Advocacy News

The Academy urged large commercial insurers and Medicare Advantage plans to suspend anti-VEGF step therapy requirements in response to Pine Pharmaceuticals discontinuation of repackaged Avastin (bevacizumab).

MIPS participants who are randomly selected for the audit will receive email notifications between October 2024 and April 2025.

The Academy is engaging with alternative suppliers and pushing CMS to intervene on Medicare Advantage plan step therapy requirements for Avastin. 

Regional Medicare administrators Novitas and First Coast Service Options on Oct. 10 proposed new coverage policies for medical botulinum toxin injections, which include injections for treatment of blepharospasm, strabismus, and hemifacial spasm.

Advocacy is built on relationships and OPHTHPAC, your Academy’s political action committee, is here to help you connect with your lawmakers.

The Oct. 10 announcement applies to specific counties in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  

Following sustained advocacy engagement with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary Valerie Arkoosh and department staff, the Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology won higher payment rates for numerous pediatric ophthalmology service codes in the state’s Medicaid program.

Ophthalmology’s top champion in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD, R-Iowa, urgently needs your support or she risks losing her reelection in what will prove to be a very close race.

Persistent advocacy from our ophthalmology coalition has led to improvements in final MIGS Medicare coverage policies.

New Jersey state Assemblyman and candidate for New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District, Herb Conaway, MD, issued a stark warning if Congress fails to address Medicare reimbursement cuts at the last OPHTHPAC speaker series event of the year.