optoblog.com

The American Academy of Ophthalmology has one-upped optometry with their blog site (www.eyeorbit.org). It appears to have started around Sept. 2004. It’s a pretty nice looking site, although I think the site would be better served with a bulletin board for what they’re trying to do. I don’t get the point of having anyone being able to blog on a single web site. If anyone can post messages, isn’t that a board?
One interesting read on their “What’s a blog?” page (That’s right, they used “What’s a. . .”)

Q. What Do I Blog About?
A. There are two main types of blogs. Personal and business blogs.
Personal blogs can be about anything. For instance, one can blog about political advocacy and the battles with optometry’s scope expansion in their home state. Members-in-training can write about their training as eye surgeons and medical doctors. . .

Does anyone have a blog ranting about ophthalmologists in their home state who don’t spend enough time in the operating room, so they sell glasses for a living? If so, please leave a link in the comment section.
But I digress.
I think they’d be best served by having a very small number of some really interesting, known, and respected “Eye MDs” to post blogs, and then have all the boring nobodies post to a web board. (I can say that because I’ve never pretended to be an authoritative blogger, just an enthusiast blogger.)
Which leads us to discuss, how come optometry doesn’t have a blog sponsored by the AOptA or AAOpt? How come the major ophthalmic manufacturers don’t have blogs about upcoming products and technologies?
And how come we don’t call ourselves “Eye ODs”? (Or maybe that’s just what you call an eye doctor in Montana crazy enough to Rx cannabinoids for glaucoma.)

According to the NEI/NIH and the November 2004 Ophthalmology, surgery for CNV in wet AMD is not effective.

Vision does not improve substantially for patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) who undergo surgery to remove lesions of new blood vessels, scar tissue, or possible bleeding beneath the retina, according to results of nationwide clinical trials sponsored by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

In other AMD news, due to media attention on high dosages of Vitamin E posing health/mortality risk, the NEI reviewed the AREDS formulation and found that the recommended daily vitamin E intake of 400 IU poses no increased risk of death.

GIMC gained a new wing while Albuquerque clinic struggles to stay open.

The 10/4/2004 US News and World report did an article on the state of healthcare with American Indians. The full article requires a subscription, but an excerpt can be found with the National Indian Health Board.
There were some interesting figures on dollars spent per patient.

But the Indian Health Service can’t spend money it doesn’t have, and it doesn’t have much. America spends an average of about $5,000 per person per year on healthcare. For government programs that deliver healthcare directly, the per-person expenditure varies enormously: $5,200 by the Veterans Administration, more than $3,300 by the armed forces, $3,800 per federal prisoner, and $1,900 by the Indian Health Service. Money isn’t everything, but without it you can’t buy healthcare. And without it a dent will never be made in the health disparities of these people to whom our government has given its word.

The Armed Forces Optometric Society named CAPT Richard Hatch, OD their 2005 optometrist of the year. Included among the AFOS judges was CAPT Terry Schleisman.

Includes names and phone numbers for optometrists and eye clinic staff in each IHS area, FDA, and BOP. Current as of 1-18-2005.

Dr. Hatch reports statistics and happenings within IHS optometry for fiscal year 2004.

The previous practice of wearing a uniform once a week (or not at all) is history as of 11/1/2004. The new policy requires all officers (with the exception of COSTEPs) to be in uniform while on duty and applies to all locations within the Indian Health Service. The local uniform authority is at your area office. If you haven’t ever received it, you can receive $250 towards uniform costs by sending in a memo.

Starting 10/1/2004 IHS optometrists can receive retention pay (ORSP) in return for a termed agreement. The amount one receives per year varies according to length of agreement: 1year=$6K/year, 2 years=$7K/year, and 3 years=$8K/year. In order to sign a 2- or 3-year agreement, one must already have 3 years of active duty. An optometry retention pay contract must be filled out, signed, and notarized by the CC optometrist, and their supervisor and service unit director must sign before submitting. ORSP is disbursed in your regular paycheck and can be applied to TSP if desired. Unfortunately, at present one cannot receive ORSP and loan repayment (LRP) at the same time. It is recommended that you sign up for both, and should you received LRP, then you must return a pro-rated amount of your ORSP money to the government.