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IRIS Registry offers many benefits for US ophthalmologists
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Big data is defined as extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions. An extraordinary amount of human and financial capital is being invested toward collecting and analyzing big data. Potential contributions to medicine include enhancing the diagnosis and management of disease; targeting personalized medicine, in which patient profiles can be utilized to select ideal treatments, which today is especially useful in oncology; improving practice management; determining group and individual buying patterns to enhance marketing; and of course, allowing our federal and state government to screen for fraud and abuse in provider care and billing patterns.
In the genetic area, Google’s DNAstack and the 23andMe DNA database each have big data on DNA predictors in health care on more than 1 million people. To me, the best positive example of big data in ophthalmology is the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Intelligent Research in Sight (IRIS) Registry. The best negative example for us physicians is big data mining by payers to screen for potential targets for billing errors and, in the case of some insurers, looking for more expensive providers and expelling them from provider panels. Depending on your perspective, both could be considered positive, but from my perspective, there is much opportunity for abuse in the latter. I am going to focus on the positive.
The success of the IRIS Registry is nothing short of remarkable. Conceptualized in 2012 and launched about 2 years later, the IRIS Registry has already attracted more than 12,000 of the just more than 18,000 American ophthalmologists as participants, and the number continues to grow. In a commentary 2 years ago, I encouraged all U.S. ophthalmologists to enroll, and my advice remains the same. My partners and I at Minnesota Eye Consultants are participants. Participation in the IRIS Registry is free — that’s right, free — and the benefits are many and meaningful. All U.S. ophthalmologists should thank the AAO leadership for making this wonderful tool available.
The mission of IRIS is the continual improvement in the delivery of eye care. It is the only specialty society-sponsored eye care-focused registry. Active engagement serves many useful purposes. Active participation enables ophthalmologists to satisfy Meaningful Use public health objective 10. The Physician Quality Reporting System in 2017 includes a new fee-for-service option, the so-called Merit-Based Incentive Payment System. Participation in the IRIS Registry can ensure an ophthalmologist avoids the potential 4% Medicare reimbursement penalty 2 years later in 2019 and hopefully every year thereafter. In addition, the data collected will help ophthalmology defend the great value it provides Americans by protecting, restoring and enhancing the vision of our nation’s citizens. Closer to home, the big data in the IRIS Registry will allow individual practices and ophthalmologists to benchmark themselves against their peers, encouraging continuous improvement in the quality of eye care delivered in America.