Academy Notebook NEWS • TIPS • RESOURCES WHAT’S HAPPENING Register for AAO 2020 and Book Your Hotel AAO 2020 Opening Session: Starting April 8, Academy and Ameri- Don’t Miss These Lectures can Academy of Ophthalmic Executives Mark the Opening Session on your members can register and make hotel calendar. Highlights will include talks reservations for Subspecialty Day (Nov. by Malcolm Gladwell and Michael X. 13-14), AAO 2020 (Nov. 14-17), and Repka, MD. The AAO 2020 Opening half-day AAOE Coding Sessions (Nov. Session starts at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, 14) in Las Vegas. Nonmembers can do Nov. 15, in Las Vegas. so starting April 22. Find more infor- Malcolm Gladwell will give the key­ mation at aao.org/registration and aao. note speech. He is an internationally org/hotels. known journalist, writer, and cultural Remember: Registration for AAO observer. He has been included in OPENING SESSION. Mr. Gladwell’s key- 2020 is free if you are a member and the Time 100 Most Influential Peo- note will be one of many highlights at your 2020 membership dues have been ple list and has appeared in Foreign AAO 2020. For information on the Sub- paid. Join or renew today at aao.org/ Policy magazine’s list of Top Global specialty Day program, course passes, member-services. Thinkers. His work, which focuses and ticketing, see page 64. Avoid scams: Book hotel rooms and on human psychology and sociology, register only through links provided appears in The New Yorker where he Michael X. Repka, MD, will present by the Academy. Several fraudulent has been a staff writer since 1996. He is the Jackson Memorial Lecture. His companies pretending to be associated also the author of six New York Times talk is titled “Improving Amblyopia with the Academy and AAO 2020 may bestsellers: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outcomes Through Clinical Trials and appear in web searches or may have Outliers, What the Dog Saw, David and Practice Measurement.” already contacted you via email. They Goliath, and his recently published Dr. Repka is internationally recog- claim that they can book hotel rooms book, Talking to Strangers. nized for his contributions in the fields or register you for the Academy’s an- Mr. Gladwell is also the cofounder of pediatric ophthalmology, strabis- nual meeting, but they are unaffiliated of Pushkin Industries, an audio content mus, retinopathy of prematurity, and with the Academy. The official hotel company that produces podcasts, such pediatric neuro-ophthalmology. His reservation provider for AAO 2020 is as Solvable, Against the Rules, and The clinical practice includes an interest Expovision. Happiness Lab. He also hosts Revision- in the management of strabismus and If you are ever in doubt, email meet- ist History, which “reconsiders things amblyopia. [email protected], call 1-415-561-8500, both overlooked and misunderstood,” Dr. Repka is the David L. Guyton, or contact Expovision at aaohotels@ and cohosts Broken Record, where he MD, and Feduniak Family Professor expovision.com or toll-free at 1-866- interviews musicians. of Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins 774-0487. University’s Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore. He is also the Academy’s Mid-Year Forum News medical director for Governmental This year’s Mid-Year Forum (MYF) Affairs and the ophthalmology advisor takes place April 22-25 and puts the on the American Medical Association’s focus on policy, politics, and practice CPT Advisory Committee. management.CANCELED Hear the keynote speech EYENET MAGAZINE • 61 by U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Ad- Start reviewing improvement activ­ Media. If you are ® ams, MD, MPH, meet your legislators ities. New this year: Groups only get a fan of EyeNet, EyeNetJANUARY 2020 during Congressional Advocacy Day credit for an improvement activity if please partici- A Growing Pandemic What to Do (see Volunteer Opportunity below), at least 50% of the clinicians meet the About Myopia pate and make attend the Academy Council meetings reporting requirements of that activity. your opinion (April 24 and 25), pick from a range of Start reviewing the promoting inter­ known. Being discussion sessions, and more. For the operability measures. Make sure you ranked among AMD Patients See Benefits full schedule, visit aao.org/myf. understand the measure requirements. From IOL Surgery the most widely Shingles on the Rise A Clinical Guide to HZO MIPS 2020 Not registeredCANCELED yet? The deadline for For detailed descriptions of those What’s New on Jan. 1 and thoroughly advance registration is April 6, but you measures, plus the Academy guide to 01_Cover_F.indd 1 12/4/19 11:08 AM read ophthalmic can also register onsite. Learn more at understanding their specifications, visit publications enables EyeNet to secure aao.org/mid-year-forum/registration- aao.org/medicare/promoting-inter funding for projects that help you in travel. operability/measures. the