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  • How to Sign Up for the IRIS® Registry

  • The Academy provides the IRIS® Registry as a free benefit to all U.S. members. You may use but do not need an electronic health record (EHR) system. Oct. 31 is the deadline to sign up with the IRIS Registry to manually report for the current year of MIPS.

    To participate in the IRIS Registry:

    1. Identify Your Practice Type

    How you participate and sign up with the IRIS Registry depends on the nature of your practice.

    Practice Type Participation Sign Up
    Ophthalmologist-owned All actively practicing ophthalmologists must participate, including any part-time employees. Any member of the practice, including the administrator, can apply. Sign up only once. If your practice plans to report via EHR, Verana Health will respond to your inquiry.
    Sign up for the registry
    Ophthalmologists who work for multiple practices: You must report separately for each ophthalmologist-owned practice. Each ophthalmologist-owned practice must apply separately.
    Multispecialty All ophthalmologists in the institution must report, even if they work at multiple sites; all must be Academy members.
    Join the Academy.    		 Email irisdatalink@veranahealth.com to begin the process. Due to the size and complexity of such practices, we use a separate application process.
    Hospital/health system
    University/academy center

    2. Confirm Enrollment Eligibility

    All ophthalmologists in the practice must have paid current-year Academy member dues for the practice to enroll in the IRIS Registry. To verify enrollment eligibility or to pay member dues, contact Member Services at 1.866.561.8558 or 1.415.561.8581. You can also email member_services@aao.org.

    3. Identify Reporting Method

    All first-time IRIS Registry users who sign up after June 15 must report for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System via the web portal option, even if you have an EHR system.

    • If you have an EHR system: See if your EHR system has already been set up for the IRIS Registry. If not, contact your vendor. You can still use the web-portal reporting option.
    • If you don't have an EHR system or we haven't integrated your system yet: Apply to use the web-portal reporting option this year. If you acquire an EHR system after signing up, you will have a chance to switch your account to EHR-based reporting for early 2023.

    4. Apply by Appropriate Deadline

    Join the IRIS Registry

    Sign up 

    All first-time IRIS Registry users who sign up after June 15, must report for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System via the web portal option. To use the registry's web-portal option for MIPS, you must sign up by Oct. 31.

    Complete the IRIS Registry Application, unless your practice is one of the large institutions described above (e.g., multi-specialty practice, hospital/health center or academic center).

    5. Follow Email Guidance to Get Started

    Once you've applied, we'll process your application and contact you about how to get started. Watch for emails from the Academy's registry vendor Verana Health. Make sure someone regularly checks the email address you provided at registration.

    • EHR users: Once we've processed your application, we will place your practice in the queue for setup to use the registry via your EHR system. Review frequently asked questions about data and technical requirements.
    • Non-EHR users: Once we've processed your application, we'll contact you about data entry for 2023.