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Physicians face opportunities and challenges in changing health care environment
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CHICAGO — Ophthalmologists face many changes as health care reform continues to take effect, outgoing AAO President Ruth D. Williams, MD, said during the opening ceremony here.
Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, was installed as the new AAO president at the joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.
Ruth D. Williams
“Many post-election commentaries and editorials highlight something every physician in America already knows: We are a country of diversity, and building an infrastructure that empowers people and meets their needs is our great challenge,” Williams said.
The Affordable Care Act promises to spur a range of changes in health care delivery and management, Williams said.
“Health care reform is at the center of our national conversation and on the mind of ophthalmologists. Health care is going through a transformation,” she said.
Williams quoted a statement that William L. Rich III, MD, AAO medical director of health policy, gave at a recent retreat: “This is the most dynamic time in health care since the 1960s.”
Amid the formation of accountable care organizations, ophthalmologists are concerned about maintaining access to patients, Williams said. Ophthalmologists are also concerned about the affordability of electronic medical records and quality reporting requirements, she said.
In his inaugural address, Sternberg highlighted ophthalmologists’ unique role in maintaining quality of life.
Paul Sternberg Jr.
“We are physicians with a difference,” Sternberg said. “We are not preservers of life. … But that doesn’t make the work we do any less important than the cardiologist, the oncologist, the trauma surgeon. We are not the bulwark against death and dying. We are the preservers of life, a life worth living, a life that’s fullest. … Everything we have done and do every day gives our patients a richer, fuller and more complete life.”
Disclosure: No products or companies are mentioned that would require financial disclosure.