Boosting Medicare reimbursement, embracing pharmaceutical alternatives and keeping the scope of practice for non-physicians in check should be priorities for ophthalmologists, said Paul Sternberg, MD, the newly-elected president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Dr. Sternberg, a retinal specialist and chairman of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Eye Institute in Nashville, Tenn., said in an article published in Medscape Medical News that team-based care is increasingly important in today's medicine. To foster collaboration, facilities must round out patient care with technical medical professionals, rather than expanding the scope of care for non-physicians.
"As ophthalmologists we are very busy, and we will continue to be busy in the future, but the solution to meeting Americans' eye care needs won't come from having other members of the eye care team doing surgery," Dr. Sternberg said. "This is a quality and patient safety issue."
Ballooning demand for all types of medical care by an aging population means physicians of all specialties must band together to keep the scope of practice for non-physicians in check.
Dr. Sternberg also questioned the relatively low Medicare payments to ophthalmologists for surgeries that improve patients' quality of life for decades, compared to higher compensation granted to some specialty surgeons for expensive procedures on older patients who may require future hospital stays.
Dr. Sternberg also spoke on his greater comfort prescribing off-label Avastin and Eyelea in addition to FDA-approved Lucentis to treat age-related macular degeneration, citing research that shows very slight differences in effectiveness.
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Dr. Sternberg, a retinal specialist and chairman of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Eye Institute in Nashville, Tenn., said in an article published in Medscape Medical News that team-based care is increasingly important in today's medicine. To foster collaboration, facilities must round out patient care with technical medical professionals, rather than expanding the scope of care for non-physicians.
"As ophthalmologists we are very busy, and we will continue to be busy in the future, but the solution to meeting Americans' eye care needs won't come from having other members of the eye care team doing surgery," Dr. Sternberg said. "This is a quality and patient safety issue."
Ballooning demand for all types of medical care by an aging population means physicians of all specialties must band together to keep the scope of practice for non-physicians in check.
Dr. Sternberg also questioned the relatively low Medicare payments to ophthalmologists for surgeries that improve patients' quality of life for decades, compared to higher compensation granted to some specialty surgeons for expensive procedures on older patients who may require future hospital stays.
Dr. Sternberg also spoke on his greater comfort prescribing off-label Avastin and Eyelea in addition to FDA-approved Lucentis to treat age-related macular degeneration, citing research that shows very slight differences in effectiveness.
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