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ARBO launches CE tracking system

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LAS VEGAS – Here at Vision Expo West, the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry shared news of its optometric education tracking program, OE Tracker, in a joint news conference with program co-sponsors Essilor of America Inc. and Alcon.

Through the OE Tracker, ARBO will track optometrists’ continuing education activity and store it in a database on the ARBO Web site (www.arbo.org). The OD – or the state board – can then use the Web site to verify attendance and CE credits required for license renewal.

According to ARBO, by mid-October, all 39,000 optometrists were issued an individual optometric education card (OE Card). Each card has a unique identification number, assigned by ARBO, along with a magnetic strip and bar code. Electronic reader units will be used to capture attendee information at the approved courses. After the event the data will be verified by the administrator and exported to the ARBO Web site for storage. The doctor can then access the Web site using his or her identification number, view the courses they have taken and print CE certificates.

Robert L. Sorrell, OD, past president of ARBO, told Primary Care Optometry News that he suggests optometrists go to the ARBO Web site before or after receiving their identification cards to verify their contact information. Any optometrist who did not receive an OE Card in the mail should call (866) 869-6852.

The new system will be used at next February’s SECO meeting. At this meeting, attendees will insert their six-digit OE number into the required fields as they complete either their online or paper registration materials. This will link the attendees’ CE courses to the ARBO database. The data will then be verified and exported, and CE certificates can be printed.

According to ARBO, the database will be able to be updated with CE data collected at smaller meetings as well. Program sponsors Essilor, Mikrotec Developers and their Eyesites.net subsidiary, and Alcon are underwriting the development and implementation of the Web site and the OE Cards.

At the press conference, Dave Sattler, Alcon’s director of professional relations, said, “The amount of paper involved in running a COPE-approved CE program is what drove the support of this project.”