Medicare has begun issuing payments for the 2011 electronic health record (EHR) incentive program and the 2010 e-prescribing incentive program to physicians, including optometrists, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Payments for EHRs occur when a qualifying physician reaches $24,000 in Medicare-allowed charges this year, while e-Rx bonuses are 1 percent of Medicare-allowed charges in 2010. The e-Rx feedback reports should be available immediately after the payments are completed in August, according to the CMS. Read the rest of this entry ?
Archive for August, 2011
Medicare offers help on e-Rx, PQRS
August 31, 2011The Medicare Learning Network® (MLN) – the official U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) source of information for Medicare fee-for-service health care practitioners – offers a number of resources (including several introduced over the past month) to help practitioners understand the Medicare e-Rx incentive program and other Medicare initiatives.
MLN Matters® Special Edition Article #SE1120 – titled Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program 2011 Updates – which provides up-to-date information about the program, is now available online at http://tinyurl.com/MLNSE1120. Read the rest of this entry ?
Letter to the Editor: Relationship with VSP
August 31, 2011Editor,
The Texas Optometric Association (TOA) board met with VSP representatives at our board meeting to try and answer some questions about our relationship with them. Two days after the meeting, VSP announced that, in addition to Costco, Eyemasters will now be a VSP affiliate provider. They somehow failed to mention that at our meeting, and I believe that is a commentary on the relationship. Read the rest of this entry ?
Georgia OD wins special election
August 30, 2011
James Beverly, O.D., won a Georgia state representative seat in a special election last month. Dr. Beverly, a Democrat, won with 65 percent of the vote.
Dr. Beverly is filling the vacant seat previously held by David Lucas who left to run for the state Senate.
Dr. Beverly will represent Macon, Ga., in House District 139.
According to Dr. Beverly’s campaign Web site, he owns MidTowne Vision Center and Goggles Eyecare 4 Kids and specializes in children’s vision. He offers free eye exams through the county’s Head Start program and participates on mission trips. Read the rest of this entry ?
Illinois expands prescriptive authority
August 30, 2011Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed the state’s optometric prescriptive authority expansion bill into law on July 22.
“This is a very good day for us here,” said Mike Horstman, executive director of the Illinois Optometric Association (IOA).
The optometry act originally established prescriptive authority by classes of drugs. The new law adds two new categories of drugs: anti-dry eye agents (which technically did not fall into any of the classes) and drugs used to treat hypotrichosis (these include Latisse and other drugs used to grow eyelashes). Read the rest of this entry ?
Fighting the good fight
August 30, 2011My 77-year-old patient, George (not his real name), was waiting for me to get home from Optometry’s Meeting® in Salt Lake City in June. On that Monday morning he appeared in my office stating that for the last few days he had been noticing intermittent episodes of blurry vision. He lives a half-hour from me and one and a half hours from any other provider. He knew there was something wrong, but traveling to another provider wasn’t something he could easily do. As it turned out, he was having intermittent angle-closure attacks, and I helped him get the care he needed. He’s doing well. Read the rest of this entry ?
Utah ODs honor Sen. Orrin Hatch for health care leadership
August 30, 2011
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is presented with the 2011 AOA Health Care Leadership Award by Mathew Findlay, O.D., president of the Utah Optometric Association (UOA), and Dale Hardy, O.D., UOA vice president.
Sen. Hatch, the top Republican on the powerful Finance Committee and former chair of the Health Committee, has worked closely with Utah optometrists on patient access and Medicare physician payment issues.
During a day of meetings on Capitol Hill scheduled in coordination with the AOA Washington office team, Dr. Findlay and Dr. Hardy briefed Sen. Hatch and Utah’s U.S. House delegation on AOA-backed legislation before Congress.
Shown from left are AOA Washington office Director Jon Hymes, Dr. Hardy, Sen. Hatch, Dr. Findlay and AOA staffer Matt Willette.
EyeLearn™ debuts to rave reviews
August 30, 2011More than 200 optometrists logged onto EyeLearn,™ the AOA’s new optometric education Web portal, during its first two weeks online.
Hundreds more personally visited the AOA Central display at Optometry’s Meeting® for a personal demonstration of the new online education site, after it was officially launched on June 1.
“The early response clearly suggests that EyeLearn™ is well on its way to becoming the first truly comprehensive education Web portal for optometry,” said AOA Trustee Christopher J. Quinn, O.D. Read the rest of this entry ?
It’s a beautiful day!
August 18, 2011Editor’s note: this column contains excerpts from the inaugural address given June 18 at the AOA House of Delegates.
It’s a beautiful day to be an optometrist! Much has been said of a woman finally ascending to the office of president of the AOA. While I have tried to not make much of this, I want to share THIS story. In James Gregg, O.D.’s book, “American Optometric Association – a History,” he wrote about a meeting of the American OPTICAL Association, which took place in August of 1911. He wrote: “Mild revolutions began at the 1911 convention at the Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City, and some precedents were broken. The ‘revolt’ came from the West; and as might be expected, California was in the center of the ruckus. Perhaps fortunately, it was a lady, Mrs. D. Elva Cooper, an AOA member from Bradford, Pa, who delicately presided over the stormy session.” Read the rest of this entry ?
AOA HOD topics include board certification, defense fund
August 18, 2011The AOA House of Delegates (HOD) adopted five resolutions at Optometry’s Meeting® this year. Two resolutions referred to the House without recommendation by the Resolutions Committee failed to be adopted. In addition, seven resolutions were withdrawn from consideration by their sponsors.
Adopted resolution 1 “encourages the affiliated state associations, their leadership and members to join the APHA (American Public Health Association) and state public health associations.” For the first time, an optometrist, Melvin Shipp, O.D., incoming dean of The Ohio State University College of Optometry, is serving as the president of the APHA. Read the rest of this entry ?
