AOA looks to registry to help improve patient care

SEATTLE – The American Optometric Association announced the launch of AOA MORE, or Measures and Outcomes Registry for Eyecare, here at Optometry’s Meeting.

The registry will integrate data from multiple electronic health records to analyze and enhance outcomes and standards of practice, according to AOA Quality Improvement and Registry Committee chair Jeff Michaels, OD, at an AOA-hosted press conference.

AOA secretary/treasurer Chris Quinn, OD, also spoke at the press conference. “We are seeing an emphasis in registries in all parts of health care,” he said. “Meaningful use and the new Medicare payment system are putting an emphasis on registries. We believe AOA MORE comes at the perfect time for our doctors of optometry.”

Quinn explained that use of the registry by optometric practices can help provide clinical improvement through benchmarking and outcomes.

“Doctors can compare their care across an aggregate of doctors all across the region,” Quinn said. “It will help drive value-based initiatives, like PQRS, whose goal is to reduce costs and improve care.”

Quinn said the AOA’s Evidence-Based Outcomes Committee is developing new guidelines every year, and the information from MORE will provide the committee with more data.

“AOA MORE will not allow the AOA or AOA committees to see individual doctor information,” Quinn noted. “It will not allow them to see individual practice information, and we will not be comparing one doctor against the other. We will be using this aggregate of data to advance optometry.”

AOA Quality Improvement and Registry Committee member Zach McCarty, OD, told the audience that optometrists wish to compare themselves to national data.

“We want to know if we’re providing quality of care, and here will be evidence to back that up,” he said. “It will allow doctors to see snapshots of their outcomes.

“PQRS can be cumbersome,” McCarty continued. “You don’t know if you are meeting measures until after the year is completed. With AOA MORE, at a glance you can look at the dashboard and see if you are meeting a particular measure and can improve your quality immediately.”

McCarty said doctors involved in beta testing the registry are saying the data is making more sense to them, with easy explanations of what the measures mean.

The AOA is partnering with Prometheus Research to design, build and support the registry.

David Voccola of Prometheus also addressed the audience. “The data is pushed to us,” he said. “We don’t reach into your records.”

He said the registry will be launched with RevolutionEHR, Compulink Advantage and MaximEyes. Future vendor partners include Williams Practice Director, Eyeinity EHR/Officemate and Crystal Practice Management.

Michaels shared an implementation timeline.

“In 2015-2016 we’re asking members to get engaged with it,” he said. “Sign up and start the process and use the data yourself. In 2016 we will start the process of submitting information to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Members will be using traditional submission for PQRS as well as AOA MORE; 2016 will be our year to prove to CMS that the system works well.

“The year 2017 will be the reporting year that doctors will be using,” he continued. “Doctors will use just AOA MORE to submit PQRS data.”

Michaels said the service is a free benefit to AOA members; nonmembers will pay $1,800 per year.

“This will be the foremost registry in eye care,” Michaels concluded. “Its ability to integrate at the vendor level is unprecedented. It will allow our doctors to easily accomplish tasks with Medicare and other payers.”

He noted that it takes only 3 minutes to sign up.

“Other registries require someone to come to your office and do a full integration,” he added. “This has been streamlined by Prometheus, AOA’s Internet technology department and the registry committee.” – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO

Disclosures: McCarty is a member of the AOA’s Quality Improvement and Registry Committee. Michaels is committee chair. Voccola is employed by Prometheus.