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Health care reform prompts more collaboration among ophthalmologists
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 William L. Rich III |
BOSTON — Surgeons must work together to meet the diverse needs of an expanding patient population, a presenter said here.
At the American Society of Retina Specialists meeting, William L. Rich III, MD, medical director of health policy for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, told retina specialists that they must work in teams to accommodate an influx of previously uninsured patients who will now receive coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
"Over the next decade, the pressure of constrained resources during a period of expanding health care access — 43 million uninsured — increasing demands for improved quality and patient centeredness in a more diverse patient population with known disparities of care ... will lead to a growing interdependence of society and medicine," Dr. Rich said.
He noted that many of the newly insured patients are minorities with higher incidence of ophthalmic disease and discussed the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's comparative effectiveness research as one of several tools that surgeons will utilize to meet new demands.
"We have always responded to challenges by keeping patients first, doing the right thing, and I think, both professionally and financially we are going to be fine," he said, emphasizing his 35 years of practice reacting to changing clinical environments.
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