Regulatory/Legislative News

BOSTON – The American Optometric Student Association members are “intently focused on keeping the profession strong and building a lasting legacy,” according to AOSA President Erick Henderson.

BOSTON – Optometry’s Meeting attendance is up, the educational offerings are popular and exhibitor support has grown, Jon Hymes, AOA executive director, told the AOA House of Delegates.

BOSTON – AOA President Steven A. Loomis, OD, updated the House of Delegates, here at Optometry’s Meeting, on the ongoing renovations to the association’s headquarters building in St. Louis.

The FDA has released a new application for investigative drugs that it says will cut the amount of time physicians spend filling out such requests, as part of a larger effort to “streamline” the process of providing medications still undergoing regulatory review to their patients with severe illness.

In South Carolina, legislators overrode an executive veto by Gov. Nikki Haley for S. 1016, the Eye Care Consumer Protection Law, on May 16.

Out on the lecture circuit last week, I mentioned MACRA and was met with a sea of blank stares. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which provides for the most sweeping change to affect how we deliver and are paid for health care, became law in 2015. However, there is surprisingly little knowledge or understanding of the law or its implications by the provider community. The first performance period begins on Jan. 1, 2017. for payments in 2019.

The National Advertising Division determined that Bausch + Lomb can support advertising claims that indicate the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone, which attracts and maintains moisture, in its Ultra contact lenses with MoistureSeal technology.

NEW YORK – “The Our Children’s Vision global campaign has been launched to ensure we make child eye health accessible to children all over the world,” Kovin Naidoo, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO, CEO of Brien Holden Vision Institute and campaign director for Our Children’s Vision, told Primary Care Optometry News here at Vision Expo East.

NEW YORK – “Uncorrected refractive error is probably the biggest disability in the world,” Jayanth Bhuvaraghan said. “It’s not an expensive problem to address. You just need a pair of glasses.”

Physicians demonstrated limited understanding of the FDA approval process and the meaning of the “breakthrough therapy” designation, according to recent research in JAMA.