Volume 6, Issue 5 │February 04, 2022
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MEMBER ALERT: Join the Love Your Eyes Campaign
In celebration of Valentine's Day, the IOA is launching a Love Your Eyes campaign which encourages patients to practice the 20-20-20 rule. IOA members have access to resources like the graphics linked below and a customizable email template to send to your patients encouraging them to give their eyes a break when using digital devices and schedule a comprehensive eye exam.
The full-page images linked below can be printed out and placed 20 feet away from where your patient is sitting. You can even add your practice's logo to personalize the graphics. They will serve as a reminder to follow the 20-20-20 rule. You and your patients can help spread the word by posting your pictures practicing the 20-20-20 rule on social media using the hashtags #LoveYourEyes & #202020Rule.
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Vision Care Plan Legislation Introduced in Illinois General Assembly
State Rep. Anna Moeller introduced House Bill 4844 (IOA Initiative), which creates the Vision Care Plan Regulation Act. The proposed legislation puts patients and doctors, not insurers, in control of important healthcare decisions.
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Report illegal and unsafe contact lens sales to the FDA & FTC
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2022 Medicare Fee Schedules
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Labor Law Poster - 2022 Updates |
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HB4844 will address profit-focused tactics within vision insurance that have a negative impact on the doctor-patient relationship, reduce patients' choice in health care, and has a detrimental impact on vision care providers.
- The bill contains simple reforms aimed at providing patients more transparency and choice in the vision care marketplace.
- No vision care organization may issue a contract that requires an eye care provider to provide services or materials at a set fee that is not covered under the plan.
- Fees must be clearly identified on a fee schedule and may not be misrepresented or miscommunicated in a way to increase sales.
- Optometry practices are often forced to use specific labs and/or manufacturers that are owned by the vision plan. This restricts choice, taking the power of medical decision-making away from the patients and doctors and putting it in the hands of unregulated vision care plans. This legislation will give eye care providers the freedom to use materials from any supplier or lab, not just those owned by the vision care plan.
- Terms of vision care plans, including fees, discounts and reimbursements may not be changed unless mutually agreed to in writing by the insurer and the provider.
To support IOA's legislative advocacy efforts, please consider donating to the IOA PAC. Click here for more information. |
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President & Chair Dr. Tim Cundiff Thanks Sponsors of Telehealth Legislation
In a letter to the editors of the Effingham Daily News and the Herald & Review, Dr. Tim Cundiff thanked chief sponsors of Senate Bill 567, Senator Ram Villivalam and Representative Anna Moeller, for supporting telehealth legislation for optometrists. Governor JB Pritzker signed the bill into law in July and it went into effect on January 1, 2022. "We are honored to provide services to our patients in Illinois, and we look forward to meeting the highest standards while working in the safest environment possible," said Dr. Cundiff.
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Hubble Issued $3.5 Million Fine, Restrictions, and Supervision Over FTC Contact Lens Violations
Hubble faces a $3.5 million penalty to settle a federal complaint that it deceived customers and repeatedly violated the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (FCLCA), the Contact Lens Rule, and the FTC Act. This action reflects a years-long effort by doctors of optometry across the US to gather and report on patient health and safety threats posed by contact lens sellers who violate the FCLCA. The federal complaint alleges that Hubble Contacts sold contacts without verifying customers' prescriptions, substituted its own brand of contacts for those originally prescribed by the eyecare provider, and falsely claimed that it obtained independent consumer reviews when in reality the company paid individuals for favorable reviews and included reviews from individuals with direct connections to the company. In addition to the fine, the order prohibits Hubble from engaging in tactics that violate the FCLCA, Contact Lens Rule, and FTC Act and must submit to ongoing compliance monitoring by the FTC.
