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WHAT’S HAPPENING

New York Society Reaches Out to YOs

On May 16, the New York State Ophthalmological Society’s (NYSOS) Young Ophthalmologist (YO) Committee held its YO New York! program at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. The session, developed by Grace Sun, MD, chair of the committee, along with committee members Jiaxi Ding, MD, and Brad E. Kligman, MD, offered both practice management modules and an update on advocacy efforts across the country. “We wanted to hold a session that would meet the specific needs of young ophthalmologists in New York and address their concerns,” said Dr. Sun.

The Academy has been encouraging state societies to develop YO efforts and get YOs involved in advocacy via the Advocacy Ambassador Program. Drs. Kligman and Ding both participated as 2015 Advocacy Ambassadors sponsored by NYSOS. Dr. Sun is an Academy Leadership Development Program (LDP) XVII participant nominated by NYSOS, and this session was a part of her LDP project. With the support of seasoned NYSOS leaders, including Andrew M. Prince, MD, who also serves as a trustee-at-large for the Academy, YO New York! attracted approximately 60 residents from training programs across the state. Dr. Prince said, “We have to make efforts to provide value to the YO demographic, as joining membership organizations isn’t a given the way it used to be. NYSOS and other state societies have lots of competition. I’m excited to see Dr. Sun and her team put on a successful program—NYSOS is committed to repeating this effort.”

YO NEW YORK! Three NYSOS Grand Rounds winners were honored during the session. From left to right: Dr. Sun, Siddarth Rathi, MD, Mamta V. Shah, MD, Audrey X. Tai, MD, and Dr. Prince.

FOR THE RECORD

Annual Business Meeting

Notice is hereby given that the Annual Business Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology will be held Sunday, Nov. 15, 10:00-10:30 a.m., in Venetian Ballroom F at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

Board Nominees

NOMINATED. If elected, Dr. Bradford will be next year's president-elect.

In accordance with Academy bylaws, notice is hereby given of the following nominations for elected board positions on the 2016 board. These nominations were made by the Academy Board of Trustees in June. If elected, the following individuals will begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2016.

President-Elect
Cynthia A. Bradford, MD

Senior Secretary for Clinical Education
Louis B. Cantor, MD

Trustees-at-Large
Michael F. Chiang, MD
Cynthia Mattox, MD, FACS

Council Chair
Mathew W. MacCumber, MD, PhD

Council Vice Chair
Lynn K. Gordon, MD, PhD

Board Appointments

During the June Board of Trustees meeting, the following individual was appointed to the Board of Trustees and will begin his new term on Jan. 1, 2016.

International Trustee-at-Large
Liteh Wu, MD

Procedures for Nomination by Petition

On Jan. 1, 2016, 6 Board of Trustees positions will become vacant. Elections to fill those positions will take place by mail and electronic ballot after the Nov. 15, 2015, Annual Business Meeting.

To nominate a candidate by petition, submit a written petition to the Academy’s CEO no later than Sept. 16, 2015. The petition must be signed by at least 50 voting Academy members and fellows.

To suggest a nominee for the 2017 board, watch for the call for nominations that will be published in the January 2016 EyeNet Magazine.

To read the rules in full, visit www.aao.org/about/governance/bylaws/article5.

ACADEMY STORE

Study for the DOCK Exam

The September 2015 Demonstration of Ophthalmic Cognitive Knowledge (DOCK) examination is quickly approaching. The Academy has the materials you need to conquer this and other maintenance of certification (MOC) exams. Experience a live study course in the comfort of your home with the MOC Exam Review Course on Demand, 2014-2016 audio recordings and presentation slides from the July 2014 live course. Or assess your knowledge with online practice exams in the Practicing Ophthalmologists Learning System, 2014-2016.

For more MOC Essentials, visit www.aao.org/moc.

Now Available: 2016 ICD-10-CM for Ophthalmology

ICD-10 launches on Oct. 1. Ensure that your coding and chart documentation are as accurate as possible with the Academy’s newly revised 2016 ICD-10-CM for Ophthalmology: The Complete Reference book. It includes tabular and alphabetical listings of codes, ICD-9 to ICD-10 conversions of frequently reported diagnoses in ophthalmology, quick reference guides by subspecialty, and more. The ICD-10-CM for Ophthalmology online subscription is also newly updated. The online version is easily searchable, includes both ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, coding clues, and a notes section.

To order, visit www.aao.org/store.

D.C. REPORT

Physician Drug Payments Data Released

Under pressure from the Academy and other medical societies to improve its physician payment data releases, CMS made changes in its second annual release of data on Medicare payments to physicians and other providers. The new 2013 data set, released in June, included several notable improvements over last year. But problems remain.

