Fairfax, VA – the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) today announced the unanimous decision of its Executive Committee to restrict registration of optometrists at the ASCRS Annual Symposium. Registration will be limited to those optometrists directly employed by ophthalmologists or by ophthalmic industry entities. As has been the standard meeting policy, optometrists can only register for the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA) Congress, and cannot receive continuing medical education credit for their attendance.

The ASCRS Executive Committee also approved a provision that optometrists attending the ASOA Congress must sign a statement that attendance in courses, presentations, and other meeting events in no way qualifies them to perform surgery.

The practice of ASCRS and ASOA has been to allow their respective registrants to “cross over,” that is, to attend all presentations and activities of each organization’s meeting. That practice will continue.

The decision of the ASCRS Executive Committee supports the concept of “Surgery by Surgeons” as the standard for care and emphasizes patient welfare.

“Eye surgery requires the comprehensive training of a medical specialist,” said ASCRS President Priscilla Arnold, MD. “Patient welfare is most protected when those performing surgery are able to recognize and manage complications and understand complex disease conditions that may be encountered. We are also concerned with meeting the educational needs of our members, which is our primary mission,” she said.