EyeWorld Today is the official daily of the ASCRS Symposium & Congress. Each issue provides comprehensive coverage editorial coverage of meeting presentations, events, and breaking news
Issue link: https://daily.eyeworld.org/i/124055
www.eyeworld.org April 23, 2013 EyeWorld Daily News • The official ASCRS•ASOA San Francisco Show Daily Innovators highlight ophthalmic advances by Michelle Dalton EyeWorld Contributing Writer and Ellen Stodola Eyeworld Staff Writer T he 2013 ASCRS Innovators Session highlighted numerous advances in retina, lasers, and toric lens designs. Richard J. Mackool Sr., MD, Astoria, N.Y., presented the Charles D. Kelman Innovator's Lecture. Among the early highlights: a retinal prosthesis that can treat the most severe forms of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Patients were able to recognize letters and some patients can read words, said Robert J. Greenberg, MD, president, Second Sight, Sylmar, Calif., which developed the Argus II. The device is approved in both Europe and the U.S.; the company is now working on the Argus III and Argus IV. Daniel V. Palanker, PhD, Stanford, Calif., discussed the photovoltaic retinal prosthesis under investigation: A video camera captures the image and projects it onto the retina. The surgery involves subretinal injections and then implantation of the arrays. Once the surgery is complete, the remainder is all optical, with images reflected off a pair of glasses, he said. "We need to use near infrared light to avoid light perception by the remaining photoreceptors," he said, noting the device works at around 900 nm. continued on page 3 Edward J. Holland, MD, and Ann Kelman present Richard J. Mackool Sr., MD, (center) with the Charles D. Kelman Innovator's award. The future of healthcare reform by Michelle Dalton EyeWorld Contributing Writer T Nancey McCann, ASCRS•ASOA director of government relations, delivers the "Legislative and Regulatory Update." he ASCRS has declared repealing the Sustained Growth Rate (SGR), Medicare physician payment reform, including the adoption of a viable Medicare private contracting option as top priorities with this session of Congress, said Nancey McCann, ASCRS•ASOA director of government relations, in the "Legislative and Regulatory Update." In addition, ASCRS will work in conjunction with other medical specialty organizations to repeal the Choose the most-deployed ophthalmic EHR that is: Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), as well as the penalties associated with the various quality reporting initiatives. "For the first time the cost of repealing the SGR has come down from around $300-$400 billion to $138 billion," Ms. McCann said. With sequestration triggered earlier this month, Ms. McCann said it is imperative for physicians to realize the 2% cut applies to the payment itself, not the allowable charge in the Medicare fee schedules. "That 2% is on the 80% of the charge a participating physician would receive directly from Medicare. The copay is not affected," she said. And, more importantly, the pay cuts are not cumulative. "Congress didn't permanently repeal the SGR earlier due to a lack of consensus on its 'replacement' policy," Ms. McCann said. "Key Congressional committees are developing options for the repeal and continued on page 4 The 2012 Black Book Rankings top-ranked ophthalmology EHR. Stop by ASCRS booth 1508 to see a demo and receive a FREE eBook. ONC 2014-Edition Certified as a Complete EHR