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.
News from the FSO
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.
The Academy is assisting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local health agencies with an ongoing public health investigation. The FDA has received reports of fungal endophthalmitis in patients who were given Brilliant Blue G (BBG) during eye surgeries. Clinicians in several states have reported adverse events. The BBG was supplied by Franck's Compounding Lab in Ocala, Fla. The pharmacy issued a recall of all lots of BBG on March 9
Ophthalmologists who participated in Medicare's 2010 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) received the second-highest amount in incentive payment dollars of any specialty, according to a recent CMS report.
In late March the FDA issued a notice of recall regrding triamcinolone acetonide from Franck's Lab. The recall is related to fungal issue with one lot of triamcinolone acetonide P.F. 80mg/ml and instituted a recall.