Here's how doctors can report illegal sales or adverse events related to contact lenses:
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Third Party Committee Update: Eyemed Assignment Claims Portal Issue
The IOA Third Party Committee reports that Eyemed's Assignment Claims portal is experiencing outages. Providers may see a message stating "The Plan was found, but is not shown because the Provider at Location is not contracted to participate on this Plan's Network." Eyemed is aware of the statewide issue and says it was caused by a system update. At this time, Eyemed does not have a date on when the issue will be resolved. The company states that providers should hold these claims and check back periodically to see if the issue has been resolved and then submit those claims as usual. The IOA Third Party Committee will post updates as we learn more.
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Welcome New IOA/AOA Member!
The IOA would like to welcome the following new member who joined the IOA/AOA:
Scott Pouyat, O.D.
North Suburban Optometric Society
Welcome to the IOA!
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Register: “Preparing for the End of the Student Loan Payment Holiday” Workshop
After multiple extensions, the Student Loan Payment & Interest Holiday is coming to an end on May 1, 2022. This means many IOA members may be required to resume payment and may begin accruing interest on federally held student loans for the first time in almost 2 years.
Have your questions answered during an AOAExcel workshop aimed to assist IOA/AOA members in preparing for the end of this payment holiday with topics including:
- How to lower your monthly payments
- How to get your loans out of default
- Navigating student loan servicer changes
- How to re-start your auto-payments
- What to look for in a refinancing lender
- Avoiding student loan debt scams
- How to receive a 0.25% rate discount as an AOA member
What: “Preparing for the End of the Student Loan Payment Holiday” Workshop
When: 7 p.m. CT, Tuesday, Feb. 15
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Make Sure You're Ready When License Renewal Opens! Complete Your CE ASAP!
Don't forget! Illinois licenses renew on March 31, 2022 and ODs are required to complete 30 hours of CE before their license renewal. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IDFPR has allowed optometrists to complete all 30 hours online provided by IL-licensed CE providers. As a licensed CE provider, all IOA courses will count for Illinois credit.
Renewal Requirements:
- ODs must earn 30 hours of CE from April 1, 2020-March 31, 2022.
- Tested hours were waived for the 2020-2022 licensing cycle.
- 1 hour of sexual harassment CE must be taken by all licensed optometrists in order to renew a license.
- 3 hours of safe opioid prescribing CE must be taken by all optometrists who hold a Controlled Substance license in order to renew the license.
- First-time renewal applicants are exempt from CE requirements at the time of their first renewal. However, if the licensee holds a controlled substance license, they must comply with the 3-hour opioid CE requirement, even if this is the first renewal.
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Check out the newest IOA classifieds here!
Clarkson Eyecare has full-time and part-time Optometrist opportunities at our Alton, Edwardsville, Granite City, and Shiloh Illinois offices ( Read more)
Frankfort, IL Practice For Sale - Our impressive staff of five includes two board-certified opticians who are trusted and beloved by our patients ( Read more) |
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Poll Results
In response to last week's poll question, 72 percent of respondents indicated that they were facing worker shortages in their practice.
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Gov. Pritzker's State of the State Recap
Capitol News Illinois reports that Governor JB Pritzker delivered his State of the State address on Wednesday at the Old State Capitol after the House and Senate adjourned to allow members to return home before a massive snowstorm. In the speech, Gov Pritzker presented a $45.4 billion budget "that would include new spending on education and health care while also providing about $1 billion in tax relief that he said would soften the impact of inflation on Illinois consumers." Pritzker also announced that Illinois would end this fiscal year with a $1.7 billion surplus, which Pritzker proposed to spend paying down the state's pension debt and adding to the "rainy day" fund, among other uses. The 2022-2023 budget "calls for a one-year holiday from the state's 1 percent grocery tax, a one-year cancellation of the scheduled inflationary increase in the motor fuel tax and a 5 percent property tax rebate to an estimated 2 million qualifying homeowners."
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Mid-Term Elections Update
Iymen Chehade is running for election in the newly created 3rd Congressional District.
CORRECTION: Last week's InSight reported that Jesse Reising will challenge U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis in the 13th Congressional District. Davis is running for re-election in the newly created 15th District, not the 13th District.
