InFocus WAEPS Member Newsletter - May 2021

President's Corner

Hubert Pham MD, President

When has an injection ever meant so much before? How often does it signify the possibility of security, freedom, connection, and so much more? In some of the elderly folks I immunized recently, the last time they felt this type of excitement was when they received the first polio vaccine, about seven decades ago.

As I write this, we are opening vaccinations to all Washingtonians over the age of 16 within a week. I believe we stand at the brink of a momentous time in history. A time we will look back on years from now as one filled with hope, uncertainty, and lingering fear. Perhaps this will be remembered as the tipping point where we start to be able to make our way back to normalcy with the help of modern science; only time will tell.

Make no mistake, the road ahead is as uncharted as the last year was historical. I believe that we will face challenges we haven’t yet imagined. For if there ever was a reminder of how uncertain life can be, we need just look back 14 months. However, I also know deep down that we will persevere and triumph.

It is with this backdrop that I am honored to serve as your president.

This last year and a half has taught me more about WAEPS as an organization than my prior six years serving on the board or my years before that being a WAEPS member. After all, it is often the struggle that best defines the character of an organization, than the good times. With this experience, I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of WAEPS. I am excited to also be joined by Drs. Rudd and Chesney as our newest members of our board.

As with many of us personally, 2020 was a difficult year for WAEPS. We had to suddenly cancel our annual meeting in February 2020, cancel all of our in-person meetings, pivot into virtual meetings, and set up a first-ever virtual annual conference (which was no small task)--all with the lowest membership levels we’ve had in years. However, under Dr. Chieh’s leadership, we were able to start COVID-related town halls, send related updates throughout the year, start an informal Wisdom of WAEPS monthly series, start rural outreach clinics through the Washington Eye Foundation, and hold updates on coding changes before they took effect.

While it’s easy to focus on our successes, there are clearly changes that lie ahead. COVID-related changes to our practices, reimbursement cuts, coding changes, and scope battles in states as close as Oregon come to mind. In this regard, our mission at WAEPS is threefold: to represent and advocate for our best interests as a profession; to serve and protect the public; and to keep you abreast of changes that may affect your practice and lives. I have no doubt that we will be able to do so with the leadership team we have in place.

So what I ask of you is simple: first, get involved. We will continue to host excellent opportunities for enrichment, ranging from informal YO gatherings (when we’re again able to), to formal invited speaker lectures from all over the country. Each represents an opportunity to get to know your ophthalmology community members better, learn something new, and maybe even become involved in WAEPS itself. We are always looking for new talent and excellent ideas.

Second, donate. I can’t stress this one enough. And if you need any more convincing, talk to Dr. Rachel Reinhardt. The surgical scope fund is what protects our profession and essentially defines what ophthalmology will look like now and in the future. It needs our help. The same can be said of OphthPAC and the Washington Eye Foundation (WEF).

Aside from that, please reach out at any point. Thank you for being a loyal WAEPS member.

Sincerely,

Hubert Pham, MD
President, WAEPS
www.WAEPS.org

WAEPS Annual Meeting 2021 Recap

A note from Anndrea Grant COMT, OSC, Ophthalmic Medical Personnel (Tech) Meeting Chair

We are very happy and pleased to report that we were once again able to provide a highly successful and well-attended meeting this past March. Together, with our amazing faculty, planning committee and volunteers, we overcame the challenges of converting our in-person meeting to a complete online virtual conference. Despite the difficulties we faced, we achieved our goal of providing one of the best award-winning continuing education programs in the country.

After the crushing blow of having to cancel the 2020 program last year, Kim Conn, myself and the other members of our planning committee were determined not to let COVID-19 disrupt another meeting for our attendees. Instead, we decided to take advantage of every opportunity that a virtual platform could give us to create an outstanding program, including the following:

1. Through the pre-recorded format, our faculty of ophthalmologists were able to create and present 18 unique video lectures packed with vital new clinical information, the latest research and study results, and the best clinical practices, supplemented with fun music, captivating photos, intriguing surgical and clinical videos and moving patient stories to help engage and hold the attendees’ attention through-out the program.
2. The virtual platform allowed us to offer a bonus CE course for 2021. Many technicians were missing some of the credits needed to maintain their certification and we were able to help meet that need by giving them the opportunity to stay logged in for an extra hour to earn a total of 7 JCAHPO CE credits instead of the usual 6.
3. Our partnership with X-CD, the host of our virtual platform, enabled us to run precise reports on attendance, crucial for meeting the requirements of JCAHPO for accreditation. These reports also provide our planning committee with extremely useful information for preparing future meetings. Below is an example of one such report on the attendance of each course:
   
