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Optometry 2020: forming questions, seeking answers
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The first of the three Optometry 2020 Summits, designed by the American Optometric Association to address the future of optometry, convened in Dallas before a large audience of optometrists, technicians, students and industry leaders from across the United States and Canada.
The groundbreaking event, held in early August, was the first of its kind in more than 40 years.
“The last summit was back in 1960, and very few of us in this room were present back then,” said AOA President Richard L. Wallingford, OD, at the summit. “So this really is a fresh start, and I think we all agree it’s something we need to be doing more often.”
More questions than answers
Optometry 2020 Summit Project Team co-chair and AOA vice president, Kevin L. Alexander, OD, PhD, kicked off the summit by expressing his gratitude to attendees for their commitment to optometry. “I want to welcome you all to a very historic event,” he said. “I want to express my appreciation and thanks that each of you has decided to participate and to give your time, ideas and – most of all – your passion to this great profession.”
Dr. Wallingford said concerns about the future are a significant issue in any profession and in all aspects of optometry. “We all wonder about the future. Students wonder about the future, and new graduates entering this profession with a heavy debt load wonder about the future,” he said. “Every optometrist, whether in private practice, group practice or in the military, wonders about the future of the profession.”
Dr. Alexander outlined the approach to each of the three summit meetings. “We have organized this summit around three meetings,” he said. “The first will determine the possibilities, the second will be about which of those possibilities we want to pursue and the third is about how to make that happen.”
He cautioned the audience that the first meeting would most likely raise more questions than answers. “We’re all triple type-A problem-solvers in this room, and we want to get to the answer immediately,” he said. “But we want to caution all of you not to be in a rush. This is a process that will require nurturing and a certain amount of procedure to follow. This meeting is about questions, not answers.”
Looking into the future
Speaker Joseph Gibbons, PhD, senior consultant of Future Work Institute, discussed trends in health care and how this may predict the future of optometry. “What’s happening today may or may not influence the future,” he said, “but if we look at the trends, we may be able to get a myopic view of what the future holds.”
![[photo]](/~/media/images/news/print/primary-care-optometry-news/2005/09_september/gibbons_trends_200_150_74434.jpg) Health care trends: Joseph Gibbons, of the Future Work Institute, discussed the future of optometry. |
He discussed the “forces for change” currently at work in the optometric profession, citing a new generation of optometrists, growing commoditization of products and services, the empowered consumer and the rise of e-health as among these forces.
“Health care is blurring; nurses are doing what doctors used to do, insurance companies are making medical decisions,” he said.
He added, however, that paying attention to the needs of consumers will never become outmoded. “Consumer-friendly will win the day,” he said.
Dr. Gibbons said a new emphasis on personal wellness has replaced environmental issues as the key public concern in America. “There is a $66 billion market for wellness products,” he said. “We’re seeing a shift from a medical intervention model to a holistic model.”
Among the most prominent of these consumers are those in the Baby Boomer generation, who, as elderly patients, will demand more in terms of wellness products. “The rise of the elderly took off in about 1996, and it’s not going to end until about 2015,” he said. “And even then, that drop-off will not be precipitous.”
By 2050, he said, people 85 and older will be the largest population cohort, Dr. Gibbons said. “We’re looking at an aging population that doesn’t want to grow old,” he said. “People are busy. They will want one-stop shopping.”
In this realm, Dr. Gibbons said self-diagnosis and “Doc-in-a-Box” services are on the rise. He added that in-store “diagnostic kiosks” are also beginning to appear in retail environments.
New products, new optometrists
Dr. Gibbons discussed the changing optometric population and described the “new optometrist.” He said, in the future, more women and minorities will pursue optometry.
He speculated on where the new optometrist will work. “Currently, the average student loans at graduation are $135,000,” he said. “The new generation also has less of a desire to relocate than previous generations.”
He asked some important questions regarding the next generation of optometrists:
- Is passive information the best source?
- How do we position ourselves to ride the coming trends?
- Are we attracting OD professionals in the right way?
- Is the AOA providing young ODs with the right tools to make decisions?
He said one of the important new products for optometry will be custom contacts, which use wavefront technology to correct higher-order aberrations.
Dr. Gibbons cited the fact that optometry, of all the medical professions, has the highest satisfaction rate. “I’ve never met an ex-optometrist,” he said.
Discussion groups
The summit tackled eight specific areas of optometry that are crucial to the growth of the profession. These groups included: Eye Care Patient/Consumer; Science and Technology; Economics; Eye Care Delivery; Human Resources; Knowledge, Education and Training; Licensure, Regulation, Continued and Advanced Competency; and Industry and Profession Synergies.
Each of these topics was first addressed in presentations given by the discussion leaders: Thomas L. Lewis, OD, PhD, and Arol Augsburger, OD, MS (Eye Care Patient/Consumer); Charles M. Wormington, OD, PhD, and J. James Thimons Jr., OD (Science and Technology); Richard C. Edlow, OD, and John Rumpakis, OD, MBA (Economics); John G. Classe, OD, JD, and Kirk L. Smick, OD (Eye Care Delivery), James K. Kirchner, OD, and Mary E. Jameson, CPOT (Human Resources); Larry J. Davis, OD, and Hector Santiago, OD (Knowledge, Education and Training); Dale J. Atkinson, JD, and Robert W. Smalling, OD (Licensure, Regulation, Continued and Advanced Competency); and Irving Bennett, OD, and Barry J. Barresi, OD, PhD (Industry and Professional Synergies).
After these presentations, the audience was divided into eight groups, each of which was charged with discussing specific areas of their designated topics. Each group presented their findings, which will then be addressed further at the second summit, to take place in February 2006.
“Let the message of this summit be: to those who wish us success as a profession and to those who wish for optometry’s demise, that optometry will define its scope and its future,” Dr. Alexander said. “Optometry will educate and regulate itself to ensure quality care for the public. Optometry will work with government and industry to affordably deliver services and technology for better eye care. Hopefully, you will leave this summit with more questions than you had when you arrived.”
For Your Information:
- Richard L. Wallingford, OD, is president of the American Optometric Association. He can be reached at 243 N. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63141; (800) 365-2219; fax: (314) 991-4101; e-mail: RLWallingford@aoa.org.
- Kevin L. Alexander, OD, PhD, is vice president of the American Optometric Association. He can be reached at Michigan College of Optometry, 1310 Cramer Circle, Big Rapids, MI 49307; (231) 591-3706; fax: (231) 591-2394; e-mail: KLAlexander@aoa.org.
- Joseph Gibbons, PhD, is senior consultant of the FutureWork Institute. He can be reached at 595 Sixth St., Brooklyn, NY 11215; (718) 832-8625; e-mail: jgibbons@futureworkinstitute.com.