- ment to any of these regulations looks like. As always, the devil will be in the details. For the moment, however, Congress is working on a replacement for the ACA, and we need to find opportunity where and when it arises. Our mutual focus needs to be on those areas that affect us as physicians, and our patients, and those areas that reduce or elim- inate regulatory burden. We are in this together. The PAC money raised will be used to support those members of Congress that support our core prin- ciples. This is how change occurs. If you sit on the sidelines now, you will not be taking any stand at all. You could even limit our ability for success for everyone. It's really important to raise as much money as we can right now. Our opportu- nity is now. Now is the time for us to come together and get involved. We need your voice, we need your financial support, we need to join together now more than ever. I'm asking all of our ASCRS members, young and old, Democrats and Republicans, to send money into our EyePAC now, and please be generous with your support. Ideally, I'd like to ask for contributions of $1,000 or more. I realize that not everyone, especially our youngest doctors, can afford that amount, and we appreciate whatever amount you can give. We all support lots of initiatives for our local commu- nities, for our nation, and for the world. For 2017, I can't think of a better initiative to support right now than our EyePAC, and I'm asking for your support. Thanks for your consideration. Feel free to contact me offline if you'd like to discuss this further. EW Contact information Solomon: Kerry.solomon@carolinaeyecare. com and something we can and should support. In fact, we've supported this legislation in the past, but it didn't have enough votes in Con- gress to pass at that time. However, this is a different administration, a different Congress, and these are dif- ferent times. It's possible the Patient Empowerment Act will be written into a replacement plan for the ACA. If this were to occur, that would be a huge first step for medicine, for us as doctors, and for our patients, and it will help remove some of the regulatory burden that we deal with daily. This would restore some of the doctor–patient relationship core values and preserve fee-for-service. Advocating for the Patient Empowerment Act is one example of the core principles listed above we will advocate for if given the op- I think it's unrealistic to expect to eliminate all of today's regulations, I do think we can have some success if we work together. I think col- lectively we stand the best chance we've had in the past decade or more to effect positive change for the practice of medicine and for the care of our patients. The Patient Em- powerment Act is a great example. This is Rep. Tom Price's legislation Clarifying continued from page 29

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