What American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) does

ASCRS is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit professional medical society founded in 1974 as the American Intra-Ocular Implant Society (AIOIS) and renamed to its current form in 1985 to reflect the rise of refractive lens-based and corneal refractive surgery. Headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia with 51-100 employees, ASCRS is the largest U.S. membership society dedicated to anterior segment surgeons (cataract, cornea, refractive, and glaucoma), serving more than 9,000 members across every career stage from residency through emeritus status. Its mission is delivered through a physician-led, meritocratic governance model anchored by a flagship Annual Meeting, a year-round digital education ecosystem, proprietary clinical tools, advocacy, and a strategic partnership with the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA, 2,000+ practice administrator members).

The society's product portfolio is a platform-plus-modules architecture. The flagship is the ASCRS Annual Meeting (April 10-13, 2026 in Washington, DC), which features 200+ sessions, 650+ papers, four Subspecialty Days (Cataract, Glaucoma, Cornea, Refractive), and the 44th Annual Film Festival in 2026. Year-round engagement is delivered through CME 24/7 (an online LMS with AMA PRA Category 1 Credit tracking), ASCRS Grand Rounds (virtual case-based CME with academic partners such as University of Michigan, Emory, and Eastern Virginia Medical School), the proprietary IOL Calculators Suite (Barrett Toric, Hill-RBF v3, Post Refractive, Barrett True K Toric, AstigmatismFix, IOL Calculation Formula Analyzer), clinical outcome registries (TASS, HORV, TPSS), and publications including JCRS (a monthly peer-reviewed journal) and EyeWorld magazine (quarterly). The ASCRS Live! Dinner Series brings regional CME to 8 U.S. cities in 2026, and BRiCS Summit extends the society into premium IOL practice economics. Advocacy is delivered through the eyePAC political action committee and a Government Relations function led by Mark Cribben, with coalition memberships in the Alliance of Specialty Medicine and the Surgical Care Coalition.

ASCRS operates a diversified, multi-stream revenue model typical of a large medical membership society. Recurring subscription revenue comes from tiered membership dues (standard physician rate, emeritus reduced rate, international at nearly half price, and free/discounted Young Eye Surgeons tiers). Event-driven revenue includes Annual Meeting registration across physician, administrator, and technician/nurse tracks, plus ASCRS Live!, BRiCS Summit, and SightLine. Industry-sourced revenue includes Platinum, Gold, and Silver sponsorship tiers and exhibit hall participation by major ophthalmic companies such as Alcon, Glaukos, Johnson & Johnson Vision, ModMed, NexTech, Tarsus, Heidelberg Engineering, ImprimisRx, WillsEye, Ocular Science, MaximEyes, and OCuSOFT. CME 24/7 and ASCRS On Demand provide additional recurring digital revenue. The ASOA partnership and the ASCRS Foundation (Operation Sight, nearly 10,000 charitable cataract surgeries) extend the society's reach into practice management and philanthropy. ASCRS is not venture-backed, has no parent company, and is governed by a member volunteer leadership structure with a 2026-2027 Executive Board led by President Kevin M. Miller, MD, Vice President/President-Elect Cathleen McCabe, MD, and Executive Director Steve Speares.

Name

American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS)

Legal name

American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery

Website

https://ascrs.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

ASCRS is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit medical society founded in 1974, serving more than 9,000 U.S. and international anterior segment surgeons through the Annual Meeting, CME 24/7, proprietary IOL calculators, JCRS journal, and advocacy. Headquartered in Fairfax, VA with 51-100 employees and strategic partnership with ASOA's 2,000+ administrator members.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical Professional Society Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare & Clinical Professional Development (CME/CE) (EDAGANAJ)

Keywords

• Ophthalmology professional society
• Continuing medical education
• Clinical education resources
• Medical practice advocacy
• Ophthalmic surgical training

Headquarters

HQ city

Fairfax

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership dues from practicing physicians (standard rate), emeritus members (reduced rate), international physicians (nearly half price), with free or discounted membership for young eye surgeons including U.S. residents, fellows, and physicians in first 5 years of practice.
2. Annual Meeting Registration: Revenue from the ASCRS Annual Meeting (April 10-13, 2026 in Washington, DC) with different registration categories including physician, administrator, technician/nurse tracks, and Subspecialty Day programs. 2026 meeting features 200+ sessions, 650+ papers, and 44th Annual Film Festival.
3. CME 24/7 Online Education: Online continuing medical education activities providing AMA PRA Category 1 Credits through on-demand courses, webinars, and other educational formats available through the CME 24/7 platform.
4. Industry Partnerships and Exhibits: Platinum, Gold, and Silver industry partner sponsorships; exhibitor registration; and affiliate functions from ophthalmic companies including Alcon, Glaukos, Johnson & Johnson Vision, ModMed, NexTech, Tarsus, Heidelberg Engineering, ImprimisRx, WillsEye, Ocular Science, MaximEyes, and OCuSOFT.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels13 records

