General
Data
Population Health
Security and Privacy
Cost and Requirements of Participation
Enrollment
Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) Measures
Research
Future Registry Modules
Additional Questions
General
What is a clinical registry?
A clinical registry is an organized system that collects uniform data (clinical and patient-reported) to evaluate specified outcomes for a population defined by a particular disease. With the increasing usage of EHRs, registries have emerged as valuable solutions for harnessing the power of information technology to capture statistically-relevant, evidence-based data to aid in decisions regarding the most optimal patient care. Such registries are already being successfully used within other medical specialties and medical associations, including the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
Why is the Academy providing this technology resource?
The Academy is committed to continually improving and innovating ophthalmic patient care. With the increasing adoption of EHRs and other advances in technology, physicians now have the ability to perform their own data analysis to inform better clinical decision-making. Using disease registries in this manner is the future of medicine, as evidenced by the success of the registries developed by the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The timing is right for ophthalmology to be among the early adopters in strategically deploying information technology to drive quality improvement objectives.
Is the IRIS Registry being developed as part of the Accountable Care Act or other government mandate?
Clinical data registries antedate healthcare reform by two decades. They are not a mandated part of health care reform, nor are they required to comply with any federal regulations. The overarching purpose is to provide ophthalmologists with clinical data that enables them to benchmark their practice's performance and drive improvement in patient outcomes.
Is the Academy capable of delivering a quality information technology solution?
The Academy is partnering in the development of the IRIS® Registry with FIGMD, Inc., a company that specializes in integrating EHRs with registries. FIGMD has developed and maintained registries for the American College of Cardiology and has completed integration projects for more than 50 major EHRs and is capable of working quickly with new EHR systems.
How does the IRIS® Registry work?
Data relevant to the registry will be extracted automatically from the office EHR and transmitted on a scheduled basis directly to the IRIS® Registry. Participating ophthalmologists then can access the data and run queries on their own patient population, to benchmark practice performance and uncover potential areas for quality improvement.
Results can also be compared to the larger aggregated data, such as: "What is the return rate to the OR within the first 30 days postop of cataract surgery and how does it compare to the national norm?" This type of research can be done virtually through the IRIS® Registry, without bogging down the practice's own EHR.
How will it affect my practice workflow?
The IRIS® Registry has been designed to minimize your participation overhead and time spent on data entry while immediately delivering valuable tools that your practice can use. Many clinical registries include laborious data entry, confusing technology and little immediate return on effort. The IRIS® Registry avoids these problems.
Data
What data would I have access to as an IRIS® Registry participant?
The IRIS® Registry allows you to run quality reports that provide clinician-, practice- and national-level results for all measures. Each participant has access to their own performance data. In addition, the registry participants can use to compare their performance and outcomes to similar practices at the regional and national level. It is also possible to generate comparative analysis within an ophthalmologist's own practice. Users will eventually be able to answer questions, such as:
- What is my exact posterior capsule rupture rate?
- What is my rate of return to the operating room within 60 days after retinal detachment surgery?
- What percentage of my diabetic patients under age 60 develop macular edema following intraocular surgery?
- What percentage of my patients with a diagnosis of glaucoma and early cupping have had a visual field during the past year?
Is it necessary to have an EHR system to participate in the IRIS® Registry?
Although there are mechanisms to input data without using an EHR, the system works best in association with one.
Can the registry data be used for Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) reporting?
The IRIS® Registry has receive approval as a certified EHR technology vendor to help practices report clinical quality data to the PQRS submission. For those utilizing a certified EHR (certified to be used in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs), submission of PQRS data through the IRIS® Registry also satisfies the requirement to report CQMs for the EHR Incentive Program, as well as the Stage 2 menu objective to report to a specialized registry.
Population Health
How can the IRIS® Registry inform me about my patient population?
You'll be able to monitor patient care, track interventions and evaluate outcomes at a population level. The IRIS® Registry allows users to run queries based on the demographics of an ophthalmologist's patient population for those conditions addressed in the ophthalmology registry. It can help you answer questions such as:
- What is the visual acuity outcome of patients with a specific condition who receive a specific surgery?
- Have all patients with a diagnosis of diabetes received a regular eye exam?
- Have the primary care physicians taking care of these patients with diabetes been made aware of the significance of the exam results?
- What is the rate of return to the operating room for patients undergoing cataract surgery?
How is population management via the ophthalmology registry different than via my EHR?
The IRIS® Registry is focused on specific conditions and patient data only for those patients meeting the registry criteria. Therefore, the report run time is much quicker than that of an EHR, whose reporting functions are poorly developed, and often cumbersome to use. It will not slow down or impact an ophthalmologist's data collection and documentation systems in the way pulling such reports from an ophthalmologist's EHR might.
I have reported through the Academy's PQRS registry with Quintiles|Outcome. How is this different?
The Academy's PQRS registry with Quintiles|Outcome was mainly based on data collected retrospectively through claims. For many, this meant that data entry into the registry was still a manual process. The IRIS® Registry extracts data directly from the EHR, resulting in less manual work for the practice.
Security and Privacy
What identifiable points will be associated with my data?
Practices that join the IRIS® Registry enter into an agreement with the Academy, which includes a HIPAA-compliant Business Associate Agreement. Personal Health Information and identifiable provider information will be captured and stored by the IRIS® Registry in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations. The IRIS® Registry will not publish any identifiable provider or practice data without permission.
Who will have access to my data?
The IRIS® Registry collects, stores and reports data on an ophthalmologist's behalf, taking every measure possible to safeguard it. The Academy's technology partner, FIGMD, is compliant with all local and federal regulations governing these areas, including HIPAA provisions and the recently updated provisions as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.
How will the Academy use the data in the IRIS® Registry?
Based on the aggregate data, the Academy will be able to publish benchmarks that can be used to assess an ophthalmologist's outcomes, practice patterns and utilization of new technology to look at overall trends in the patient population. IRIS® Registry data will also allow the Academy to better focus its educational programming and service offerings for members.
Can or will data from the IRIS® Registry be used by any health plans to evaluate physician performance?
This is not a planned feature.
Cost and Requirements of Participation
What are the costs for participating in the IRIS® Registry?
To encourage wide-spread adoption, the Academy is offering multi-year, fee-free access to members physicians who sign the agreements and integrate their EHR with the IRIS® Registry in 2015.
What are the time commitments for my office staff?
The IRIS® Registry will be easy to use, timely and responsive to the needs of the profession. It is designed to require minimal input and data entry from your staff. If integration is done using an EHR, IT staff can expect to spend on average one to two hours per week for three to four weeks to assist in the installation and mapping process. If the process is done manually, office staff can expect to spend no more than three to five minutes per patient for data entry to the Web interface. Following installation, no additional work is required, unless the practice's EHR software is updated in the future. At this time, IT staff will need to repeat the installation and mapping process.
Enrollment
How do I get started?
Join the IRIS® Registry to improve patient care, track interventions and evaluate outcomes across different populations.
Do you have to be an Academy member to participate in the IRIS® Registry?
Yes. Registry participation is open to U.S.-based practicing Academy members.
Is the IRIS® registry available to optometrists?
Optometrists who are employed as part of an Academy member's practice are eligible to participate.
Can academic medical practices participate in the IRIS® Registry?
Any practitioner in the U.S. who is a member of the Academy, regardless of practice setting, can participate in the IRIS® Registry as long as they meet the participation criteria.
As an international ophthalmologist, can I participate?
To ensure the IRIS® Registry infrastructure is properly developed with features and functionalities that meets the needs of ophthalmologists, the IRIS® Registry is currently only open to Academy members practicing in the United States and its territories. In the future, the Academy will examine expanding the IRIS® Registry to include international members.
Are all Academy members in the U.S. expected to participate?
Participation in the registry is not a member requirement, but all members are strongly encouraged to do so. Participation will help improve the quality of care provided by not only their individual practices but by the profession as a whole.
Do all physicians in a practice need to participate in the IRIS® Registry?
It is not required that all physicians participate, but participation by all physicians in the practice is strongly encouraged to generate data that most accurately reflects practice performance.
When will IRIS® Registry users receive their first report? What data will it include?
A few weeks after being mapped, users will be able to receive their first report, which will include performance rate on measures for each physician in practice and for each location.
Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) Measures
What non-PQRS measures does the IRIS® Registry offer?
For 2015, CMS approved these clinical data measures (PDF) for manual reporting only through the IRIS® Registry.
Research
How can the IRIS® Registry be used for research?
The Academy plans to make aggregate data available for research purposes at a later stage. The Academy has established an oversight group to set IRIS® Registry research and publications policies and procedures.
Will there be costs associated with using the ophthalmology registry for research studies?
This is to be planned at a later stage.
Future Registry Modules
Will the Academy create additional clinical data registry modules?
Once the IRIS® Registry is fully implemented, future registry topics will be explored.
How will the focus of new registry modules be decided?
Registry topics will be determined by the Registry Measure Development Workgroup, a panel of Academy members and thought leaders representative of ophthalmic clinical practice and priorities.
How do I submit suggestions related to the registry and recommendations for new topics?
Send an email to irisregistry@aao.org.
Additional Questions
Does the IRIS® Registry have any relationship to continuing medical education?
Currently, the IRIS® Registry does not support continuing medical education activities, but there are future plans to leverage the IRIS® Registry to meet CME requirements.