clinical realm and in your practice, Get the latest news. Reports from Who in your practice is taking the like the MIPS manual (aao.org/eyenet/ the Mid-Year Forum will be posted at lead on MIPS? Given the amount of mips-manual-2020). aao.org/mid-year-forum/news. money at stake, you need to make sure that your practice has at least one staff Volunteer Opportunity: TAKE NOTICE point person and has named a physi- Become a Congressional cian as its MIPS champion. Advocate MIPS—Are You on Schedule Is your staff point person signed up Participate in the Academy’s Congres- With Your 2020 Reporting? with the AAOE? The AAOE is the prac- sional Advocacy Program and help There are several ways to report MIPS tice management arm of the Academy. drive a pro-ophthalmology legislative quality measures this year, but no mat- AAOE members enjoy access to all the and regulatory agenda. ter which option(s) you choose, you Academy’s MIPS resources (see below) Become an effective physician should have already made a start on and, just as importantly, they are part advocate. With assistance from the reporting quality. of an active community that frequently Academy, you’ll develop relationships Reporting via Medicare Part B uses its listserv to share MIPS tips. with lawmakers to provide important claims. Reporting via claims needs to Use the Academy’s resources: constituent input and represent the be done in real time. If you plan to • The MIPS hub page at aao.org/ Academy’s key priorities. As a Con- meet the 70% data completeness crite- medicare, which includes the “Small gressional Advocate, you will commu- ria, you probably should have already Practice Roadmap” and “Large Practice nicate with members of Congress and started reporting quality measures. Roadmap.” congressional staff through email as Reporting manually via the IRIS • The IRIS Registry User Guide at aao. well as face-to-face meetings in both Registry. Have you already entered org/iris-registry/user-guide/getting- Washington and their congressional your quality measure data from Janu- started. district. Join this national network of ary, February, and March into the IRIS • EyeNet’s MIPS 2020: A Primer and ophthalmologists, which has the power Registry? If not, you should start catch- Reference, which has been posted on- to influence legislation. ing up. Although manual reporting via line ahead of print at aao.org/eyenet/ Start this month at Congressional the IRIS Registry doesn’t have to be mips-manual-2020. (When the print Advocacy Day (CAD). The Academy’s done in real time, reporting through- edition arrives, make sure to give it to Mid-Year Forum (April 22-25) kicks off out the year—even each day, on a your MIPS point person.) with a dinner briefing on April 22 to patient-by-patient basis—will make the Check your email each week. Get prepare attendeesaao.org/cad for their April 23 ap- process much more manageable. the latest MIPS news in Washington pointments with members of Congress. Check Reporting via IRIS Registry–EHR Report Express (Thursdays) and, for Advance registrationfor the virtual for the Mid-Year integration. Although the IRIS Registry AAOE members, Practice Management Forum (aao.org/myfadvocacy) closes day. on April uses an automated process to extract Express (Sundays). 6, but you also will be able to register quality measure data from your elec- If you haven’t started yet, begin onsite. tronic health record (EHR) system, it is soon. You can sign up for the IRIS Reg- More on volunteering. Learn about still your responsibility to check your istry at aao.org/iris-registry/sign-up. If dozens of Academy volunteering oppor- measures at least quarterly to look for you are already signed up with the IRIS tunities aao.org/volunteering. potential problems. For example, are Registry, make sure your practice and the correct patients being pulled for a provider information is up to date. Year of the Eye: Watch for measure? Are staff entering data into the Ophthalmology Special the correct field of the EHR? If there A Request From EyeNet Supplement are issues with your data mapping or You may have received an email in- In celebration of the year 2020, Oph- workflow, they need to be identified and vitation to participate in a magazine thalmology has published a commemo- addressed as soon as possible. readership sur vey conducted by Kantar rative supplement that will arrive in the 62 • APRIL 2020 mail with your April issue of the blue D.C. REPORT journal. Titled 2020 Retrospective of Landmark Contributions, the supple- Academy Members Call for Action on mental publication includes 12 studies published over the history of the Prior Authorization journal that have had a major impact Earlier this year, Academy members from across the United States took on the field, including “Prevalence of part in the Regulatory Relief Coalition’s national “day of action” to press Age-Related Maculopathy: The Beaver Congress to end prior authorization abuses by Medicare Advantage plans.