Payment distinction. Last year’s release lumped Part B drugs and payments for physician services together. This year, CMS is differentiating between them. Although the Academy is pleased that a distinction has been made, it is dismayed that these data reflect only gross payments and do not discern between physician drug compensation and the cost paid by the physicians for the Part B drugs.

Context for payment summary reports. Consumer-friendly descriptions replaced CPT code names in the summary reports of what CMS paid for. While the Academy agrees that these descriptions are helpful for the public, further context should be provided. For example, the public should be aware that ophthalmology has one of the highest percentages of Medicare patients among medical specialties.

Drug pricing and payments. CMS also explained drug prices more clearly; that is, it pays 106% of the average sales price. However, CMS did not discuss the sequestration cut that reduces actual payments to physicians to 104%.

Academy educating the public. The Academy and other medical societies successfully educated the media about the context needed to accurately analyze the data—particularly the distinction between Part B drug payments and payments for services. The Academy will continue to advise CMS on how to improve its reporting process to enhance the public’s understanding of the data.

For more information, contact the Academy’s Government Affairs Division at 202-737-6662 or email politicalaffairs@aaodc.org.

2015 AWARDS

Announcing the 2015 Academy Awards

It is with pleasure that the Academy Board of Trustees and the Awards Committee announce this year’s recipients.

SPECIAL AWARDS

These awardees are invited to attend AAO 2015 in Las Vegas as guests of the Academy President, Russell N. Van Gelder, MD, PhD.

■ Guest of Honor Award

This award honors individuals selected by the president for contributions to ophthalmology and the Academy.

Stuart L. Fine, MD
Robert E. Kalina, MD
Kris Palczewski, PhD

■ Distinguished Service Award

This award honors individuals or organizations for ongoing notable service to both ophthalmology and the Academy.

Research to Prevent Blindness

■ Special Recognition Award

This award recognizes individuals for their lifetime commitment to and support of ophthalmology. 

Academy Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

■ Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award

This award recognizes Academy members for their outstanding contribution to humanitarian efforts, such as participation in charitable activities, care of the indigent, involvement in community service, and other forms of care performed above and beyond the typical duties of an ophthalmologist.

Stephen L. Beaty, MD
Gary E. Fish, MD

■ Outstanding Advocate Award

This award recognizes Academy members for participation in advocacy at the state and/ or federal levels.

Jean E. Ramsey, MD

■ International Blindness Prevention Award

This award honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to the prevention of blindness or the restoration of sight around the world.

James E. Standefer, MD

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS PROGRAM

The Achievement Award program recognizes individuals (members and nonmembers) for their time and contribution to the scientific programs of the annual meeting and those who serve as Academy committee members, representatives, trustees, councilors, authors, coauthors, and reviewers of educational material.

■ Life Achievement Award

Individuals who have cumulatively earned 60 points and have made significant contributions to ophthalmology as determined by the Awards Committee are nominated to receive this award.

Douglas R. Anderson, MD, FARVO
Anthony C. Arnold, MD
Dimitri T. Azar, MD
Rubens Belfort Jr., MD, PhD
James D. Brandt, MD
Susan B. Bressler, MD
Antonio Capone Jr., MD
Janet Louise Davis, MD
Eugene de Juan Jr., MD
Jay S. Duker, MD
Ronald Leigh Fellman, MD, OCS
Jill Annette Foster, MD, FACS
Robert A. Goldberg, MD
Hans E. Grossniklaus, MD
Eve J. Higginbotham, MD
John Bryan Holds, MD
Stephen A. Kamenetzky, MD, OCS
Nick Mamalis, MD
Randall J. Olson, MD
Kirk H. Packo, MD
Kuldev Singh, MD, MPH
William E. Smiddy, MD 
Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS
Richard F. Spaide, MD 
Khalid F. Tabbara, MD 
Trexler M. Topping, MD

■ Senior Achievement Award

Individuals who have cumulatively earned 30 points were nominated to receive this award.

