Clifford W. Brooks III, MD
Conner Smith Eye Center, Indiana
The IRIS® Registry is helping us use our EHR system to its full potential. It has specifically allowed us to better track important metrics regarding how well we follow our patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. Having the data meaningfully extracted directly from our EHR has been a substantial time-saver and allows us to drill down and identify specific patients whose record indicates an action item.
Having this information in the context of a specialty-specific registry is of particular value to me, as I can quickly compare my data with that of my peers across the country, and I can identify gaps, trends, and more.
Having the data at my fingertips allows me to share it with the other team members at my office. I can quickly relay items that we need to work on, such as firming up our “close the loop” protocols for referrals and for communication with primary care providers, particularly for patients who need ongoing care and management of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy.
Improved communication between physicians in my experience trickles down to better patient compliance. Patients know that we are sharing information from each eye exam back to their primary care provider.
It’s also exciting to know that data from my personal practice patterns are already being used to advance knowledge and public health through research of IRIS Registry data.
Kena Burke, MPP
Eye Care Center of Napa Valley
I want you to know what a great job the IRIS registry has done for our practice – as well as many practices across the nation. In industry conferences that I attend, the IRIS registry is touted as an exceptional tool for MIPS reporting. For those us lucky enough to have signed up – we are most grateful for you and your team’s work.
Srilakshmi Maguluri, MD
Illinois
I know my international colleagues, even those with extensive public data collection such as the Scandinavian countries, tout IRIS as the world's largest and most efficient database for collection and evaluation. That I am part of this changing, evolving and professional system is something to be proud. ... It is the one registry that actually is easy to use, easy to update and actually fun to utilize.
Ayad Farjo, MD
Michigan
Over the past few years, we have grown dependent on the information provided by the IRIS registry to continuously help improve our practice. My practice manager and I meet monthly, and part of our standing agenda is to review our performance in the registry. Our effort is more than "checking the boxes." We are determined to exceed the metrics given as guidance. For example, the registry has helped us identify when a physician is not documenting diabetic retinopathy correctly. We use these metrics to gauge our performance against other practices as well as internally in our practice.
I am truly excited ... about the pooling of our data with those of other physicians. Though "big data" is becoming cliche, there are some very interesting results that will come from the accumulation of so much real world data. I am confident that positive and negative practice patterns will be identified and improve the care of our patients. I recently gave a talk to a group of local ophthalmologists where I discussed the above.
Commonly, physicians attend group meetings where someone giving a talk suggests a "new" technique or practice pattern that provides improved outcomes. In many cases, many in the audience are already performing that technique or practice pattern for many years, but had never thought to present it.
Big data in the form of a registry, helps expose these ideas and disseminate them more rapidly. Performing a relatively simple outlier analysis could help improve practices immensely and is one of the major reasons I am participating in the IRIS registry.
James Chelnis, MD
New York
Here is one instance, where physicians are engaging in additional reporting and organizational efforts voluntarily in order to better patient care. The IRIS Registry is a promising tool that physicians believe in.