Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology

The pao fulfills its mission by providing education for doctors and their staff, by advocating for ophthalmologists and their patients in the state legislature, and promoting preventative eye care to the citizens of Pennsylvania. Activities that support this mission include: 1) pao, with the help of their government relations firm, provided input into state legislation to allow Ophthalmology patients to renew their 30- day prescription eye drops earlier than the strict 30-day requirements; it is vital that certain patients do not miss a single daily dose. The legislation was enacted in 2022. The pao also worked with our national association to press insurance companies to remove prior authorization for cataract surgery - the most common surgical procedure in the country. This decision was repealed by national providers. 2)pao's young ophthalmologists committees sponsored 3 webinars for early career ophthalmologists that were open to full membership on "choosing your career path in Ophthalmology- and "negotiating your first employment contract- and new for 2022, a pao state-wide virtual grand rounds competition. 3)a new pilot program for early career ophthalmologists call "the business of Ophthalmology" included three live webinars on topics not covered by formal medical education: practice management, billing coding, and the insurance perspective, and personal finance. The series was very well received and is being considered for a national ophthalmic audience. 4)pao sponsored several educational webinars for continuing medical education (cme) credits free to our members. "grand rounds: glaucoma" "20/20 vision in 2022: updates in premium cataract surgery'- and "omic- documentation & your practice" live webinars provided 5 hours of cme. Our three in-person medical coding seminars were attended by 150 attendees. 5)pao continues to provide bi-monthly open membership meetings through august 2022 via zoom. These sunday night virtual meetings are open to all pao members and the agenda is directed by issues or questions of the membership. It allows for open dialogue between physician colleagues regarding all aspects of their profession. 6)the pao published two print newsletters in 2022 and published 4 digital newsletters as well as over 52 informational e-blasts to the membership on topics of state advocacy, updates in pa provider changes, medical license renewals, certified ophthalmic assistant programs, and loss of residency rotation.