Medicare cut 3 percent from ancillary ophthalmology services from its 2013 physician fee schedule, and another 13.5 percent from cataract surgery after a CMS survey showed average cataract procedure duration had dropped from 35 to 21 minutes.
AAO CEO David Parke, MD, said cost reduction examples and meaningful data tracking can help give credence to physicians denouncing funding cuts.
“If ophthalmology can demonstrate a real concern for reduction in unnecessary system costs, our voice becomes more credible,” Dr. Parke told Ocular Surgery News.
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