Cassandra Tanner Miller announced her campaign as a Republican in the 11th Congressional District.
Ashley Hunsaker, CEO of HTS Coatings LLC, announced her campaign for the 113th House District in the metro-east.
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Reminder: Executive Order on Vaccine/Testing Mandate
As a reminder, the Executive Order mandating that all health care workers must either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly (at minimum) testing for COVID-19 went into effect on September 19, 2021. Employers must either maintain proof of vaccination status or proof of weekly negative COVID-19 tests in their personnel files.
Click here for a Q&A issued by the Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity
Click here for information about a COVID-19 saliva testing program through ArcticDX
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Public Health Officials Announce 60,389 New Cases of Coronavirus Disease Over the Past Week
Half as many cases reported this week compared to previous week
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 60,389 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including an increase of 608 deaths since January 28, 2022. The number of cases reported this week (60,389) is less than half as many reported during the previous week (123,812).
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 2,957,563 cases, including 31,296 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Since January 28, 2022, laboratories have reported 1,047,216 specimens for a total of 51,846,053. As of last night, 3,135 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 546 patients were in the ICU and 314 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from January 28 – February 3, 2022 is 5.8%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from January 28 – February 3, 2022 is 8.0%.
A total of 20,623,484 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 28,626 doses. Since January 28, 2022, 200,384 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Of Illinois’ total population, more than 75% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, 66% of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated, and more than 47% boosted according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Vaccination is the key to ending this pandemic. To find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, go to www.vaccines.gov.
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ACTION NEEDED: Voice Your Concerns on Impending Medicare Cuts
Successive rounds of statutory cuts further jeopardize Medicare physicians’ pay in the months ahead without immediate Congressional action, prompting advocates’ call for a permanent fix.
On April 1, the first of two 1% reductions to Medicare physicians’ reimbursements are scheduled to occur—the second taking effect on July 1—due to sequestration cuts that Congress postponed with days to spare before taking effect on Jan. 1, 2022. That eleventh-hour stay, an AOA-backed measure, also delayed a 4% statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) cut and created a short-term, offsetting pay increase that mostly blunted the effect of a 3.75% cut outlined by the Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS).
While the “Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act” averted a fiscal cliff created by the trio of federal spending controls taking effect at the height of a resurgent COVID-19 strain and record jobs turnover, the law effectively punted most of the cuts later into 2022 and 2023. Aside from the immediate 2% sequester cuts, the 4% PAYGO and 3% PFS cuts still loom on the horizon for 2023 with the possibility of inflating further.
Congress needs to know that these impending cuts are unacceptable and any efforts to find a workable solution must fully value the care provided by doctors of optometry. Advocates’ immediate action is necessary—here’s how you can get involved:
Write your lawmakers via the AOA Action Center. Contact your lawmakers directly with the aid of a pre-populated message expressing these important concerns. Or text “PAYMENT” to 855.465.5124 to access the Action Center on your mobile device.
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Access AOA's Evidence-based Diabetes Guideline
Eye Care of the Patient with Diabetes Mellitus, Second Edition recommends 31 actions doctors of optometry can take to enhance the care they provide patients with diabetes, including examination and management recommendations for type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and individuals at risk of associated vision loss. Additionally, the guideline reinforces the efficacy of timely diagnosis, intervention and determination of appropriate referral, as well as provides information on the ocular consequences of diabetes and the vision rehabilitation services available for diabetes-related vision loss.
Note: Sharing the AOA guidelines publicly via link is permissable under copyright laws.
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Number Of US COVID-19 Hospitalizations Continues To Decline As Deaths Rise
The Wall Street Journal (2/1, Benoit, Bisserbe, Roland, Subscription Publication) reports the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the US continues to fall even though deaths due to the virus are rising, data show. The seven day average of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped to 140,450 Monday, according to HHS.
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THANK YOU TO OUR INDUSTRY PARTNERS! |
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