• From The President Doug Wallin, O. D.
  
• SDOS Members Urged to Check Their Enrollment Status with CMS: Re-Enrollment May Be Required
  
• 2010 SDOS Spring Convention a Success Thanks to Exhibitors and Sponsors
  
• 2010-2011 South Dakota Optometric Society Board of Directors
  
• Red Flags Rule: An Update from the AOA
  
• A Message from the South Dakota Board of Examiners in Optometry
  
• CMS Processing Medicare Claims at Higher Rate - For Now
  
• Dr. Marshall Dorsett Chosen OD of the Year
  
• Dr. Robert Johnson Presented with Lifetime Achievement Award at 2010 SDOS Spring Convention
  
• Support these SDOS Advertisers!
  
• Mark Your Calendar
  

Someone once told me “The one thing you can count on is change.”  Technology changes, the economy changes, our patients change and especially here in the South Dakota, the weather changes!  The practice of Optometry has also changed over the years.  Fortunately, a majority of our members, including me, were able to hear a sampling of the history of our profession in South Dakota at our members’ luncheon at this year’s Spring SDOS Convention.  An interesting and enlightening presentation was given by Dr. Jim Ruch and Dr. Leroy Kaufman on the history of change in optometric practice, the legislative battles that accompanied it and the dedicated doctors who worked so hard to allow us to practice at the level we do today.

That presentation made me appreciate two things about South Dakota Optometry.

The first is how appreciative we all should be for the countless hours and work that the doctors in this state gave to our profession. The list is too long for this column.  Thank You!  Giving back to our profession as these committed and driven doctors did is a model for the rest of us to volunteer where we can so optometry continues to thrive in South Dakota.

Secondly, it made me appreciate the sense of togetherness and support that our members and society experience.  We will certainly face challenges to our profession in the coming years, and maybe sooner than we think with Board Certification, but our ability to stay together and support one another as a profession is a strength that we cannot overlook.

Well, you knew I had to mention the dirty words, Board Certification at some point in this column.  Dr. Bill Holec, Deb Mortenson and myself will be attending the House of Delegates convention at AOA in June and will find out first-hand what a year’s worth of reaction to Board Certification across the country will look like.  I don’t think that the idea of Board Certification will be voted away.  It may change from its current format, there will be other entities providing certification and we don’t know yet the extent that optometry will participate.  I encourage our membership to wait and monitor the situation before making any decision to enroll for certification or make any decision to change you support of our professional association.

I do know that if we remain together in support of our society as well as making the commitment to volunteer our time and talent for our profession, we will be able to withstand these changes and even strengthen our profession in South Dakota.  

So, until the weather changes again.  In about a half hour!

Doug Wallin, OD

SDOS members: please carefully read the following information from AOA regarding a ruling from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  It is important to note that if a provider enrolled with Medicare prior to November 2003 (when Medicare started the PECOS enrollment database) they must re-enroll by July 6, 2010 to be in compliance with CMS regulations when they order or refer items or services.

That's about 5 weeks away, and this enrollment process can take up to a few months.  So if you have to re-enroll, please begin the process today.  Be prepared to spend from 1.5 to 2 hours during the process.  There is a help line mentioned during the process, which really does help.

If you have questions on the ruling or the re-enrollment process, please e-mail Dr. Scott Kennedy at scothew5@hotmail.com.

Here is the message from AOA:

This month CMS published an “interim final rule” implementing some of the Medicare enrollment-related provisions of health reform law (PPACA) and further discussed the provisions on a conference call today.  The interim final rule takes effect on July 6, 2010 and provisions will immediately burden our members and Medicare patients.

1. By law, physicians who order or refer items or services for Medicare beneficiaries must be enrolled in Medicare by July 1, 2010 for the ordered or referred item or service to be covered regardless of whether the same physician or another doctor or supplier provides the item or service.  
2. By regulation, CMS has decided that physicians who order or refer items or services for Medicare beneficiaries must not merely be enrolled in Medicare but must have a “complete enrollment record in PECOS” by July 6, 2010 to be in compliance.  In other words, CMS has decided that doctors who enrolled prior to November 2003 (when Medicare started the PECOS enrollment database) must re-enroll by July 6 to be in compliance with the regulations when they order or refer items or services.
3. By regulation, CMS has ruled that “Medicare contractors will reject claims” but on the conference call today CMS acknowledged that the date that ordered/referred claims will be denied for noncompliance has not been determined yet.
4. On the conference call today CMS said if a claim is denied because the ordering or referring physician does not have a complete enrollment record in PECOS, then the claim may be resubmitted once the ordering or referring physician is in compliance.
5. The law and regulations apply to all services and items that require an order (such as post-cataract eyeglasses and other DMEPOS) or a referral.  In the law, Congress specifically mentions DMEPOS and home health services but gives CMS authority to expand.  In the regulation, CMS specifically mentions claims for DMEPOS, lab services, imaging suppliers, and specialists.
6. The law and regulations also require the doctor’s legal name and NPI to be reported, where necessary, on Medicare claims and that doctors must update their enrollment records with their NPI by January 2011.  If your NPI is not in your Medicare enrollment file, then you will have to submit a Medicare enrollment application.
7. The law and regulations demand that physicians retain records on the items or services they order or refer for at least 7 years.
8. CMS has updated the list of Medicare physicians and other professionals who have a complete enrollment record in PECOS.  AOA members should verify that they are listed on the following massive file: http://www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/06_MedicareOrderingandReferring.asp#TopOfPage (usually easier to search by NPI than by name).  Members who are not listed should take immediate and careful steps to submit a complete “new” enrollment application on paper (CMS-855 forms) or online (Internet-based PECOS) for themselves and their group, if necessary, since enrollment typically takes 2 months.  AOA strongly urges members to review the information on the following webpage prior to re-enrolling and to consider using Internet-based PECOS for the fastest enrollment results and to interrupt Medicare reimbursement for the shortest possible period: http://www.cms.gov/MedicareProviderSupEnroll/04_InternetbasedPECOS.asp#TopOfPage

SDOS members elected a slate of officers to lead the organizaiton during the 2010 Spring Convention.  Click HERE to see the list of SDOS Board of Directors for 2010-2011.

