ASCRS•ASOA SYMPOSIUM & CONGRESS, SAN DIEGO 2015
Annual meeting kicks off with Opening General Session
by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Staff Writer
EyeWorld Daily News • The official ASCRS•ASOA Show Daily
Sunday, April 19, 2015
digital.eyeworld.org
ASCRS•ASOA Special Joint Government Relations
Session features Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Staff Writer
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T
his year's Special Joint
Government Relations
Session at the ASCRS•ASOA
Symposium & Congress
featured Kevin McCarthy
(R-CA), the Majority Leader of the
U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. McCarthy started by
talking about his background,
including where he came from and
how he became interested in poli-
tics. Then, he moved into speaking
about the workings of Congress,
his opinions on policy and the
process, and his thoughts on the
future. "Yesterday was the first 100
days of the new Congress," he said.
Although on the outside it may look
T
he ASCRS•ASOA Sympo-
sium & Congress officially
kicked off in San Diego on
Saturday morning with the
Opening General Session,
followed by the Binkhorst Lecture.
Edward Holland, MD, Cincin-
nati, chair of the ASCRS Program
Committee, started off the session
with a welcome to the 7,000 attend-
ees from more than 100 countries.
There are countless opportunities to
learn from world-renowned sur-
geons at the meeting and to partici-
pate in 1,500 papers, posters, cours-
es, and symposia, as well as special
sessions, skills transfer sessions, and
the annual Film Festival, he said.
Following Dr. Holland, the out-
going president of ASCRS, Richard
Lewis, MD, Sacramento, Calif., and
the incoming president of ASCRS,
Robert Cionni, MD, Salt Lake City,
both gave addresses to attendees.
More than 40 years ago, ASCRS
was founded to promote innovation
and education in anterior segment
surgery, Dr. Lewis said. "The focus
on innovation remains as strong
now as it was then." This past year
was one of the best years in the
history of the organization, he said.
like things couldn't be worse, he
said that the recent passage of the
bill to repeal and replace the SGR
shows that there has been some
success. "We have done some things
that for the last decade Congress
could not achieve." He added that
it's being done in a bipartisan
manner. "We were able to negotiate,
Republicans and Democrats togeth-
er, without the world finding out,"
Rep. McCarthy said. He went on
to explain the new law moves the
system away from volume-based to
one based on quality, outcomes, and
efficiencies. In addition, he stressed
continued on page 3
Rep. McCarthy speaks to attendees of the Special Joint Government Relations Session about
healthcare and his experiences with Congress.
Dr. Lewis transfers the ASCRS presidency to Dr. Cionni.
continued on page 3
