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About OMG


 

The Ophthalmology Management Group (RF) (Pty) Ltd (or "OMG") was established in 1996 to assist the Ophthalmological Society of South Africa (OSSA) with the fulfilment of the business functions related to private Ophthalmology practice. It is a Management Services Organisation with 25 years of solid track record and experience in the private health sector, established for the benefit of private practicing Ophthalmologists and Ophthalmologists in the Public Sector with limited private practice.  OMG focuses on all matters relating to the business of private practicing Ophthalmologists, which includes practice management support and dealing with issues relating to medical schemes, administrators and other stakeholders.

OMG is a ring-fenced private company with a democratically elected board.  Each member Ophthalmologist is also a shareholder, ensuring that it always acts in the best interest of all its members.  As of May 2021, OMG has 267 members throughout South Africa.

 

We strive to continue to establish in-depth relationships with you as our shareholders and to continue to learn more about your environment, challenges and goals first-hand, so that we can offer tangible solutions and support with a candid perspective.

OMG Operations and Benefits to Shareholders

 

Benefits of membership of Ophthalmology Management Group (RF) (Pty) Ltd

1. SERVICES

OMG supports individual private practice Ophthalmologists, provides clinical and coding support and represents the Ophthalmology profession in private practice in matters relating to policy and legislation. Further value add services at no cost to OMG members include: 

a.  Free online SMS services for patient communications via the OSSA website

b.  Online access to obtain CPD points, as well as online access to view your CPD points

c.  Provision of ABSA credit card terminals

d.  The services of HealthMan

 

2. BUSINESS MODEL

OMG membership fees are included in OSSA membership fees.  A paid up member Ophthalmologist of OMG is then also a shareholder of OMG, ensuring that it always acts in the best interest of all its Ophthalmologist members. 

OMG is a ring-fenced private company with a democratically elected board. The Board of Directors comprise of practising Ophthalmologists that have been nominated and duly elected through an Annual General Meeting.  The Annual General Meeting is usually held during the annual OSSA conference.

ORM is a 100% owned subsidiary of OMG, but operates as an independent entity in order to comply with Competition and other Legislation. ORM is operated entirely by external consultants and deals with scheme matters and data analysis.  ORM makes use of OMG members when input is required on any clinical and coding matters.

 

The external consultants are:

HealthMan is a privately owned healthcare consultancy firm for the management and administration of specialist and other healthcare provider networks. HealthMan has been delivering operational support to OMG since its inception in 1996.  They manage all operational functions for OMG and ORM which includes business support services, call centre support, query resolution processes, practice management support services and coding support services. They also manage the financial and governance responsibilities of OMG and ORM and play a pivotal role in representation and negotiation with key healthcare industry stakeholders with ORM and lead the charge on health policy and legislative lobbying for OMG.

 

Insight Actuaries & Consultants is a leading actuarial and data specialist in the healthcare sector and provides actuarial and analytical services for ORM.

 

3. SAPPF

OMG is also affiliated to The South African Private Practitioners’ Forum (SAPPF).  OMG pays an annual membership fee to SAPPF based on the number of its membership.  SAPPF represents specialist groups in negotiations where wider representation is required and in legal issues affecting specialists (e.g. the HPCSA ethical tariff schedule issue and the regulatory challenges).

SAPPF is in the process of drafting a new National Procedural Coding Structure, which will be coordinated by an independent entity called the South African Classification of Healthcare Interventions (SACHI) who will become its custodian.  It is important that the Medical Profession determines its scope of practice and therefore needs to remain in control of any changes to the current coding system or any proposed new system.  It will be inclusive of all medical disciplines in South Africa.

 

4. THE CATARACT REGISTRY

ORM is particularly concerned that health funders continuously look at implementing cost containment initiatives without monitoring the impact that it has on the quality of eye care that Ophthalmologists can provide to their patients and the impact that it has on patient health outcomes.

The Cataract Registry is an exciting system developed by ORM to monitor patient health outcomes of patients who undergo cataract surgery. The registry has been designed as a pre-authorisation system and is maintained and administered by ORM. Only OMG members who chose to participate in scheme contracts managed through the Cataract Registry, have access to the system. OMG owns the Cataract Registry.  Administration is done independently by ORM to ensure compliance to legislation.

Right to Sight surgeries are now also registered through the Cataract Registry, reducing the administrative burden on participating practices in public benefit surgeries.

For any questions or support on the Cataract Registry please feel free to email info@omgltd.co.za or contact Janette or Hillary, at HealthMan, on 011 340 9000.

 

5. COMMUNICATIONS

It is our objective to ensure that you are informed of important issues in the health care landscape, and that we meet your expectations as well as provide initiatives and solutions to the benefit of your practice.  We aim to effectively and regularly communicate with you through all available mechanisms including the OSSA website, e-mails and SMS communication to ensure that you are up to date with what is happening in OSSA / OMG.

We urge you to visit our website on a regular basis to access important communication and invite you to comment or make any suggestion by e-mail to info@ossa.co.za.  Please ensure that you obtain your specific username and password to access important information on the secure section of this website.  You may use the same login details that you use for other ophthalmology related websites, or alternatively register as a user through the registration process provided in the secure section.

Internal communications are provided through the secure section of this website. 

We strive to continue to establish in-depth relationships with you as shareholders and to continue to learn more about your environment, challenges and goals first-hand, so that we may offer tangible solutions and support with a candid perspective.  Please feel free to at any time contact the OMG Board of Directors and/or Executives with any input you have on how we may add more value.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

We strive to continue to establish in-depth relationships with you as members and to continue to learn more about your environment, challenges and goals first-hand, so that we can offer tangible solutions and support with a candid perspective. 

Directors 2024

Dr Jaco Maartens (Chairman)

Dr. Theunis Botha

Dr Irene Freed

Dr Johann Lamprecht

Dr Andries Meter

Dr Pilile Ngxukumeshe

Dr Philip Phatudi

Dr Andrew Perrot

Dr Jan Talma

Dr Enslin Uys

Dr Dean van der Westhuizen

 

Executives

Ms Shelley McGee (Chief Operations Officer)

Mr Casper Venter (Secretary)