A major insurer dropped prior authorization requirements for cataract surgery, plus five more ophthalmology updates Becker's has reported on in July:
1. Aetna will no longer require prior authorization for cataract surgery, according to a July 2022 email from the health insurance company.
2. Seventy-five percent of ophthalmologists are satisfied with their career choice, according to Medical Economics' "2022 Physician Report". Data for the report was collected from physicians in the first quarter of 2022. Specialties surveyed included ophthalmology, cardiology, family medicine, internal medicine, dermatology and urology.
3. Unifeye Vision Partners, an ophthalmology-focused management service organization, has partnered with a California eye center and opened a retina subspecialty practice in Minnesota. The partner practice, Shaaf Eye Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., is Unifeye Vision Partners' eighth California practice.
4. Alaska is the most expensive state in the U.S. to have a cataract surgery, according to Sidecar Health's care calculator. See the full state ranking here.
5. Eye Health America, an eyecare-focused support organization, secured its 21st strategic partnership in adding Bradenton (Fla.) Eye Clinic to its network.
6. Connecticut ophthalmologist Donald Salzberg, MD, pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks for $3 million in unnecessary brain scans. Dr. Salzberg, 67, owned and operated a West Hartford, Conn., ophthalmology practice. From 2014 to 2019, he ordered hundreds of medically unnecessary transcranial doppler scans from a medical diagnostics company in exchange for kickbacks of $100 to $125 apiece and phony administrative service fees.