4. X-CD also provided us with comprehensive, detailed course evaluations from our attendees, also crucial for JCAHPO accreditation and for planning future meetings. We are extremely pleased to report that the feedback from the attendees was altogether positive. As we read their comments, we were so happy to hear what the attendees had to say:
• “As a new technician I found this very helpful. The pictures and examples were vital to my understanding. Thank you for the presentation.”
• “Excellent lecture!!! Loved all the amazing photos, videos and even the music with the videos! Really nicely done and very well explained. Thank you!!”
• “Absolutely loved this presentation, gave me lots of tips for my patient work ups. Will definitely take what I learned from this lecture to hopefully provide better information for the doctor.”
5. Finally, the virtual platform allowed us all to reconnect with each other once again through our common interest in eye care. COVID-19 may have separated us from one another in 2020, but on March 12th, 2021, the members of our field were able to connect once again as we shared together our experiences, knowledge, skills and passion for the amazing, captivating and rewarding field of ophthalmology.

Overall, we all agree that the meeting was a huge success, in more ways than one. The challenges we faced showed us that we are stronger together, sharpened our focus and made us more determined than ever to continue to provide a highly educational, engaging and rewarding experience for our attendees. We look forward to 2022 and all the possibilities that our next program will bring!

A note from Paul Griggs MD

Paul Griggs, MD
Physician Meeting Chair

We are excited to announce our four incredible speakers confirmed to lecture at the 2022 Annual Meeting:

• Donald Budenz, Glaucoma
• Terry Kim, Cornea and Refractive Surgery
• Sunil Srivastava, Uveitis and Retina
• David Plager, Pediatrics and Strabismus

Registration will open in January 2022. For updated information about the Annual Meeting, visit our website: www.WAEPS.org

A special Thank You to our wonderful 2021 Chairs who volunteered their time to organize and host each of our virtual meetings for our WAEPS members this year.

• Paul Griggs MD, Physician Meeting Chair
• Michael Gilbert MD, Coding Meeting Chair
• Rachel Reinhardt MD, Practice Management Meeting Co- Chair
• Rebecca Dale MD, Practice Management Meeting Co-Chair
• Anndrea Grant COMT, OSC, Ophthalmic Medical Personnel (Tech) Meeting Chair

WAEPS Committee Updates

Government Relations Activities & Legislation

Aaron Weingeist MD
Legislative Chair

The 2021 legislative session came to a close April 26. The session was dominated by a $1 billion appropriations for COVID response, and a re-write of unemployment insurance. Tax revenue was higher than originally forecast. Not requiring such a large influx of new revenue to manage the budget has made this session run more smoothly than expected.

There were no optometric scope of practice bills this session.

The language of any of the following bills can be viewed by going to, https://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/ and typing the bill number into the search field.

• HB1196/SSB5325, Audio only telemedicine. Continues use of telemedicine at same reimbursement rate.
• HB1378, Supervision of MAs. MAs permitted to assist with telemedicine visits.
• HB1394 (DEAD), Laser/unlawful use. Created a class A felony to maliciously point a laser and injuring eyes.
• HB1406, Wealth tax. Creates a new 1% tax on billionaires.
• HB1445, Definition of compounding. Clarifies that it is not compounding to reconstitute a drug according to FDA package insert.
• SB5018, Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine. Permits injection of local anesthetics for “point injection therapy”, to reduce pain.
• SB5018, Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine. Permits injection of local anesthetics for “point injection therapy”, to reduce pain.
• SB5088 (DEAD), Addressing a shortage of primary care services by increasing the scope of practice of naturopathic physicians. Increases naturopath scope of practice to include Schedule III-V drugs and “minor office-based procedures”.
• SSB5096, Capital gains tax. Imposes a 7% capital gains tax starting January 1, 2022.
• SSB5169, Provider PPE reimbursement. Requires health plans to reimburse providers a set amount for PPE during COVID-19 emergency.
• SB5222 (DEAD), ARNP Reimbursement. Requires carriers to reimburse ARNPs at the same rate as physicians for the same service.

Regulatory Issues for 2021:

Board of Naturopathy: The board is independent and once again is raising the issue of “non-surgical cosmetic procedures”. WAEPS worked with the WSMA and others to oppose the use of Botox and inert fillers in the past. We will continue our efforts to prevent the use of these potentially harmful agents by untrained providers.

