OASC | ADVOCACY

All This and Much, Much More

OOSS boasts an ever-expanding menu of benefits that are focused on your unique interests.

By Virginia Pickles, Contributing Editor

Advocacy, benchmarking, education, expert advice and insights on hot topics … the list goes on. And, in 2014, that list expands to include even more offerings from the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society (OOSS).

“This is an exciting time at OOSS,” says President Y. Ralph Chu, MD. “With the current regulatory, economic and legislative landscape, understanding the ASC industry is more critical than ever for practicing ophthalmologists who own or work within an ASC.

“OOSS is the only organization that’s focused on protecting the surgery center for ophthalmology,” he continues. “I think that’s why we’re seeing a great deal of positive momentum, particularly as we partner with large ophthalmology and ASC organizations, such as the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA), the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), the Society for Excellence in Eyecare (SEE), the American College of Eye Surgeons (ACES) and the American-European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery (ACOS).

“These are progressive-minded societies of practicing ophthalmologists, many of whom are already involved in surgery centers,” Dr. Chu says. “They see OOSS as an important resource for government advocacy and lobbying efforts to protect the surgery enters.”

In fact, it was OOSS’s commitment to advocacy that prompted Dr. Chu to join the organization. “I built my ASC 5 years ago during a time of increased regulatory scrutiny, rules changes and a flurry of audits,” he says. “It wasn’t business as usual any more, and I had to seek outside help to navigate those waters. I immediately saw the value of OOSS’s advocacy voice and the resources available to me as part of an organization focused solely on ophthalmic ASCs.”

Full-time Focused Advocacy

As OOSS’s representative in Washington, attorney Michael A. Romansky has a unique perspective on the challenges facing ophthalmic ASCs. Although his responsibilities are grouped under a “lobbying” umbrella, Mr. Romansky’s role far surpasses the traditional concept of a lobbyist buttonholing legislators in the halls of Congress.

“The regulatory environment is a constant full-court press for us now,” says OOSS Executive Director Kent Jackson. “The good news is that Mike, in collaboration with the AAO, the ASCRS, the ASCA and various subspecialty groups, is doing an incredible job of informing and working with regulators. When the time is right, he knows who to pull into the room, who to engage in the conversation, how to time these encounters and when to reach out to our members for expert input.”

Ensuring adequate payment and expanding the array of ophthalmic services permitted in an ASC are ongoing concerns, according to Mr. Romansky. “Today, essentially every ophthalmic procedure is reimbursed in an ASC — not always at a fee that’s as high as we would like, but it’s all there,” he says. Other issues that are always on the radar for OOSS are the movement toward leveling the playing field between what hospitals and ASCs are paid for services, and any legislation or regulation that would limit a physician’s ability to invest in an ASC and treat his own patients there. “So far, we’ve been able to prevent these types of limitations from applying to ASCs, but that’s certainly another major area we’re always monitoring very carefully,” Mr. Romansky says.

The most recent hot topic to emerge is the move by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to impose certain quality reporting requirements on ophthalmic ASCs. “ASC-11 is an ophthalmic-specific quality measure requiring ASCs to report improvements in visual function within 90 days following cataract surgery,” Mr. Romansky explains. “Our position is this, if that type of data must be collected, it should be collected by the surgeon under the Physician Quality Reporting System not the ASC. OOSS, along with the other ophthalmology and ASC organizations, has been fighting this measure. And on April 2, CMS suspended the measure, promising to address challenging operational difficulties and implement it on Jan. 1, 2015.”

Dr. Chu notes, “Advocacy is a constant presence in an organization like this. Some of our initiatives are reaching deeper into the surgery centers, to involve not just the owners but also the people who perform the day-to-day work, such as the clinical directors, the nurses and the technicians. That team makes our ASCs work, and they’re most affected by many of the changes in the rules.”

Mr. Romansky maintains a high profile and accessibility to OOSS members who have questions on quality reporting or any issue. “I communicate regularly with our members, keeping them abreast of what’s happening through our legislative alerts and other articles,” he says. “I speak on these topics all over the country. It’s important that the nation’s thousand or so ophthalmic ASCs be updated. I also help OOSS develop materials and programs, not just to inform our members, but also to enable them to respond and make the changes necessary to comply with this ever-enlarging array of regulatory, legislative and reimbursement challenges.”

Signature Benchmarking Survey

OOSS is also well known in the industry as the organization that conducts an annual survey for clinical and business benchmarking, the only survey of its kind designed specifically for ophthalmic ASCs. The OOSSMark ASC Performance Metrics survey enables participating facilities to evaluate year-over-year performance, as well as compare their performance with that of other ophthalmic-driven ASCs across the country. Not content to rest on its laurels, OOSS recently launched an elegant new cloud-based platform that features a secure and confidential data collection tool with expanded utility.

“In the past, we were limited in what we could do, because the survey required manual calculations and tallying,” says Member Services Consultant Albert Castillo. “With this new platform, all data are collected electronically and graphs and charts can be generated for reporting to ASC owners.”

Mr. Jackson notes, “The benchmarking survey remains open to all interested ophthalmic-driven ASCs. OOSS has always had a philosophy that we are about providing industry leadership, and our members are sustaining investors in that leadership position.”

The new benchmarking platform went live in November 2013, and 2012 reports were available in March. Data collection for 2013 began on March 1, and reports will be available as early as June 2014.

