About the Integrated Eye Care Initiative
Independent eye care providers are facing a paradigm shift in the way they should deliver care. Our country is on the cusp of shifting from the first phase of healthcare reform that was driven by the Affordable Care Act and Meaningful Use, to the next phase which is being driven by the 21st Century Cures Act. The most significant effect of this transition is that in the first phase, all of the activities were optional and each provider was able to decide if they were interested in participating.
In the next phase, some aspects will remain optional, but the most significant change is that many of the most significant requirements become mandatory and will affect every provider. With big data analytics and evolving technologies like artificial intelligence now directly affecting how we practice, eye care providers face many challenges. Partially understanding healthcare reform can make it seem like a mystery. The IECI program is designed to help you understand where all of these issues are leading, and help you form a clear picture of what you need to do to prepare for success as we transition from fee-for-service to value-driven care.
While healthcare reform may seem overwhelming on a grand-scale, it actually provides eye care with numerous opportunities that allow providers to negotiate for higher reimbursements, become full participants in local integrated care delivery networks, and ultimately, it provides the tools and resources needed to deliver better patient care.
PECAA’s IECI Program will help you not only understand your role as a provider during this transition (on both a local and national level), but it will help you navigate and implement changes in your practice that will help shape the future of the eye care industry.
PECAA is pleased to be the primary organization in the eye care industry to help providers who want to move to value-driven care.
PECAA, the Nation’s Premier Doctor Alliance Group for Independent Eye Care Professionals, maintains a commitment to build a strong community of like-minded individuals who support one another in their passion for better patient care and high-performing practices.
We are pleased to invest in the IECI program on behalf of our Members, as we trust that the providers who choose to participate in the program will pave the way to a stronger community of independent practitioners as well as a thriving profession.
Members Can Expect to Follow Three Easy Steps to Participate in the Program:
1) Learn
By participating in the Integrated Eye Care Initiative (IECI), you will receive a clear understanding of the overall scope of healthcare reform as well as how and why PECAA’s IECI program will affect your practice.
The following topic points will be addressed:
- Is it Time to Stop Hitting the Snooze Button? A Paradigm Shift For Eye Care
- What Should My Practice Be Doing Now?
- Community Research: What’s Happening in My Backyard?
- Electronic Communications: How Can I Save 10 Minutes On Every New Patient?
- Legislative Hot Topics That Could Affect Me
2) Implement
After taking a deep dive into understanding the landscape of healthcare reform by reviewing the topic points in the first step, you will then need to make the decision whether or not you will move on to step two, which will lead you through a process to actually change the way you deliver care in your office.
Together with your IECI Advisors, we will go over the following topics and how you can implement changes into your practice that will dramatically affect the future of your business in relation to the rest of eye care:
- Change the Way My Practice Manages Patients With Diabetes
- Effective Patient Engagement
- Spice Up My Life Program
3) Measure
Once we have identified and you have begun implementing specific changes in your practice, you will need to start accurately measuring outcomes in order to position your practice to be able to better negotiate with payers for increased reimbursements.
We’ll take a deep dive into:
- Measuring Clinical Outcomes
- Process of Continuous Quality Improvement
- Increasing Reimbursements
About Your Health Care Reform Advisors:
Jim Grue, OD, IECI Director
Dr. James Grue has been studying and following health care reform for over twenty years. After graduating from Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1979 and serving four years in the USAF, he practiced optometry for over 20 years. Dr. Grue left private practice in 2006 and began serving as a full-time consultant. Some of his consulting activities include supporting clients in building eye care referral networks, guiding electronic health records to implement efficient functionality to support health care reform, volunteering on the Eye Care IHE committee, educating providers about the key concepts of health care reform, and guiding independent optometrists to implement a process of continuous quality improvement. Jim is a frequent speaker on health care reform and its implications for eye care. His passion is translating a complex and continually changing landscape into a road map for success for the profession and individual providers.
Jennifer Low, IECI Coordinator
Jennifer’s entire career has been in the health care industry. Jennifer has extensive market research, account and project management, vendor relationship building and process improvement experience. She has served as a Director at The Advisory Board in Washington, DC where she worked with executive leaders at large hospitals and health systems to make data-driven decisions and to become more profitable and efficient. Jennifer lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and twin boys.
Amanda Clemons, Community Engagement Specialist
Amanda has a background in health care working as an X-ray Technologist for a number of years. She has managerial expertise in supervising a professional office. Amanda joined the team about a year ago and is the Community Engagement Specialist in the Integrated Eye Care Initiative which involves coordinating the relationships between PECAA Members and the rest of the health care communities across the country, scheduling meetings and webinars, and researching health care systems and their diabetes programs.
In her spare time, Amanda enjoys spending time with her 5 children and baking.
