San Francisco—The American Academy of Ophthalmology, the world's largest member association for ophthalmologists, and Medflow, a leading provider of electronic health record EHR software for the eye care community, have partnered to deliver Academy patient education tools through Medflow's electronic health records software. This initiative helps eye care practices meet the Meaningful Use criteria of the electronic health record incentive program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2010, which rewards medical practices for using new medical record technology. One measure of meaningful use requires doctors to show that more than 10 percent of patients are provided patient-specific education resources electronically. This measure, while currently optional, could well become a core requirement in the next stage of the EHR incentive program.
Medflow users can now have immediate access to the Academy's high-quality, patient-education handouts and videos, designed to effectively inform and educate patients about their eye conditions and related treatment options. Medflow is the first EHR company to support the use of Academy's patient education tools directly from their system.
"As the world's leading provider of eye health information, we're proud to continue to enhance the ways in which Academy members can ensure their patients receive the highest quality care," said Renaldo Juanso, vice president of communications and marketing for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "This partnership will enable more Academy ophthalmologists to effectively educate their patients about their eye conditions and related treatment options through a secure, electronic platform."
By offering Academy patient education content directly through Medflow's EHR platform, the partnership better enables Academy members to provide patients with the industry's most trusted, accurate information related to eye care, ensuring more patients arrive at appointments better informed about their condition, their needs and their treatment options.
"Integrating the Academy's education products into our system allows more Eye M.D.s to deliver the best possible patient experience," said Jim Riggi, CEO of Medflow. "It also increases efficiency, as all the needed materials are embedded right within the system."
About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons — Eye M.D.s — with more than 30,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three "O's" – ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases, infections and injuries, and perform eye surgery. For more information, visit www.aao.org. The Academy's EyeSmart® public education program works to educate the public about the importance of eye health and to empower them to preserve their healthy vision, by providing the most trusted and medically accurate information about eye diseases, conditions and injuries. Visit www.geteyesmart.org to learn more.
About Medflow
Medflow, Inc. is the leading provider of EHR software for the Eye Care Community, dedicated to improving workflow and processes for ophthalmic practices. Medflow software meets all 23 American Academy of Ophthalmology guidelines and is the first to have ophthalmic practices receive Meaningful Use payments. With more than 400 installations, Medflow enjoys the highest ratio of successful implementation in the industry.