Glaucoma, retina, and ophthalmic industry topics kickstart the ASCRS and ASOA Annual Meetings

The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ASCRS) will hold its annual meeting concurrently with the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA). Abby Markward, MBA, is Executive Director of the ASCRS Foundation and the ASOA, provided a preview of the clinical and industry insights that members can expect to see at the ASCRS and ASOA annual meetings, April 25-28 in Los Angeles, California.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Hattie Hayes, editor, Ophthalmology Times Europe: Joining me today, we have Abby Markward, who is the executive director of the ASCRS Foundation. I know that there's a lot of really exciting ASOA programming going on this year, starting the day before the meeting really kicks off. There's going to be an industry symposium called SightLine, which is a new program. And alongside that, ASOA is doing a business of interventional glaucoma [event.]

Abby Markward, MBA: The SightLine program is is new to ASCRS this year. We're very excited about it. We're taking a different approach. Given the ASCRS and ASOA, the collaboration with our MDs and our practice leaders on the administrative side, we're going to focus more on financials, the business of ophthalmology. You know, what's viable in the future. While we will still have that innovation component—we will still have our winning pitch, for those people that remember their winning pitch!—we will be concentrating a little bit more on the business side, as it applies not just to our practices, but to industry.

The Business of Interventional Glaucoma program was developed, really, by listening to ASOA and ASCRS members, both the MDs and our administrators and practice management leaders, to really educate other administrators and MDs on the importance of incorporating and implementing interventional glaucoma into the practice. It's very important, number one, because it gives the patient the best possible treatment options. It also provides business revenue for the practice. So what we want to do with this program is make sure our administrators and MDs understand interventional glaucoma clinically, and the importance of having that as an offering for their patients, but also from a business perspective: How they can adopt it, implement it, and integrate it efficiently into their practice.

AII stands for adoption, implementation and integration. And at ASCRS, you know, one of the fundamental core strengths of our membership is they are the experts in AII. They know how to adopt, they know how to implement, and they know how to integrate products, technologies and services into the practice, to make these practices efficient and profitable. So we're going to take that concept and make sure all of our membership has as much education on the AII process as possible, and make sure that all of our members are experts in AII.

HH: I understand that this is going to be the first year with a Retina Sunday at the [ASOA] meeting. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Who should attend? What can they expect to have as the key takeaways from that Sunday program?

AM: Thank you for mentioning our Retina Sunday. On the ASOA side, it is our first foray into retina-specific programming, and that has stemmed from our membership being very vocal that this is needed. We really span the gamut of the anterior and posterior segments with our administrators. Some are in multi-specialty practices. Some are in retina-specific practices. Sunday will be our first retina-specific programming, and we'll dive into the business of retina. You know, what to expect when implementing different products, services, technologies into the practice. It's mostly to really fill that need with our retina administrators.

HH: Great! I love that focus on collaboration, and how these small, everyday actions we take together can have such a big impact. And speaking of together: thanks for sitting down with me to talk about this meeting. I'm excited to come to L.A. and can't wait to visit you at the booth.

AM: I look forward to seeing you, Hattie, and thank you so much for your time today.