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1 Centrasight from VisionCare
Hands down, the coolest thing I saw on the show floor was VisionCare's Centrasight, a stunning little piece of technology the thickness of 5 IOLs stacked on top of each other that has the potential to really change lives. Centrasight is a sight-saving mini-telescope implant for patients with end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The only FDA-approved telescope prosthesis, it works with the cornea to enlarge images in front of the eye up to 2.7 times their normal size. This magnification in turn reduces the effect of the blind spot patients experience in their central vision due to scotoma associated with AMD.
The company provides training for patient selection, the surgery itself and rehabilitation. But the FDA has limited approval only to cataract surgeons with cornea training. If you or someone in your facility fits the bill, I recommend checking into it. Medicare has proposed to provide reimbursement for Centrasight. CMS would assign the telescope implant procedure (CPT code 0308T) to a new Ambulatory Payment Classification (APC) 0351, Level VII Anterior Segment Eye Procedures, with mean cost calculated using claims data available for the final rule. If finalized, the new APC would be effective Jan. 1.
2 ORA System from WaveTec Vision
WaveTec Vision, the company that pioneered intraoperative wavefront sensing in the United States, is back with the ORA System, an upgraded system that takes the technology to a new level. There are other measurement and guidance systems, and they're good — but the ORA (Optiwave Refractive Analysis) intraoperative aberrometry/refractive wave analysis system was a must-see for me, and boy did it deliver.
The ORA itself was launched in 2011. The new innovation is called