While the AOA continues working to prevent the June 1 enforcement of the Red Flags Rule, important AOA-backed changes have been made to the financial regulatory reform bill –  S. 3217, the ‘‘Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010.” – that will exempt optometry practices from new regulations aimed at curbing the overreach of financial institutions.

As has been previously reported, at issue was whether health care providers would be considered “creditors” as they were under 2003 legislation that created the Red Flags Rule - thereby pulling optometry practices into a bill drafted to improve accountability and transparency in the financial system and to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices.

The legislation now being debated on the floor of the U.S. Senate establishes a new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to regulate businesses engaged in lending activity, originally including new authority to regulate ODs and others in the health care provider community.

The AOA has been monitoring this and other issues and is working closely with the U.S. House Committee on Small Business and Senate leaders to ensure that should the measure become law it will not impact ODs ability to practice due to unintended consequences.  

As a result, we are happy to report on a new amendment backed by AOA and offered by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). 

The amendment, which passed the Senate by voice vote late Wednesday exempts optometry practices from the authority of the Bureau so long as they meet a three-part test:

1. They do not offer financial services products to customers or patients;
2. They do not securitize loans; and
3. They meet the Small Business Administration’s current definition of a “Small Business.”

NOTE: According to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), optometry practices may generate up to $7 million annually and still be considered a “Small Business.”  http://www.sba.gov/size.

AOA will continue to monitor this legislation as it makes its way through Congress and will ensure members have the most up-to-date developments as they occur. 

The Board of Examiners in Optometry is closely monitoring the Board Certification programs. All South Dakota licensed optometrists should have received a letter in the mail explaining the board's position on these programs. You will be notified as any modifications are made to the South Dakota optometric laws regarding certification and advertising. Please feel free to contact the board at sdoptboard@venturecomm.net or 605-493-6425 with any questions or to request a copy of the letter.

Dr. Marshall Dorsett of Aberdeen was recently chosen as Optometrist of the Year by the South Dakota Optometric Society (SDOS).   The award was based on service to the profession of optometry and the SDOS, said President Dr. Doug Wallin.  “Dr. Dorsett has been a trail blazer in making the practice of optometry better for patients and for optometrists,” said Dr. Wallin. 

            Optometry seems to run in Dr. Dorsett’s family as he is a third-generation optometrist.  He earned his degree in Chemistry at the University of South Dakota, and continued his education at the Illinois College of Optometry where he received his doctorate in optometry.  During his final year of optometric school, he opened his first optometric office with his father, Maurice Dorsett, OD.  He continued to expand his practice with two more locations and later merged his optometric offices with Vision Care Associates, LLP.  He currently practices in Aberdeen, Webster and Gettysburg.

            Dr. Marshall Dorsett became active in the optometric state association early in his career as part of the state legislative and political action committees.  He also has helped out wherever the state association needed by participating in 2020 Summits, serving as the Healthy Eyes Healthy People Liaison, coordinating Keypersons, and chairing the state association’s Federal Government Relations Committee.  He is a past president of the South Dakota Optometric Society and is currently the President of the regional optometric association, North Central States Optometric Council.  Dr. Dorsett has also volunteered at the national level with the American Optometric Association, by serving on President’s Council Planning Committee, Nominating Committee Task Force, Credentialing Committee, Optometry’s Image Coordination Committee, Federal Legislative Action Keyperson Committee and most recently on the Political Action Committee’s board of directors. 

Dr. Marshall Dorsett is not the first optometrist in his family to take home the Optometrist of the Year Award.  His father, Dr. Maurice Dorsett, also won the award in 1983 for exhibiting the same dedication to the profession of optometry and SDOS. 

The South Dakota Optometric Society was formed in 1910 to promote the practice of optometry.  The SDOS has 136 members in communities across the state.

Huron optometrist Dr. Robert D. Johnson was recently awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the South Dakota Optometric Society. “For nearly 50 years, Doctor Johnson has worked to promote optometry to the benefit of his patients. Recipients of this award exemplify the highest ethical, professional and caring character during their years of practice.  Dr. Johnson truly deserves this honor,” said SDOS President Aaron Feser.

Dr. Johnson graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1957 and from the Los Angeles College of Optometry in 1961.  He established his optometric practice in Huron in December of 1961, where he still sees patients. When Dr. Johnson opened his practice in 1961, his building was featured on the cover of the American Optometric Association’s publication Optometrist’s Buildings and Offices.

During his eight years as president of the South Dakota Vision Service Corporation (1964-1972), Dr. Johnson negotiated vision care plans with the state, insurance companies and labor unions.

Dr. Johnson is a 49-year member of the American Optometric Association and the South Dakota Optometric Society.  He has also held many leadership positions, including district director for the South Dakota Optometric Society (1972-1973), President of the South Dakota Optometric Society (1975-1976), and secretary for the South Dakota Board of Examiners in Optometry (1981-1987).

Event	Date	Location	Times
SDOS Board Meeting	Sept. 8	Sioux Falls Hilton Gardens	TBA
2010 SDOS Fall Convention	Sept. 9-10	Sioux Falls Hilton Gardens	8-6 p.m. Thurs/8-12 p.m. Fri
Electronic Health Records Seminar	Sept. 10	Sioux Falls Hilton Gardens	12:30-4:30 p.m.