IRIS registry ‘ophthalmology’s moon shot’

The American Academy of Ophthalmology has announced  the US’ first comprehensive eye disease and condition patient database. The IRIS Registry, for Intelligent Research in Sight, debuted at the opening session of the 117th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in New Orleans.

“The IRIS registry is ophthalmology’s moon shot,” said David W Parke II MD, CEO of the AAO. “The potential of the IRIS Registry to deliver game-changing results for ophthalmologists and their patients is tremendous.”

The IRIS Registry is a centralized collection and reporting software tool that compiles and processes data from electronic health records. It will enable ophthalmologists to statistically analyse their own care, compare it to that of their peers and pinpoint opportunities for improvement.

The database also allows ophthalmologists to manage their patients at a population level; study a specific group of patients based on conditions, risk factors, demographics or outcomes; identify trends and track interventions and answer specific clinical questions. This is an important capability in the US, where many insurers are adopting payment methods that increasingly reward physicians for meeting population health goals, such as providing annual ophthalmic exams for all diabetic patients.

The IRIS Registry is currently being piloted with 120 ophthalmology practices, representing approximately 370,000 patient encounters across 35 states. The AAO estimates that the database will be populated with data from more than 18 million patients by 2016.

“With the wide adoption of electronic heath records, the time is right to fully utilize the power of information technology to produce evidence-based, statistically-valid information that can help ophthalmologists determine how to improve patient care,” said William L Rich III MD, AAO medical director of health policy.

“The Academy looks forward to the moment when the registry reaches critical mass and our profession can see the full potential of its capabilities to fill many gaps in ophthalmic knowledge to improve overall quality of patient care,” Dr Rich said.

IRIS was developed with input from several existing registries around the world, including the ESCRS-supported EUREQUO, the Aravind system medical record in India and registries operated by other specialties, including cardiology and thoracic surgery, Dr Rich said. But unlike most previous registries, IRIS continually collects data on patients before during and after procedures, creating a longitudinal record rather than one built around discrete episodes of care.

Dr Rich believes that eventually specialty registries will be aggregated into a broader dataset, enabling research into how treatments of one organ or body system affect others. He also anticipates global integration of national registries, yielding even greater opportunity to improve care.