The July/August 2024 issue of JVRD is now available. Read on for insights from Editor-in-Chief Dr. Tim Murray on the issue's highlights and access articles here: https://lnkd.in/gXs2gXsS.
Providing Value in Retina Care Retina specialists find fulfillment in connecting with their patients by guiding them through their eye health journey with empathy and professionalism. The mutual respect and collaboration between patients and retina specialists are essential components of value-based eye care. Clinical trials, translational research, and interdisciplinary collaborations fuel the progress of eye care, offering hope for novel therapies and breakthroughs in managing vision-threatening conditions. From a payer’s perspective, the “major” focus has evolved away from best clinical outcomes, leading to measures that directly impact personalized patient care. Two clear examples: 1. Prior-authorization requirements for treatment—an approach, at least in retina specialty care, that serves only to delay care given that treatment is approved in more than 99% of cases. 2. Step therapy—which requires a defined clinical care approach that is virtually always focused on cost rather than on the unique individual who requires treatment. The ASRS has strongly opposed both these measures on best-clinical-practice grounds. Recent research on cost has been broadened to consider the indirect costs of care—visits require time away from work or family, often include a driver or family member, and typically have significant opportunity cost. Sadly, virtually every program at a national policy level seems driven by cost first and benefit last. Highlights In This Issue: Talcott et al,1 for the ASRS Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force, present their report on AI as it pertains to ophthalmology, focusing on the potential for AI to have an impact on virtually every aspect of retina specialty care while recognizing—even this early in the process—the real concerns for bias, exclusion, and misinformation tied to early AI “training” and deployment. Perez et al6 look at the social media platform Reddit as to medical accuracy in its discussion of ocular stem cell therapies for retinal degenerative diseases. As is often suggested, “Dr. Google” may not be the best source of patient-focused clinical information, and Reddit forums were found to be a source for rapid dissemination of misinformation. To view these articles, and the JVRD July/August issue, click: https://lnkd.in/e25CsfzW.