Core offering

ASCRS is a nonprofit professional medical society that delivers clinical education, continuing medical education (CME), surgical planning tools, advocacy, and community programming for anterior segment surgeons. Its core sellable offerings are the Annual Meeting, the CME 24/7 on-demand platform, the IOL Calculators Suite, JCRS journal, EyeWorld magazine, Grand Rounds, ASCRS Live! regional dinners, the BRiCS Summit, SightLine, and clinical outcomes registries. Membership is tiered across practicing physicians, young eye surgeons, emeritus members, and international physicians.

Product overview

ASCRS is a professional medical society offering a comprehensive membership-based platform for anterior segment surgeons. The core portfolio centers on the Annual Meeting and CME 24/7 educational platform, supplemented by clinical tools (IOL Calculators Suite), live programs (ASCRS Live! Dinner Series, BRiCS Summit, SightLine), and publications (JCRS journal, EyeWorld magazine). The organization serves members through the YES Program for early-career surgeons and provides registries for clinical outcomes tracking. The architecture is platform-plus-modules, with the annual meeting as the flagship event driving engagement across all educational resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA): A strategic partner of ASCRS that empowers ophthalmic leaders to elevate the business of ophthalmology through education, innovation, support, and collaboration. Serves over 2,000 members including CEOs/CFOs, administrators, managers, and clinical directors.
• YES (Young Eye Surgeons)
• eyePAC
• CME 24/7
• BRiCS (Business of Refractive Cataract Surgery) Summit

Products and services

• ASCRS Annual Meeting The premier annual educational event for anterior segment surgeons, featuring 200+ sessions, 650+ papers in 53 paper sessions, the Annual Film Festival, Subspecialty Day programs, and tailored tracks for physicians, administrators, technicians, and nurses. Held each spring in the U.S.
• CME 24/7 Online continuing medical education platform providing on-demand access to accredited courses, a personalized CME tracker, and certificate management for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Used by practicing ophthalmologists to earn required CME on demand.
• ASCRS Grand Rounds Monthly virtual case-based CME program featuring expert panel discussions of clinical cases, presented in partnership with major academic institutions. Targeted at anterior segment surgeons seeking case-based learning.
• ASCRS IOL Calculators Suite Suite of web-based intraocular lens power calculation and surgical planning tools used by thousands of ophthalmic surgeons for preoperative IOL selection, toric planning, and astigmatism management.
• ASCRS Live! Dinner Series Regional dinner tour offering intimate, peer-to-peer refractive cataract education with CME credit, held in 8 U.S. cities annually. Free for attendees.
• BRiCS Summit (Business of Refractive Cataract Surgery) 1.5-day intensive course for physicians and administrators focused on building premium IOL practices through practical systems and patient-conversion strategies. Open to physicians and their entire staff teams.
• Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (JCRS) ASCRS's official monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering cataract and refractive surgery research. A core scholarly publication of the society.
• EyeWorld Magazine Quarterly ASCRS member magazine providing clinical insights, society news, and industry coverage across cataract, refractive, cornea, and glaucoma topics.
• ASCRS Subspecialty Day Pre-meeting subspecialty programming (Cataract Day, Glaucoma Day, Cornea Day, Refractive Day) offering deep-dive subspecialty education alongside the ASCRS Annual Meeting.
• SightLine at ASCRS Day-before-Annual-Meeting program convening industry leaders, administrators, surgeons, payors, and regulators to discuss commercial forces shaping eyecare. Open to non-members.
• ASCRS Clinical Registries (TASS, HORV, TPSS) Clinical outcomes registries for anterior segment surgeons tracking TASS (Toxic Anterior Segment Syndrome), HORV, and TPSS (Toric Patient Satisfaction Study) cases for quality improvement and research.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 10,000 charitable cataract surgeries performed through Operation Sight
• +3 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship, major and supporting.

• EyeceleratorcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019ASCRS co-founded Eyecelerator in 2019, an innovation meeting that brings together industry, physicians, and investors to accelerate ophthalmic innovation. This partnership reflects ASCRS's unique relationship with industry and its commitment to facilitating innovation with integrity and independence.
• American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASOA is a strategic partner of ASCRS, empowering ophthalmic leaders to elevate the business of ophthalmology through education, innovation, support, and collaboration. ASOA serves over 2,000 members including CEOs/CFOs, administrators, managers, and clinical directors. ASOA membership provides access to practice management resources covering coding, reimbursement, marketing, benchmarking, leadership, HR, operations, and business development. ASOA was co-founded by David Karcher and Lucy Santiago in 1986.
• Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (JCRS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCRS's official monthly peer-reviewed journal covering cataract and refractive surgery. Originally began as a newsletter in 1975, evolved into the JCRS and remains a well-respected medical journal.
• EyeWorld MagazinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCRS member magazine launched in 1996, providing quarterly coverage with clinical insights and Society news across the ophthalmic industry. Features balanced article approaches with multiple sources and opinions.
• AlconflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerPlatinum industry partner of ASCRS, providing support for educational programs and member services. Alcon is a global leader in eye care with products spanning surgical equipment, intraocular lenses, and pharmaceutical products.
• GlaukosflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerPlatinum industry partner specializing in MIGS (Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery) technology and products.
• Johnson & Johnson VisionflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerPlatinum industry partner providing surgical equipment, intraocular lenses, and eye health products.
• ModMedflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerPlatinum industry partner providing electronic health records and practice management software for ophthalmology.
• NexTechflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerPlatinum industry partner providing specialty-specific EHR, practice management, and revenue cycle management solutions.
• TarsusflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerPlatinum industry partner developing innovative therapeutics for eye care.
• Heidelberg EngineeringmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerGold industry partner specializing in diagnostic imaging devices for ophthalmology including confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy.
• ImprimisRxmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerGold industry partner providing compounded ophthalmic pharmaceuticals.
• WillsEyemajorGTM or Marketing PartnerGold industry partner - Wills Eye Hospital, one of the leading eye hospitals in the United States.
• Ocular SciencemajorGTM or Marketing PartnerGold industry partner developing ophthalmic products and solutions.
• MaximEyes (Elation)supportingGTM or Marketing PartnerSilver industry partner providing AI-powered eye care EHR and practice management software.
• OCuSOFTsupportingGTM or Marketing PartnerSilver industry partner specializing in ophthalmic lid scrub and cleansing products.
• Alliance of Specialty MedicinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCRS is a member of the Alliance of Specialty Medicine, a coalition of 15 specialty medical groups focused on preserving access to specialty care.
• Surgical Care CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCRS is a member of the Surgical Care Coalition, a coalition of 14 professional associations representing nearly 150,000 surgeons and anesthesiologists working to improve quality of care and quality of life for patients.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS): Direct international counterpart to ASCRS serving cataract and refractive surgeons across Europe. Comparable subspecialty focus, similar annual congress, and CME offerings make ESCRS the closest functional peer.
• Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society (OOSS): Society dedicated to ophthalmic ASCs and ambulatory surgery centers. OOSS focuses on the operational and regulatory side of where ASCRS members practice, providing a complementary subspecialty society peer with significant membership overlap.
• American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS): U.S. subspecialty society for retina specialists. ASRS operates an analogous annual meeting, CME programs, and member society model to ASCRS but focused on the posterior segment, making it highly comparable as a subspecialty medical society peer.
• American Osteopathic Colleges of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology: Specialty society serving osteopathic ophthalmologists and otolaryngologists with educational programming and annual meetings. Comparable subspecialty society model with shared physician audience.

Broad incumbents

• American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO): The largest U.S. ophthalmology professional society, serving all ophthalmologists rather than the anterior segment subspecialty. AAO is a direct comparator on CME, annual meeting, advocacy, and member society services, but operates at greater scale across the full specialty.
• American College of Surgeons (ACS): Large multi-specialty surgical society offering CME, advocacy, and member services across all surgical disciplines. ACS is a broader-incumbent analog demonstrating scale, governance model, and member-society economics comparable to ASCRS.
• American Medical Association (AMA): Largest U.S. physician membership organization offering CME, advocacy, and member products across all medical specialties. AMA is comparable as a physician professional association business model, even though ophthalmology is only one of many covered specialties.

Regional players

• American Academy of Optometry: Professional society for optometrists rather than ophthalmologists, but operates a comparable CME and annual meeting structure. Adjacent eye-care professional audience makes it a useful operational and engagement model peer.

Others

• International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS): A subspecialty society within AAO focused specifically on refractive surgery. ISRS overlaps with ASCRS's refractive surgery audience and represents a competitive and collaborative entity in the refractive subspecialty space.

Emerging players

• Refractive Surgery Alliance: Emerging organization serving refractive surgeons with education and practice management. Comparable subspecialty focus but at a smaller scale, representing a potential emerging competitor or collaborative partner to ASCRS's BRiCS Summit curriculum.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ASCRStweets
• Facebookfacebook.com/American-Society-of-Cataract-and-R
• Instagraminstagram.com/ascrsofficial
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/american-society-of-cataract-and-refractive-surgery

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles22 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS)