June 22-24, 2012
The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes
Orlando, FL
For complete meeting details or to register, please visit: www.ophmasters.com

2012-2013 Nominating Committee Recommendations

The nominating committee chaired by Stephen G. Schwartz, MD, MBA, recommends the following slate of candidates for the 2012-2013 term:

President-Elect: Jamie Membreno, MD
Vice President: Rick Bendel, MD
Secretary-Treasurer: Joseph Trentacoste, MD

Note: Charles B. Slonim, MD will assume the position of President and William J. Mallon, MD will assume the position of Immediate Past-President.

The nominating committee for 2012-2013 includes: William J. Mallon, MD, Stephen G. Schwartz, MD, Gary B. Schemmer, MD, Michael W. Stewart, MD, David B. Cano, MD and Val Zudans, MD. The Board thanks them for their participation.

In accordance with the FSO bylaws, Dr. Slonim will assign the remainder of the Committee positions for 2012-2013. Anyone who wishes to serve in a leadership position or on a committee should contact the Associate Director, Colleen Filbert, (cfilbert@mdeye.org) by June 15th. Please include a CV and a letter describing your interest in serving in one of the following areas:

Education
Program Committee

Advocacy
Legislative Committee
FMA Delegates

Outreach
Membership Committee
Ethics Committee
For Eye Care Foundation, Inc. (FSO Foundation)
Public Relations Committee
Managed Care/Third Party Liaison Committee
Industry Relations Committee

2012 Annual Awards

This FSO is accepting nominations for the annual awards that will be announced at the 2012 Masters in Ophthalmology Meeting that will be held at the Ritz Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes in Orlando, FL, June 22-24. If you would like to nominate someone for one of the awards described below, please send your nominations along with their contact information to the FSO office at 6816 Southpoint Parkway, Suite 1000, Jacksonville, FL 32216 or submit the nomination online at www.mdeye.org. Please be sure to include information on why you are nominating the person for the selected award. Please submit nominations no later than Friday, May 25, 2012.

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2012 Legislative Session Update

Organized optometry was recently successful in Kentucky in obtaining legislative authorization to perform surgery, and has made it clear that Florida will be the next battleground for expanded scope of practice.

In the 2012 Florida Regular Legislative Session, which officially ended on Friday, March 9, the optometric lobby poured nearly $1 million dollars into a massive legislative effort that would have significantly expanded optometric scope of practice and granted the optometrists the authority to prescribe oral drugs. Thankfully, this dangerous legislation - Senate Bill (SB) 1316 - did not pass.

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Informed Consent for Cataract Surgery Approved

On Thursday, February 16, 2012, the Florida Board of Medicine (BOM) and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine (BOOM) both published the final informed consent form for cataract surgery that the FSO worked on during the past year. This standard informed consent form spells out the risks of cataract surgery thus mitigating the risks of unnecessary adverse incident reporting and that upon execution of the standard informed consent form, there would be a rebuttable presumption that the doctor properly disclosed the risks.

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