Attendees were briefed on the association’s membership growth, new advocacy partnerships, and children’s health initiatives.
Optometry’s Meeting kicked off day two with a report on the strength of the association, citing over 300 new doctors joining AOA in the first six months of 2024. Executive Director Jon Hymes also shared that 75 percent of Americans indicate trust in an AOA-member doctor of optometry, a finding from a recent survey indicating the AOA’s brand is stronger than ever.
“We are growing in size, clout and effectiveness and are well prepared to continue to do all that it takes to safeguard optometry’s essential and expanding role in health care and support the practice success of our doctors,” Hymes told attendees during House of Delegates.
Legislative Wins and New Advocacy Partnerships
During his House of Delegates report, Hymes also noted expanded work with the American Dental Association (ADA), including filing a U.S. Supreme Court brief seeking to block vision and dental plans from issuing the ERISA statute to avoid compliance at a state level.
Additionally, Hymes shared AMVETS, a well-recognized Veterans Service Organization, joined the call for full recognition of optometric scope in the VA health system.
Further building relationships with like-minded organizations, Hymes announced that the National Consumers League, the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy group, supports AOA’s efforts to crack down on plan abuses and federal legislation to ban “robocalls” in the contact lens marketplace.
“We’ve made clear over the last year that we’ll do whatever it takes to always stand up for optometrists’ rights and fair treatment,” said Hymes.
Citing the AOA’s concerted, tenacious vision plan advocacy, Hymes shared the success of the AOA’s Health and Vision Plan Action Report, which keeps a running tally of member-reported challenges and complaints with health and vision plans, as well as the steps AOA advocates are taking to resolve these issues on members’ behalf.
Further speaking to the success of the AOA’s advocacy efforts in 2024, Hymes shared that 10 states defeated so-called ‘not-a-doctor' legislation, 12 states recognize optometry’s authority to provide laser procedures, five states enacting tough laws reigning back vision benefit managers (VBMs) and two congressional panels actively investigating VBM abuses.
Building Momentum with Children’s Vision
Following the call for the national pediatric vision and eye health mobilization at Optometry’s Meeting ® 2023, AOA Trustee Curtis A. Ono, O.D., provided the House of Delegates with an update on how the initiative harnessed children’s vision experts from across the country to drive action. With AOA’s support, the Early Detection of Vision Impairments in Children Act was introduced this May. The legislation would improve the vision and eye health of children across the U.S. by providing resources to states and communities to establish or improve systems of care for children’s vision.
Additionally, The Myopia Collective, powered by AOA and CooperVision, is slated to set a new standard of care for children with myopia. Dr. Ono acknowledged there is still much work to be done to ensure children have access to the care they need. He urged doctors of optometry to join InfantSEE®, an initiative of the AOA Foundation that provides no-cost, comprehensive eye assessments to infants between the ages of 6-12 months regardless of family income or access to insurance coverage.
AOA Advocacy Awareness Network
In today’s environment of dynamic media and multiple points of connection, it is critical to get important and timely information into the hands of doctors and the optometry community at large. Introduced this year at Optometry’s Meeting, the AOA Advocacy Awareness Network is a foundational collective of influential experts in optometry who collaborate to further the profession and break through the media noise to connect with doctors of optometry.
Joining the network as its first member is Alan Glazier, O.D., pioneering social media influencer, founder of FluoreSCENE Media and ODs on Facebook. While live onsite at Optometry’s Meeting, Dr. Glazier discussed leadership, AOA priorities and the AOA Advocacy Awareness Network during a podcast on the EYETalks Stage.
Spotlighting Paraoptometric Award Recipients
Two events brought together paraoptometric attendees at Optometry's Meeting®. The Paraoptometric Awards Luncheon Celebration, supported by Alcon, is the annual celebration of AOA associate-member paraoptometrics, honored for their outstanding and significant contributions to the profession.
This year’s Paraoptometric Award winners were recognized for their outstanding dedication to the profession. Following the celebration was the Paraoptometric Idea Exchange, where attendees networked and discussed practice challenges and opportunities and generated ideas on how to grow AOA associate membership.