Maria M. Aaron, MD
Ron Afshari Adelman, MD, MPH
Steven M. Archer, MD
Carl C. Awh, MD
Keith Barton, MD
Samar K. Basak, MD, FRCS, MBBS
Surendra Basti, MBBS
Hilary A. Beaver, MD
George Beiko, MD
Jurij R. Bilyk, MD
Bahram Bodaghi, MD, PhD
Daniel J. Briceland, MD
Brandon G. Busbee, MD
Michael F. Chiang, MD
David R. Chow, MD
Kathryn A. Colby, MD, PhD
Jose Dalma, MD
Christopher M. DeBacker, MD
Hakan Demirci, MD
Steven H. Dewey, MD
Michel Eid Farah, MD
Richard M. Feist, MD
Rod Foroozan, MD
Roberta E. Gausas, MD
Ravi D. Goel, MD
Justin Gottlieb, MD
Richard J. Grostern, MD
Andrew R. Harrison, MD
Jean Hausheer, MD
Jeffrey D. Henderer, MD
Bonnie A. Henderson, MD
Warren E. Hill, MD
Jonathan W. Kim, MD
Paul S. Koch, MD
Gregory S. Kosmorsky, DO
Christopher Kai-shun Leung, MD,MBChB
Anat Loewenstein, MD
Mathew W. MacCumber, MD, PhD
John O. Mason, MD
Shahzad I. Mian, MD
Eydie G. Miller-Ellis, MD
Darius M. Moshfeghi, MD
Milind N. Naik, MBBS
Philip R. Rizzuto, MD, FACS
Francisco J. Rodriguez, MD
Stephen Richard Russell, MD
Stephen G. Schwartz, MD, MBA
Barry S. Seibel, MD
Savitri Sharma, MD
Carla J. Siegfried, MD
Justine R. Smith, MD
John R. Stechschulte, MD
Karl G. Stonecipher, MD
Humphrey J. F. Taylor
Rupal H. Trivedi, MBBS, MS
James F. Vander, MD
Michael P. Vrabec, MD
Jayne S. Weiss, MD
Thomas C. White, MD

■ Achievement Award

Individuals who have cumulatively earned 10 points were nominated to receive this award.

Mohamed F. Abou Shousha, MD
Hee Bae Ahn, MD, PhD
Mashhoor F. Al Fayez, MD, FRCS
Abdulaziz I. Alrajhi, MD
Adel H. Alsuhaibani, MD
Robert Edward T. Ang, MD
Husam Ansari, MD, PhD
Ahmad A. Aref, MD
Jorge G. Arroyo, MD
Jatin Naresh Ashar, MD
Nancy Baker
Miltos O. Balidis, MD, PhD, DO
Alireza Baradaran-Rafii, MD
Paul M. Beer, MD
Rick E. Bendel, MD
Anjali M. Bhorade, MD
Bradley C. Black, MD
Fred S. Bodker, MD
Swaraj Bose, MD
Milam A. Brantley Jr., MD
Yvonne M. Buys, MD
John B. Cason, MD
Clara C. Chan, MD
John C. Chen, MD
Sherleen Huang Chen, MD
Lingyun Cheng, MD
Cynthia S. Chiu, MD, FACS
Raymond I. Cho, MD
Dal W. Chun, MD
Jessica B. Ciralsky, MD
Steven M. Cohen, MD
Jorge Corona, MD
Minas T. Coroneo, MD, MS
Maria S. Cortina, MD
Anastasios P. Costarides, MD, PhD
Catherine Creuzot-Garcher, MD, PhD
Arthur B. Cummings, MD
Sandra Dixon Curd, MBA, COE, COA, OCS
Bertil E. Damato, MD, PhD
Sujata Das, MBBS
Jose J. de la Cruz Napoli, MD
Amitha Domalpally, MBBS
Alexander M. Eaton, MD
Ehab N. El Rayes, MD, PhD
Howard F. Fine, MD, MHS
Thomas A. Finley, MD
Bradley S. Foster, MD
Nicole R. Fram, MD
Matthew D. Gearinger, MD
Lawrence Geller, MBA, MS
Mark C. Gillies, MD, PhD
Christopher C. Glisson, DO
Jeffrey M. Goshe, MD
Hiroshi Goto, MD
Michael P. Grant, MD, PhD
Enrique O. Graue Hernandez, MD
Leslie D. Grosinger, MD
Satish C. Gupta, MBBS, MS
Rudolf F. Guthoff, MD
Farhad Hafezi, MD, PhD
John T. Harvey, MD
Sohail J. Hasan, MD, PhD
Gregg A. Heatley, MD
Paul I. Homer, MD
Jonathan C. Horton, MD, PhD
Michael J. Howcroft, MD
Frank W. Howes, MBChB
Robert H. Janigian Jr., MD
Brian C. Joondeph, MD, FACS
Daniel J. Karr, MD
Michael P. Kelly, FOPS
Takeshi Kezuka, MD, PhD
Yousuf M. Khalifa, MD
Dong Myung Kim, MD
Ivana K. Kim, MD
Anna S. Kitzmann, MD
Tero T. Kivela, MD
Caroline C. Klaver, MD
Jaclyn L. Kovach, MD
Andrés Francisco Lasave, MD
Ali Reza R. Lashay, MD
Bryan S. Lee, MD, JD
Katherine A. Lee, MD, PhD
Flora Levin, MD
Grace A. Levy-Clarke, MD
Kenneth K.W. Li, MBChB
Thomas M. Lietman, MD
Luiz Lima, MD
Scott A. Limstrom, MD
Walter Lisch, MD
Ron K. Lord, MD
Jodi I. Luchs, MD
Fiona O. Luk, MBChB
David Anthony Mackey, MD
Florence E. Malet, MD
Boris Malyugin, MD, PhD
Frank Joseph Martin, MD
Cathleen M. McCabe, MD
Melissa L. Meldrum-Aaberg, MD
Jill S. Melicher Larson, MD
Shannath Louise Merbs, MD, PhD
Pauline T. Merrill, MD
Isabelle A. Meunier, MD
Elisabetta Miserocchi, MD
Jordi M. Mones, MD
Mario Luiz R. Monteiro, MD
Basil S. Morgan, MD
W. Walker Motley, MD
Daniel E. Neely, MD
Janos Nemeth, MD
Joseph T. Nezgoda, MD, MBA
Kyoko Ohno-Matsui, MD
Sotaro Ooto, MD
Michael G. Orr, MD
Mohammad Pakravan, MD
Sung Chul Park, MD
Gregory D. Parkhurst, MD
Mohammad M. Parvaresh Rizi, MD
Purnima S. Patel, MD
Shamira A. Perera, MBBS
Karim G. Punja, MD
Fairooz Puthiyapurayil Manjandavida, MD
Mohan Rajan, MD, MBBS
Michael A. Romansky, JD
Daniel B. Rootman, MD, MSc
Jose E. Sanchez-DiMartino, MD
Jeffrey R. Sandler, MD
Shlomit Schaal, MD, PhD
Chirag P. Shah, MD, MPH
Rohit Shetty, FRCS
Erin M. Shriver, MD
Patrick A. Sibony, MD
Shameema Sikder, MD
Edward F. Smith, MD
Janet R. Sparrow, PhD
Marc J. Spirn, MD
Michael C. Struck, M
Anne Sumers, MD
Grace Sun, MD
Jennifer K. Sun, MD
Johnny Tang, MD
Steven C. Thornquist, MD
Khiun F. Tjia, MD
William R. Trawnik, BCO
Yoshihiko Usui, MD
Daniel V. Vasconcelos-Santos, MD, PhD
Randall E. Verdick
Evan L. Waxman, MD, PhD
Jeffrey Whitman, MD, OCS
Joy Woodke, COE, OCS
Maria A. Woodward, MD
Charles C. Wykoff, MD, PhD
Steven Yeh, MD
Jacob Yunker, MD
David N. Zacks, MD, PhD

