FAIRFAX, VA – August 17, 2012 – The Integrated Ophthalmic-Managed Eyecare Delivery (IOMED) Task Force has recommended educational programs for integrated optometrists to be added at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Annual Symposium, in San Francisco in April 2013. This track will be designed specifically to promote and advance the integrated eye care model and will provide the opportunity for optometrists to earn continuing education credits and to attend a networking job fair.
The IOMED Task Force also concluded that a new membership society for integrated optometrists is not needed to advance these goals and did not recommend a new membership category for optometry within ASCRS. The Governing Board has accepted and endorsed this recommendation as well. The IOMED Task Force was formed by ASCRS earlier this year to investigate ways in which the organization and its membership can advance an eye care delivery model based on collaboration between optometry and ophthalmology.
The IOMED model encourages arrangements in which optometrists working within an integrated eyecare practice with ophthalmologists, as well as optometrists employed by the military or industry, play a role in the delivery of eye care. This patient-centered model encourages greater efficiency and coordination of care with ophthalmologists and optometrists working together to meet the growing demands for service and address the pending changes in Medicare coupled with the growing number of beneficiaries entering the Medicare program. The IOMED Task Force includes three representatives from ophthalmology and five from optometry, and is chaired by ASCRS Governing Board member, Stephen S. Lane, M.D., of St. Paul, MN.
“This careful and conservative approach will lead to a more full integration and collaboration between optometrists and ophthalmologists as we prepare to meet patient needs in a fast-changing healthcare environment,” said Dr. Lane. “We are forging a new frontier, and I am proud of the way this committee responded to the call for high quality, patient-centric eye care system where ophthalmologists, optometrists, technicians, opticians, and practice administrators work together in a dynamic setting.”