Highlights from the 2013 AOA House of Delegates

By Marianne E. Boltz, O.D., F.A.A.O.

POA President-Elect

The 116^th Congress and AOA House of Delegates (HOD) were called to order on Thursday morning, June 27, at the San Diego Convention Center. As is tradition, the HOD begins with a bit of pomp and circumstance and standard procedures. Delegates were led by former AOA President Dr. Richard Hopping (current AOA President Dr. Ronald Hopping’s father) in a reading of the Optometric Oath. All state affiliate executive directors paraded into the ballroom, immediately followed by the presentation of the Virgil Deering Optometric Executive Director Award. The award was given this year to Bryan Markowitz from Georgia. (If you recall, our own Dr. Charles Stuckey had the honor of receiving this award a few years ago.)

A report from the Resolutions Committee brought forth one proposed resolution, License Renewal Requirements, which was passed on Friday.

Thursday morning wrapped up with the introduction of AOA Board and Trustee candidates. Two three-year Trustee positions were up for grabs with three individuals vying for them: Dr. Hilary Hawthorne from California, Dr. Robert Layman from Ohio and Dr. Greg Caldwell from Pennsylvania. Each candidate was given a few minutes to speak regarding his or her qualifications, experience and future goals for their term of office if elected. Of great significance was the final report of the 2013 Nominating Committee, which recommended both Dr. Layman and POA’s Dr. Caldwell for the two open Trustee positions. The nomination committee based their decision upon personal interviews with each candidate, each candidate’s curriculum vitae and written answers to specific identical questions posed to all three.

The Thursday afternoon session was called to order with three important reports encompassing most of the afternoon. AOA Past President and Chair of AOA EXCEL Dr. Joe Ellis presented the AOA EXCEL report. He highlighted the advantages of joining the X-Network – connectivity providing access to a national eye care health information exchange that is necessary for participation in health care plans of the future (Affordable Care Act). He mentioned that an early access program will be available to a limited number of providers (who will receive 50% off some services), and an imaging system will be available on the network soon. The report of the executive director was then given by Dr. Barry Barresi, who highlighted the achievements of the past year. He explained that the AOA is divided into three pillar organizations, each with its own Board: AOA, Optometry Cares® – The AOA Foundation (charitable division), and AOA EXCEL (business subsidiary). The AOA has achieved operating success by cutting expenses overall by moving resources to priority areas, reorganizing the affiliate relations/membership team, and increasing synergy between the St. Louis and Washington offices. The biggest digital strategy was implementing the new AOA website, which has a new doctor locator with Google maps. For this, he encouraged members to make sure to update their practice information. Lastly, he discussed Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), mentioning that 27-31 million Americans are currently associated with an ACO and 40% of Americans now live in an area that has at least one ACO.

The third report of the afternoon was given by Dr. Ron Benner, chair of the AOA-PAC. Dr. Benner told about a new AOA-PAC app for Android and iPhones. It’s a general advocacy app with icons that allow you not only to easily and securely donate (you will need your AOA number to do so), but also learn about news updates and the Keyperson program, access a Federal Advocacy directory, a view a video gallery and AOA Buzz (a Twitter-type feed).

Friday's session began with a report on the Work Force Study that AOA and ASCO were charged with in 2011. The Work Force Committee developed survey questions to look at current and future supply and demand of eye care providers and related factors, as well as characteristics of the eye care market in the United States. Four thousand ODs were surveyed; 726 responses were received. The results will be published soon, but one positive outcome predicted increased demand through 2025 due to increased number of elder patients, increased prevalence of diabetes and ACA/children’s vision.

A second report was given by AOA Trustee Dr. Christopher Quinn to update us on the HOD-directed the committee work to look at AOA accreditation of continuing education. The committee sought input from ARBO leadership and participated in the national optometric education conference with other organizations. Continued analysis is required and approval will be needed from future HODs upon presentation of a final plan.

We also heard about a new access-to-optometry campaign called Re-think Eyecare. This is a program to educate benefit decision makers, specifically employers, benefit advisors, health panels and business coalitions. The campaign website provides an overview of the program, access to a white paper about a provider cost-savings study in Florida (showing how optometrists can see emergency eye conditions at much less cost than an emergency room visit) and a cost-savings calculator.

A Communications and Public Relations report by Dr. Teri Geist, chair of the Communications and Marketing Group, revealed that the optometry awareness campaign increased optometry media coverage by 2,000% since its inception. Its goal is to promote awareness of scope of practice, build public trust and make optometrists the go-to eye experts.

Saturday morning HOD began the final day of the 2013 Congress. Dr. Ronald Hopping began the session with his AOA Presidential report. It was a summary of AOA’s accomplishments and initiatives during his presidential year. Dr. Hopping was followed by POA member James Deom, a PCO student and current president of the AOSA. (He, by the way, did an incredible job!)

Much of the morning was reserved for the report of the AOA secretary-treasurer, Dr. Steven Loomis. Dr. Loomis shared three very positive things regarding the 2012 finances: the AOA spent less than it brought in, didn’t lose any members and the association was able to put money in the bank. So far in 2013, overall membership is slightly increased, with active memberships also increased.

The morning ended with consideration of proposed amendments to the AOA by-laws. Amendment A, entitled Ascending Dues, ties the start of the ascending dues schedule to the date the Doctor of Optometry degree is earned, or in the case of post-graduate members, the date the post-graduate program is completed. Amendment B, Paraoptometric Members Classification, proposes that as of 2014, part of each OD’s membership will be providing access to staff training and educational materials at no additional cost. Any optometrist member may identify all of his or her optometric staff who will receive these Paraoptometric Member benefits, which is intended to add value to AOA membership. Amendment C, Paraoptometric Dues, eliminates separate dues for Paraoptometric members. All resources will now be available to any optometric staff sponsored by a member optometrist at no cost. All three proposed amendments were passed by a majority voice vote.

The Saturday afternoon session was kicked off by a rousing procession of the Colorado delegation and guests escorting incoming 2013-2014 AOA President Dr. Mitchell Munson to the podium to give his presidential inaugural address. Immediately following was the much-anticipated election of AOA officers and trustees. The AOA officers were elected via a majority voice vote as follows: president-elect, Dr. David Cockrell from Oklahoma; vice president, Dr. Steven Loomis from Colorado; and secretary-treasurer, Dr. Andrea Thau from New York.

The Pennsylvania delegation anxiously awaited the state-by-state roll call vote to fill the two open AOA Trustee positions. Congratulations to Dr. Robert Layman and Pennsylvania’s Dr. Greg Caldwell. Joy was contagious with the Pennsylvania delegation!

One may think that sitting through 13.5 hours of reports and presentations at the AOA House of Delegates would be excruciatingly painful, but it was surprisingly not. I enjoyed observing how the “rubber meets the road” at the AOA and how this organization takes action to affect the future of our profession.

I hope that this summary not only updates you on the latest activities of the AOA, but also makes you feel like you were there with us in sunny San Diego!