Monthly Scientific Meeting Series

Yewlin Chee, MD, Chair

WAEPS and the University of Washington’s joint 2020-2021 Monthly Scientific Meeting Series had its first meeting of the academic year in October 2020 and has continued with informative talks from expert speakers that have been delivered over webinar during the pandemic. One speaker remains for this year: Dr. Eric A. Pierce (inherited retinal degenerations) on 5/19/21. This series is free to WAEPS members, and CME credit for this series is an exclusive member benefit and free of charge. We also welcome participants from other states. Additional details regarding the series can be found at https://www.waeps.org/monthly-scientific-meetings.

Washington Eye Foundation

K. David Epley MD, WEF Secretary

The Washington Eye Foundation is working to raise funds to help fund our collaboration with Range Health to bring no cost eye exams to those in very rural areas for those that lack health care insurance or access to eye care. If you’d like to help contribute, please click here to donate to WEF. All donations are tax deductible.

Donate to WEF

Many thanks to all of our donors this past year! The Washington Eye Foundation continues to be successful thanks to generous donations by our donors and colleagues.

Physicians EyePAC

Aaron Weingeist MD, EyePAC President

Physicians EyePAC is the Political Action Committee promoting the interests of WAEPS. Our PAC is non-partisan, and it supports legislators important to the practice of ophthalmology, as well as legislative leaders needed to pass or block legislation.

PAC disbursements are made via WAEPS members when possible. Your PAC donations create opportunities to engage legislators about our issues - they open doors.

Contributions to the PAC in 2020 were lower than the prior year. This was in part due to the cancellation of the live annual meeting where WAEPS has traditionally been able to remind members of the importance of the PAC donations. In 2020 PAC expenses were twice what we have raised so far this year.

In the last few years Washington ophthalmologists and optometrists have worked together to pass several bills to protect patients. Bills providing patients access to vision saving early eye drop refills, banning cosmetic eye tattoos, and limiting on-line refractive technologies have all been a group effort. We have not seen optometric scope of practice legislation in Washington State in several years. However, legislative battles have broken out all over the country, and as scope has expanded in surrounding states the odds of new legislation in Washington go up.

Please contribute to Physicians EyePAC today!

Donate to EyePAC

New Member Welcome

Kristi Bailey MD, Membership Chair

Please help me welcome our newest members to the Washington Academy of Eye Physician & Surgeons community:

• Bethlehem Belachew MD | Virginia Mason Medical Center (Federal Way)
• Grace Dunbar MD | Confluence Health (Wenatchee)
• Minhee Cho MD | Retina Institute of Washington (Renton)
• Vinay Dewan MD | Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle)
• Lisa Chen MD | Cascade Eye & Skin Centers (Puyallup)
• Trucian Ostheimer | Kaiser Permenante (Olympia)

The WAEPS Community Bulletin Board

Join a Research Study with Casey Eye Institute

We invite you to participate in an IRB-approved survey being conducted by investigators from Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. They hope to better understand intraocular pressure and vision outcomes immediately following administration of aflibercept (Eylea, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA) via pre-filled syringes when compared to traditional intravitreal injection preparations (e.g., medication vial and 1cc syringe) by collecting experiences on a national level.

The survey is voluntary, anonymous, and should take no more than 4-5 minutes. No identifying information is collected.

The survey may be found at the link below:

Take Survey

Thank you for your time and attention. We are happy to answer any questions about the study.

Sincerely,

Join a Research Study with Wills Eye Hospital

This survey is from Dr. Carol Shields of Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.

• The purpose of this survey is to gauge the use of multimodal imaging modalities in assessment of Choroidal Nevus and Choroidal Melanoma.
• Your responses to the survey are completely anonymous.
• We ask for the address of your practice in order to assess geographic variation in the use of these imaging modalities.
• This survey is comprised of 23 questions and should take less than 5 minutes to complete.

The survey can be completed on computer or on mobile via the following link:

Take Survey

For more information on this study please contact: Joseph DeSimone
Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Biology, B.S. | Wake Forest University
Contact | (610) 937-4837
Email | [email protected]

Free to WAEPS Members: Duke Elder’s System of Ophthalmology

Dr. Douglas Kiessling has a set of Duke Elder's system of Ophthalmology, published about 1960. This is FREE to anyone who may have an interest. Please contact Dr. Kiessling directly if you would like more information: Email: [email protected] or 301-438-1398