September 8, 2020
Sponsored by OMIC
Dear Colleagues,

We are supporting a call to action from our AAO. Our lawmakers need to hear from Maryland physicians about how the proposed 2021 physician fee schedule rule jeopardizes patient care and threatens your practice’s viability. There are several ways to help get Congress to act.

  • Call your members of Congress today.
  • Urge your representative and senators to preserve patient access to surgical care and stop drastic payment cuts for surgical services.
  • Call 202.224.3121 and ask to be connected to your elected officials’ offices.
  • Use our Academy talking points to guide your discussion.
  • Sign up to advocate during August recess.
  • Members of Congress will be returning home in August, and it’s a perfect time to meet with them to discuss how these cuts will impact your practice and your patients.
  • The Academy will help schedule your virtual or in-person meeting and provide you the materials you need for a successful meeting. Sign up today.
  • Make your voice heard.
  • Use the Academy’s advocacy tool to tell your elected officials to act to prevent Medicare fee cuts for surgical and other physician services
  • Join OPHTHPAC®.
  • The Academy is leveraging OPHTHPAC’s relationships with congressional champions to get Congress to stop these payment cuts and apply the increased E/M adjustment to the 10- and 90-day global code values.
  • Academy member support of OPHTHPAC is critical to our success.
  • Join our efforts!


Tomorrow 6:30pm on MSEPS Presents: The Ophthalmology 2020 Webinar Series; We are hosting a CME program is titled Management of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Improving Patient Outcomes. This activity is intended for ophthalmologists involved in the management of adults with nAMD and will help clinicians understand the latest nAMD advances and optimize patient outcomes. Register here!

Save the date for MSEPS Annual Business Meeting on October 8, 2020. MSEPS holds a business meeting every year to update our members on what we have been doing all year, and to provide information about national and local matters that affect ophthalmology today. We hope to "see" you at the meeting!

MSEPS will be offering a virtual version of AAO's Codequest to members, non-members, and administrators and staff. We know how important it is to train staff and to be on top of all the changes coming up in 2021. The program will be self paced and available to registrants to complete between September 19, 2020 and November 19, 2020. Registration and more information coming soon!
MSEPS wants to thank OMIC for their support of our newsletters. Please check out their link to show them our thanks.

Please check the AAO and MedChi websites for the most current COVID-19 information. For archived versions of these updates visit the MSEPS website.
Stay healthy!

Renee Bovelle, MD
MSEPS President
Submit Patients' Vision Results Electronically
to MDOT MVA

The Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA) remains focused on the current COVID-19 public health crisis and protecting the health and the safety of customers and employees. You can help us continue to limit the number of customers who are required to visit branch offices in person and increase the convenience for your patients.

The Online Vision Certification Program allows authorized vision providers to submit their patients’ vision results directly to the MDOT MVA. Using this service eliminates having to complete the MDOT MVA’s paper vision forms and enables drivers to renew their licenses online if there vision exam was completed within the last 12 months. 

If you have not already enrolled, visit https://egov.maryland.gov/mva/vision and click on “create user account.” If you are enrolled in the program already, please submit the test results for all of your patients each time you provide an exam, regardless of when their driver’s license may be expiring. 
Virtual Events
PROGRAM FACULTY
M. Ali Khan, MD
Retina Service, Wills Eye Hospital
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, PA
The Maryland Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons cordially invites you to attend a CME-certified live webinar entitled, Management of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD): Improving Patient Outcomes, held live online! This activity is intended for ophthalmologists involved in the management of adults with nAMD and will help clinicians understand the latest nAMD advances and optimize patient outcomes.
Date:             Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Time:            6:30 – 7:30 PM ET
Location:      Live Online!
 
For full accreditation information and to register, visit:


ACCREDITATION – This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of Boston University School of Medicine and Rockpointe. Boston University School of Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
                                                           
DESIGNATION STATEMENT – Boston University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category I CreditTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.


FEE AND RECEIVING CME CREDIT - There is no fee for this activity. To receive credit, participants must register, view the live CME activity in its entirety, and then complete the post-test, with a score of 66% or better, and evaluation. The estimated time for completion of this activity is 1 hour. Participants are allowed to take the post-test multiple times.
Disclosures will be made known to participants before the activity.
 
Jointly provided by Boston University School of Medicine and Rockpointe
Supported by an independent educational grant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
                     
MedChi Ethics Lecture: LESSONS LEARNED: Ethical Dilemmas Faced During the COVID-19 Pandemic
September 24, 2020 - Understand what are physicians’ ethical obligations to work in unsafe conditions.Describe physicians’ responsibility to report unsafe conditions in nursing homes.With respect to extremely sick individuals, describe when triage principles are ethical and when are they not. Determine which new resources will provide the needed support during a crisis such as COVID-19.  

Go here to register
The 30th Annual Washington Retina Symposium

October 3, 2020 - The Retina Group of Washington and the Washington Hospital Center/Washington National Eye Center, invite you to join us for the 30th Annual Washington Retina Symposium. Learn more and register here.
Disclaimer: MSEPS does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites or events, and we do not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer. 
Telemedicine During COVID-19:
Managing Medical Malpractice Risk

When an active physician-patient relationship has been established,1 telemedicine can help you meet your legal duty of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. As always, management of patient expectations is critical in mitigating liability risk. It is also helpful to keep in mind the following tips.
Promote Yourself With MSEPS Social Media

@MSEPSMD is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and we would love to showcase what ophthalmologists in Maryland are doing. Do you have an announcement? Want to promote a paper you have authored? Have a great picture of you caring for your patients? Send it to us and we will help boost the good work you are doing. Email your submissions to [email protected] Also, be sure to follow us on all our platforms and join our facebook group.
Telehealth Resources

Backline from Dr. First is a Telehealth platform used by MedChi's CTO and can be used by any physician.
Contact Us:
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Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone 410-244-7320
Fax 410-727-5967