About The American Association
of Eye & Ear Centers of Excellence

Mission

The American Association of Eye and Ear Centers of Excellence is comprised of the premier centers for specialized eye and ear procedures in the world. Association members are major referral centers, offer some of the most innovative teaching programs in the world, and routinely treat the most severely ill eye and ear patients. The mission of these specialty institutions requires them to maintain leading edge technologies, enabling them to provide highly specialized services not available in general acute care hospitals.

Background

The Association was organized in 1983 as the American Association of Eye and Ear Hospitals (AAEEH), the forerunner of today’s American Association of Eye and Ear Centers of Excellence (AAEECE).  We are governed by a Board of Directors composed of the executives and clinicians from our member institutions. AAEECE is led and managed by a professional association executive.

The Association came together initially in response to the transition in site of care from the inpatient to the outpatient setting for a number of ophthalmic procedures. The founding institutions had three major objectives. First, they wanted to organize themselves for future government relations efforts as such initiatives were needed. Second, they wanted to develop group purchasing practices for more cost effective acquisition of pharmaceuticals and medical surgical products. And third, since the institutions were not in competition with one another, they wanted to share information, data, and best practices in order to improve their facilities.

Today’s AAEECE is composed of both domestic and international institutions.  The Association delivers its membership a vast array of innovative programs and services to enhance their viability and to bolster quality patient care.

Current Initiatives and Services

·         Benchmarking

In 2010 the Association launched the development of a web-based benchmarking service and quality measurement system. This initiative is designed to provide critical information to the AAEECE domestic and international member institutions and to help them improve operational performance and to enhance quality patient care.  This members-only service is providing a wealth of knowledge to decision makers in the AAEECE institutions.

·         Group Purchasing

The AAEECE has one of the most outstanding group purchasing programs in the U.S. today. By utilizing cooperative agreements with our purchasing partner, Premier, the Association has achieved significant savings for its members, patients, and for the governmental as well as private payer programs. The AAEECE purchasing program is currently available our domestic institutional members.  A new purchasing program is also available to affiliated institutions, organizations, and physician practices.

·         Membership Working Groups

The Association has also developed a network of member working groups to address many issues before their institutions.  AAEECE working groups include: nurse executives; finance executives; pharmacy directors; executives involved in benchmarking; foundation directors; to name but a few.  The chief executive officers of the member institutions are routinely engaged in issues like strategic planning, health care financing/reimbursement, and best practices. In addition, the Association routinely provides information, updates, and reports of interest to specialty surgical facilities with a focus on ophthalmology and otolaryngology.

·         Centers of Excellence

As evidence of the level of excellent care provided by AAEECE members in the U.S., since 1990, U.S. News and World Report has selected many of the Association's member facilities as being among the nation's finest hospitals. Our domestic members routinely comprise the top ten ophthalmology facilities in the U.S.  Our international members are recognized for their outstanding patient care and innovation. To achieve these rankings, institutions had to be recommended by at least 3 percent of the 150 board-certified specialists in each of 17 specialties (2,550 physicians in all) in the given field. A total of 1,800 hospitals are routinely evaluated as part of this selection process.

During the U.S. health care reform debate of 2009 and 2010 the AAEECE, in collaboration with other health care organizations, sought to ensure that all Americans would have coverage that provides them access to specialized health care services at "centers of excellence." Centers of excellence in the field of institutional care are defined as tertiary care referral centers devoted to specialized health care services which are regionally or nationally recognized for their specialized experience in the treatment of specific, complex conditions and specific populations with challenging care requirements. Every major health care reform proposal considered by the U.S. Congress during the 2009-2010 health reform debate contained reference to the "centers of excellence" provision sought by the AAEECE and its specialty provider counterparts.

·         Government Relations

Since its founding, the Association has evolved into an influential force in the U.S. federal legislative and regulatory decision-making processes affecting health care related issues. As a result of the Association's successful advocacy efforts at the federal level, the U.S. Congress has enacted special Medicare payment adjustments for outpatient surgery performed in qualified eye and ear specialty institutions. The AAEECE has also been instrumental in working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other agencies, on numerous regulatory issues affecting eye and ear specialty institutions.

During the development of the 2010 Health Reform Act - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148 (PPACA) - our Association worked diligently to preserve the special missions of surgical specialty institutions, to ensure patients' access to these specialized services, and to pursue public policies which support these institutions.

In addition, the AAEECE has a long history of working collaboratively with other national and international organizations in coalitions to advance health policy and patient care.

Vision

Worldwide, the pressures on specialty hospitals and providers are very similar.  All countries face many of the same problems and issues related to health care delivery. 

With the enactment of health reform in the U.S., health care delivery will be undergoing a series of important changes over the coming decade.  It is anticipated that an initial blurring of the differentiation between specialty hospitals and general acute and ambulatory care providers, will occur. During this time, there will be a continued decline in inpatient services resulting in a loss of financial cross subsidization. Specialty hospitals will find it increasingly challenging to maintain their image and positions in the community which they serve.