Americans agree that eyesight has a huge impact on their day-to-day lives and is one of the senses they fear losing most. Unfortunately, people often do not pay attention to their vision until they notice a problem. Join the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health during May, Healthy Vision Month, to encourage Americans to take steps to help make their vision last a lifetime. Read the rest of this entry ?
Archive for the ‘Eye on Washington’ Category
May is Healthy Vision Month: Optometrists should encourage Americans to make their vision last a lifetime
May 10, 2012E-signatures now allowed on SSA disclosure authorizations
May 5, 2012Starting April 21, 2012, adults who apply for Social Security disability benefits online are now able to sign information disclosure authorizations electronically, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA). Read the rest of this entry ?
Medicare Shared Savings Program begins
May 3, 2012The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched its highly touted Shared Saving Program April 1. The agency is scheduled to release the names of participating accountable care organizations (ACOs) soon. Read the rest of this entry ?
Medicare billing certificate offered
May 2, 2012The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) now offers a certificate program for health care staff members who submit claims to Medicare Part B. Read the rest of this entry ?
PECOS now accepts e-signatures online
May 2, 2012The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System (PECOS) now allows providers and suppliers to sign online Medicare enrollment applications electronically. Read the rest of this entry ?
NEI: nearly one in 10 have ‘rare’ health conditions
May 1, 2012Rare health conditions are not as unusual as the name might indicate, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). And rare eye conditions are no exception, the NIH’s National Eye Institute (NEI) adds. Read the rest of this entry ?
DEA increases controlled substance registration fee
May 1, 2012The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is increasing the registration fee for health care professionals, including optometrists, who prescribe or dispense controlled substances.
Effective April 16, the DEA’s Controlled Substances and List I Chemical Registration fee has increased to $731. Read the rest of this entry ?
Five states now offer Medicaid EHR incentives to ODs
May 1, 2012Optometrists in five states can now participate in Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Programs – with optometrists in up to a half-dozen more possibly becoming eligible for Medicaid EHR incentives in the near future, according to the AOA Advocacy Group. Read the rest of this entry ?
IRS answers AOA call to scrap discriminatory reference to ODs
April 30, 2012Bending to AOA pressure, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that it will no longer use a discriminatory reference to doctors of optometry in its annual tax guidance documents.
After hearing directly from AOA Federal Relations Committee Chair Roger Jordan, O.D., IRS officials recently affirmed that the agency will now refer to “eye doctors” in its documents as both optometrists and ophthalmologists. Read the rest of this entry ?
U.S. Senate leader introduces AOA-backed NHSC optometric inclusion bill
April 30, 2012With backing from the AOA and the Arkansas Optometric Association, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) has introduced into the U.S. Senate key legislation that would provide desperately needed access to primary eye and vision care services in underserved communities throughout Arkansas and across the nation. Read the rest of this entry ?
