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AAO bans optometrists from annual meeting
The American Academy of Ophthalmology has banned optometrists from its annual meeting in an effort to prevent optometrists from using the annual meeting as evidence they are qualified to perform surgery, Jan Berlin, MD, told Ocular Surgery News.
Last weekend, during AAO’s Advocacy Day, the Academy’s board of trustees reiterated the educational programs are intended for ophthalmologists who have the education and training to understand the knowledge being presented, an internal memo noted.
“We feel that some non-members have unjustly advanced their own political agenda on the basis that they’ve attended the AAO annual meeting,” Dr. Berlin, a member of the board of trustees that made the decision, said.
While no one, single event was directly related to the ban, Dr. Berlin said it was prompted in part by the controversy stirred within the Veterans Affairs (VA) administration. The VA allowed an optometrist from Oklahoma to perform laser surgery at a Wichita facility. A moratorium on the practice has since been placed (For more information, click here).
Anecdotally, an event was reported that an optometrist at the Kansas facility cited his attendance at a Maine educational course in ophthalmology as the basis for his surgical credibility, Dr. Berlin said. He said the ban is to discourage something like this happening again, but noted the surgeon in question did not use attendance at an AAO-sponsored event for his claims.
“We don’t feel that using our educational events in such a manner is in the interest of the public or good patient care,” Dr. Berlin said.
By Dr. Berlin’s account, about 47 optometrists attended AAO’s annual meeting in 2003. He said the count is not accurate because optometrists may register under a different category.
The Vets Act (HR 3473) was drafted in reaction to an allegedly flawed VA healthcare system, according to an Academy release about Advocacy Day. There are currently 66 cosponsors on the bill, which was referred to the House Subcommittee on Health last November.