It gives me great pleasure to bring out another issue of AIOS Times. This time, we are focussing on issues in ophthalmology that affect all of us ophthalmologists and the doctor community at large.
One of the first such issues is the growth of medical insurance network and its consequences. While it is a good thing to have more people covered under insurance, it is not good to have shrinking payouts. Considering the strong association of the insurance providers, it may be time for us ophthalmologists to come together and establish a minimum payout for specific procedures. AIOS Time shares the opinions of a few key opinion leaders in the field of cataract surgery and how their practices are affected by shrinking insurance payouts.
Another aspect covered this time is the increasing threat of medicolegal cases against doctors and what we can do to help mitigate this. We bring to you views of ophthalmologists who have been witness to some of these situations and also the view from a top legal expert who gives us useful tips Violence on doctors often goes hand in hand with medicolegal cases and recently there have been a spurt of such cases. In this issue, we describe steps that a doctor should take in the event of an act of violence and discuss specific cases which may interest you.
NABH accreditation has become a mandatory for insurance empanelment and while this is a good thing, it has brought some heartburn to the smaller centres and clinics. A recent “Say No To NABH campaign” has brought this issue to the fore by highlighting the difficulties faced by small hospitals in ensuring compliance with the accreditation process.
We also look at various forms of ophthalmic practice and the young ophthalmologists’ perspective of the challenges in clinical practice in the current scenario. This section, aimed at budding ophthalmologists gives a flavour of various practice options and hopefully will help guide them to what suits them best.
I hope, this new issue of AIOS Times, stimulates all the readers to think together and act together, since it is quite clear that there is strength in unity and unity alone.
Dr. Digvijay Singh
Managing Editor, AIOS Times
aiostimes@gmail.com