BLOG: Insights into office-based surgery
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Hello and welcome to my blog series on all things related to office-based cataract surgery.
Why is this a hot topic? With the aging baby boomer population, the demand for cataract surgery is rapidly increasing and will create a need for alternatives to hospitals and ASCs. Currently in the U.S., there are at least 115 vision centers that are performing IOL surgeries in their office. Over the next 10 years, I expect that we will see a shift from the traditional ASC to office-based surgery as the new normal for cataract surgery.
With any new industry trend comes a lot of questions. At last year’s American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting, a survey was given to evaluate the interest level of specific topics. The top three topics that attendees inquired about were private equity, the decrease in reimbursement for the professional fee and office-based surgery. My goal with this blog is to answer those questions related to office-based surgery and relieve any uncertainty on this topic. I want to provide insights from my own research and experience and those of my trusted peers and colleagues.
As many of you know, I am chairman of the board and have ownership in iOR Partners, a company focused on assisting practices that are developing office-based surgery suites that provide surgeons the ability to offer more personalized patient care in a safe and comfortable surgical environment. At iOR, we want to be a resource for not only our own network of surgeons, but also for the rest of the industry that may not be candidates for our business model. And that is my purpose for this blog: to share my insights concerning office-based IOL surgery and be an educational resource for the industry as a whole.
You can expect me to approach blog topics in the same way that I evaluate new technologies or services in ophthalmology, by these four categories:
Is it safe or safer?
Is it effective or more effective?
Is it convenient?
Is it cost-effective?
So, whether you are considering building an office-based surgery suite or you already own an ASC, I think you will find value in this blog series as we tackle topics involved in the next major change in the ophthalmic industry. And if you have any specific questions you would like me to address, I welcome you to contact me directly at ddurrie@iorpartners.com.
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