SECRETARIAT AWARDS PROGRAM

This program recognizes individuals for contributions outside the scope of the Achievement Awards program. Each of the Academy’s secretaries and senior secretaries can submit nominees to the Academy’s Awards Committee.

Nominated by the secretaries for Quality of Care & Knowledge Base Development, Ophthalmic Knowledge, Online Education/eLearning; the editors of the ONE Network; and the senior secretary for Clinical Education:

Michael F. Chiang, MD
Geoffrey T. Emerick, MD
Malvina B. Eydelman, MD
Terry L. Forrest, MD
Jill A. Foster, MD
Jean Hausheer, MD
Carol L. Karp, MD
Marcus M. Marcet, MD
Ayman Naseri, MD
Russell W. Read, MD
Mahendra K. Rupanni, MBBS
Vinay A. Shah, MD
Michelle Tarver, MD, PHD
Elmer Y. Tu, MD

Nominated by the senior secretary for Ophthalmic Practice:

Sandra Dixon Curd, MBA, COE, COA
Joy Woodke, COE, OCS

Nominated by the secretaries for State Affairs and Federal Affairs, medical director of Health Policy, and senior secretary for Advocacy:

Kevin P. Corcoran, CAE
Sidney K. Gicheru, MD
Suber S. Huang, MD
Stacey J. Kruger, MD
Janice C. Law, MD
Mark J. Mannis, MD
Mark L. Mazow, MD
John D. Peters, MD
Diana R. Shiba, MD
Pamela E. Williams, MD

Nominated by the secretary for the Annual Meeting:

Cynthia Mattox, MD
Thomas W. Samuelson, MD
Stephen L. Trokel, MD

Nominated by the secretary for Communications:

Michael F. Chiang, MD
Thomas L. Steinemann, MD
Anne Sumers, MD

Nominated by the editor-in-chief of Ophthalmology:

Henry D. Jampel, MD, MHS
Jeffrey Ward Kalenak, MD
Sanjay V. Patel, MBBS
Andrew P. Schachat, MD
Ivan R. Schwab, MD

Nominated by the secretary for Member Services:

Natasha Herz, MD
Robert F. Melendez, MD
David Noonan
John R. Stechschulte, MD
William S. Tasman, MD, FACS

Nominated by the chief medical editor of EyeNet:

Sanjay G. Asrani, MD
Kevin M. Miller, MD

Nominated by the secretary for Global Alliances:

Abdulaziz I. Alrajhi, MD
Marko Hawlina, MD
Jeannine Srourian, MD
James C. Tsai, MD, MBA