Blogging and Tweeting: Dr. White at the AAO

Dr. White is attending the largest meeting of eye doctors in the world, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting in Chicago. He's our Social Media guru, and he promised to keep us up to date on the happenings at the meeting.

Dr. White:

"I'm here with a couple of very specific goals in mind. Ophthalmology was dealt a serious blow, and all of our older patients will suffer because of the changes in how Medicare will be paying for cataract surgery. In a time when more and more people will need this surgery, when we already have a shortage of eye surgeons on the horizon, these changes will probably hasten the premature retirement of eye surgeons who will decide it's not worth it to soldier on. I will be talking with the representatives of the AAO and trying to make sure that we will be able to weather this storm at SkyVision. I'm sure there will be lots and lots of discussion about Medicare and cataract surgery.

Glaucoma is on my mind for this meeting. This disease of the optic nerve is going to be more common. Medicines like eye drops have been the mainstay of treatment, but there are several very promising surgical solutions that are being introduced this weekend. I have been telling our staff that Glaucoma will soon become a primarily surgical disease.

Lastly, with our aging population we know that there will be more people with visual handicaps that can't be helped with traditional medical, surgical, or optical means. As a profession we need to be better prepared for this coming problem. I will be exploring the world of low-vision rehabilitation this weekend."

So there you have it! You can also keep up with Dr. White on his Twitter feed @DarrellWhite. We'll report the "hashtag" to look for if you want to search for other docs attending, too. Looks like lots of stuff to come...See What's Next (R)!!