FSO members have special access to download slides and recordings from the Masters in Ophthalmology 2011 Annual Meeting. Please use this link:www.mdeye.org/media/2011 and you will be directed to the FSO community login page. Please enter your username and password to begin viewing the slides and listening to audio recordings of the sessions from the Masters in Ophthalmology 2011 Annual Meeting.
News from the FSO
The Florida Society of Ophthalmology (FSO) is proud to be honored as the 2011 recipient of the American Academy of Ophthalmology's State Affairs Star Award. The FSO was given this special award for its role in developing the informed consent form for cataract.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced it has reinstated bevicizumab (Avastin) as an option to treat wet AMD. The VA now will permit one patient dose per manufacturer's vial of Avastin. On Sept. 2, the VA said it would cease ophthalmic use of Avastin pending an internal investigation into infections in its facilities. The VA has determined that the adverse events were not related to the drug itself.
Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., made a special appearance at the OPHTHPAC 25th anniversary celebration during the Academys Annual Meeting. During his remarks, Rep. Webster commended Academy members for their political activism, which has lead to victories in preventing Medicare payment cuts and increasing physician pay, blocking federal efforts to expand inappropriate optometric scope of practice, increasing funding for basic eye research and expanding vision-care services for uninsured children.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today released the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. The rule reflects a 1 percent increase in Medicare reimbursement for ophthalmologists as a result of a scheduled increase in practice expenses, advanced by the Academy and first implemented in 2010. The increase, however, will be eclipsed by a 30 percent cut driven by the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula on Jan. 1, unless Congress takes action to stop it.
The For Eye Care Foundation, Inc., foundation of the Florida Society of Ophthalmology (FSO), partnered with the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) to host a pilot screening initiative EyeSmart EyeCheck on Saturday, November, 12, 2011.
This is a checklist of requirements for renewing Medical Licenses with the Florida Board of Medicine.
This is an update about an increase in OMIC's Corporate Venture Risk Management Discount for policy holders.
Registration opens Monday for the Academy's Congressional Advocacy Day, April 25 and 26 in Washington, D.C. The Capitol Hill event gives Academy members the opportunity to meet with senators and representatives to discuss key ophthalmology issues, including the need for a permanent Medicare physician pay fix and passage of truth-in-advertising legislation.
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.