News from the AOA's Blog

Medicare is, at least for the moment, continuing to process claims for products and services as usual – even when they have been ordered by health care practitioners who do not have a complete Medicare enrollment record in the database known as the Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) – while U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officials finalize a new regulation requiring Medicare enrollment data to be included in PECOS, work to simplify the Medicare enrollment procedure, and attempt to clear a backlog of enrollment applications from health care practitioners now in the system.

However, that will change in the coming months as the final regulation on Medicare ordering and referring is released, CMS officials emphasize. Read the rest of this entry ?

Core elements

Objective: Record patient demographics (sex, race, ethnicity, date of birth, preferred language).
Measure: More than 50 percent of patients’ demographic data recorded as structured data.
Objective: Record vital signs and chart changes (height, weight, blood pressure, body mass index, growth charts for children).
Measure: More than 50 percent of patients, two years of age or older, have height, weight, and blood pressure recorded as structured data.
Objective: Maintain up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses.
Measure: More than 80 percent of patients have at least one entry as structured data. Read the rest of this entry ?

 Final rules for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) electronic health records (EHR) program, released July 13, will make it easier for health care practitioners to qualify for EHR utilization incentives — with greater flexibility, fewer requirements, and lower reporting thresholds, according to department officials.

However, health care providers can still face difficulties in adopting EHR systems, HHS National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Blumenthal, M.D. acknowledged during a press conference.

The HHS’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates only about one- to two-thirds of eligible health care professionals will qualify for limited-time payment bonuses that, beginning in 2011, will be offered under the Medicare and Medicaid programs for health care practitioners who install EHR systems and meet criteria for the “meaningful use” of those records systems in patient care. Read the rest of this entry ?

Barb Horn, O.D., and Lillian Kalaczinski, O.D., meet former President Bill Clinton.

AOA Clinical & Practice Advancement Group Executive Committee Chair Barb Horn, O.D., and Community Health Center Committee member Lillian Kalaczinski, O.D., meet President Bill Clinton at a reception honoring Congressman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.).

Rep. John Boozman, O.D. (R-Ark.) delivers closing remarks for the July 14 VA Low Vision and Vision Rehab briefing on Capitol Hill. Seated in the background is keynote speaker Michael Fischer, O.D., chief of Optometry at the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Long Island, N.Y.

Rep. John Boozman, O.D. (R-Ark.) was joined by nearly 100 other members of Congress, congressional staffers and a range of health care policy guests for what turned out to be the largest-ever single optometry-led briefing aimed at helping bring further attention to the increasing need for low vision and vision rehabilitation services among America’s veterans as well as the general public.

The July 14 event was titled “Low Vision and Vision Rehabilitation: A Growing Need” and featured an introduction by Mark Ackermann, president and CEO of Lighthouse International; a welcome address by Rep. Gene Greene (D-Texas), co-chair of the Congressional Vision Caucus; a keynote presentation by Michael Fischer, O.D., chief of Optometry Service at the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), Long Island, N.Y.; and finally, closing remarks by Congressman John Boozman, O.D., also a member of the Congressional Vision Caucus and the only optometrist currently serving in Congress.

During his keynote address, Dr. Fischer, who is a member of the AOA Vision Rehabilitation Section, highlighted some of the major causes of low vision in adults, namely age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and cataracts. Read the rest of this entry ?

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) has successfully convinced the American Medical Association (AMA) to approve and formally adopt a new policy to unequivocally condemn and launch an aggressive lobbying campaign aimed at the repeal of the Harkin Amendment, the landmark AOA-backed patient access to care provision included in the national health care overhaul law approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama earlier this year.

Bolstered by AOA Federal Keypersons, AOA-PAC investors, state affiliated association leaders and staff, and concerned doctors and students from around the country, the AOA led a successful effort in 2009 and 2010 to make new patient access safeguards to optometric care a key element of the health care reform debate in the nation’s capital, which culminated in late March with approval of the Harkin Amendment and final passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA). Read the rest of this entry ?

The AOA Advocacy Group and AOA Research & Information Center will be sending a survey regarding Medicaid participation and policies to a sample of AOA members and all state affiliate executive directors this month.

“I want to encourage you to take a few minutes to complete and return this survey in order to help us determine tendencies and perceptions in our profession as they relate to Medicaid programs across the country,” said AOA President Joe Ellis, O.D. “The results will be used by the AOA Advocacy Group and state affiliates as a tool in educating policymakers and administrators. Medicaid’s goal to make high-quality medical care accessible to low-income Americans is dependent on doctors’ willingness to accept these patients. Through your participation in this survey, we hope to gain a greater understanding of how we can better serve you and your patients by urging policy changes pertaining to this program.” Read the rest of this entry ?