The Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance

CASTER EYE CENTER AND
THE COUNCIL FOR REFRACTIVE SURGERY 
QUALITY ASSURANCE (CRSQA)

The Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance (CRSQA) is the only organization in the United States to impartially monitor quality in refractive surgery. It is an independent, nonprofit consumer-oriented health organization that certifies refractive surgeons who meet CRSQA's standards of quality of care, and educates the public about refractive surgery through seminars, publications, public speaking, and the Internet.

The Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance (CRSQA) is 

Dr. Caster is one of only a handful of surgeons in Southern California (and one of less than 100 in the entire United States) who has passed this rigorous process and been recognized as a CRSQA Certified Refractive Surgeon™.

A surgeon seeking certification must submit to close scrutiny. With the acceptance of a surgeon's application, CRSQA verifies the surgeon's credentials. This would include personal history, professional history, hospital privileges, specialty board certification, residency completion, schooling, malpractice insurance claims history, National Physician Database history, Federation of State Medical Boards disciplinary history, sanctions against licensure, Medicaid and/or Medicare sanctions, American Medical Association profile, and more. Any patient complaints submitted through CRSQA's website are also evaluated and considered. 

If the surgeon's credentials are satisfactory, the surgeon must submit outcome data to verify successful completion of 250 consecutive refractive procedures. These surgeries are verified by random audit. All charts are examined for accuracy of results and occurrence of complications. The data audited must meet the strict guidelines of CRSQA. Only after all these requirements have been met can a surgeon become a CRSQA Certified Refractive Surgeon™.

Becoming a CRSQA Certified Refractive Surgeon™ does not mean that a surgeon will always remain one. CRSQA Certified Refractive Surgeons™ must submit outcome data to CRSQA on refractive surgery procedures performed every 3 months. Information collected includes preoperative and postoperative visual acuity and patient perception of satisfaction. This information is verified by random audit. In the event a CRSQA Certified Refractive Surgeon™ is found to be providing unsatisfactory refractive surgery outcomes or otherwise falls outside of CRSQA standards, the surgeon's certification will be withdrawn.