Advocacy

VSEPS is your voice in the legislative and regulatory arenas. Our patient advocacy efforts include:
• Partnering with the Medical Society of Virginia in defending against patient safety threats from scope of practice expansions;
• Addressing in-office compounding issues at state, national levels;
• Working with state legislators and insurance companies for compliance with CMS guidelines for early eyedrop refills;
• Advocating for reforms and exemptions for ophthalmic surgery with Virginia’s Certificate of need laws;
• Supporting state and federal legislative reforms eliminating prior authorization requirements, step therapies and surprise billing;
• Monitoring issues with insurers making late payments for expensive anti-VEGF and other injectable medications;
• Advocating at the General Assembly for revisions to the state’s telemedicine laws to protect and ensure ophthalmologists’ unfettered access  to  telemedicine and other emerging medical technologies;
• Pursuing legislation for  clarifications and civil liability protections for physicians reporting  impaired drivers to the Department of Motor Vehicles;
• Pursuing legislation to increase the minimum visual acuity from one hundred degrees to 110 degrees of horizontal vision in at least one eye, to obtain a driver’s license;
• Assisting with possible regulatory reforms to protect patient safety with office-based surgery

VSEPS members have held leadership positions with the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Medical Society of Virginia. VSEPS members have represented you on various state boards, coalitions, task forces, and workgroups, and provided testimony before legislators on numerous issues.