Education at OOSSUniversity

OOSS is also at the forefront of identifying and developing educational programs designed for the ophthalmic ASC. Through enhanced partnerships with other organizations, offerings that carry the mark of OOSSUniversity are designed to address subjects of importance to the entire ASC team.

“Today, we work closely with the American Academy of Ophthalmic Executives and the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators to identify courses that fit their meeting settings and complement our annual OOSS events, the OOSS Symposium at the AAO meeting in the fall and the OOSS Perspective at the ASCRS meeting in the spring,” Mr. Jackson says. “The good news for our members is that OR nurses, administrators and other staff members who are members of these organizations can take advantage of this education without incurring additional costs for travel or time away from the office.”

OOSS is also forging working relationships with other organizations, such as ASCA, SEE, ACES, ACOS and ophthalmic specialty groups to enhance educational reach and collaboration on legislative and regulatory issues. “We have common leadership in these groups,” Mr. Jackson says, “and they’re interested in having an ASC focus at their meetings driven or supported by OOSS.”

“Every 3 years, OOSS board members meet to discuss our mission and goals and how we can keep them relevant to the times ahead,” notes Dr. Chu. “OOSSUniversity is a direct result of these discussions, enabling us to reach out not only to surgery center owners, but also to nurses and clinical directors to help them stay current with changes in the industry.”

Additional educational opportunities are available through OOSS partners, such as BSM Consulting and Progressive Surgical Solutions, both of whom offer pricing advantages for OOSS members.

Expert Advice On- and Offline

OOSS members have long been able to “ask the experts” their business and clinical questions informally via e-mail and receive timely, personalized responses. “Members have full access to me, Mike Romansky and Kent Jackson via e-mail and cell phone,” says Mr. Castillo. “They contact us with a problem or question, and we either answer the question ourselves or obtain the answer from one of our affiliates, usually within 24 hours.”

Mr. Jackson notes, “With the launch of our new website, we’re taking that resource a step further. Members will be able to ask their questions online any time, day or night, and we’ll post the questions and the experts’ responses (with the questioner’s permission) online, making them available to the rest of the membership, essentially systematizing the notion of frequently asked questions. Born of our strategic planning process, this program will be accessible under the banner of OOSSAnswers.”

According to Dr. Chu, this immediate access to expert advice is one of the reasons he joined OOSS. “If you have an issue, you can contact OOSS and receive an answer to your questions in a timely manner,” he says. “That’s an invaluable tool that’s available to surgery center directors, as well as owners.”

The improved website will be more comprehensive and the interactions more collaborative, according to Mr. Jackson, because it will facilitate staff-to-staff networking in a social media format. “A real challenge for most ASCs is that they operate like islands,” he says. “Often, they’re the only ASC in town and there’s a certain degree of isolation in the way they operate. The new site will provide networking opportunities for people to connect and will provide forums for the discussion of business and clinical issues our members face every day.”

Insights on Hot Topics

OOSSAnswers provides personalized responses to individual members’ questions, and OOSS disseminates news in its regular publications, such as “Washington Update,” “Eye on OOSS,” and Outlook magazine. But what about breaking news that requires in-depth coverage? Or advice on how to address the impact of changes? OOSS members need look no further than the organization’s hot-topic webinars.

“When the ASC-11 quality reporting mandate was issued along with a fixed deadline, our members needed guidance,” Mr. Jackson says. “We developed a webinar that attracted more than 400 people — including administrators and directors of nursing — and taught them how to prepare for this new reporting cycle. We’ve also developed webinars on other issues, such as introducing retina surgery into the OR and introducing EHR into the ASC. Combined with survey and polling methods, we can quickly assess where our members are with respect to a hot topic and, with their help, determine exactly the kind of programming we need.”

Focused on Your Needs

Why join OOSS? “The benefit of OOSS membership is, first and foremost, being able to associate with the best in the ophthalmic ASC industry,” Mr. Jackson says. “Our members do an incredible job financially and clinically in terms of delivering excellent outcomes and sustaining profitable enterprises at the same time. Nowhere else will you have the networking opportunities that you will have with OOSS. If your objective is to be the best, then you’ll want to associate with the best.”

Mr. Jackson notes that OOSS members are industry leaders who can be instrumental in shaping regulatory and legislative decisions that will ensure the future of the ophthalmic ASC.

This quickly became evident to Dr. Chu. “Even during my short tenure as a surgery center owner, OOSS has been involved in some significant gains for surgery center owners,” he says. “For example, we weren’t permitted to perform same-day YAG capsulotomies in an ASC; however, OOSS worked closely with the AAO and the ASCRS to have that ruling reversed. I think we’ll see many changes associated with the Affordable Care Act, and OOSS’s legislative efforts will be front and center.”

Romansky notes, “The bottom line is that for most practices that have ASCs, the facility is the most profitable part of the practice, and that’s an asset worth preserving and growing. That’s where OOSS plays a vital role.”

“The unique aspect of OOSS is that it’s completely focused on the well-being of the surgery center,” Dr. Chu says. “It is the voice for all ophthalmic surgery centers — the facility, the owners and the people who work within them — and its role is complementary to the ophthalmology- and ASC-focused organizations. These are synergistic relationships and membership in OOSS is a nice value add for clinicians who are part of those organizations.”

“The leadership of OOSS,” concludes Mr. Jackson, “has made a decisive commitment to continue to serve the exclusive and unique interests of the ophthalmic ASC.” ■