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New optometric organizations aim to strengthen profession
The American Association of Doctors of Optometry and The Optometric Society hope to complement the American Optometric Association’s efforts.
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Two recently formed groups hope to serve the optometric community by promoting education and inter-society collaboration and investigating third-party plans, according to their founders.
The American Association of Doctors of Optometry (AADO) was established in the summer of 2013 by Craig Steinberg, OD, JD. The AADO was created “to improve the quality of eye care in America by removing barriers to the delivery of optometric care and restoring competition among eye care providers,” according to its website.
Craig Steinberg
“For lack of a better way to describe it, the AADO was created to defend optometry and help restore its independence from third-party plans,” Steinberg told Primary Care Optometry News.
Membership is available to optometrists as well as ophthalmologists and opticians, Art Epstein, OD, director of communications for the AADO, said in an interview.
Another group, The Optometric Society (TOS), introduced itself in January 2014. According to its website, TOS “was formed by, and represents the interests of, optometrists throughout the U.S.”
“TOS is a ground-up society,” Lisa Shin, OD, interim president of the organization, explained in an interview with PCON. “We’re committed to giving our members a voice in the profession. Every dues-paying member has the same vote equal in strength to every other vote when it comes to our policies and practices.”
TOS membership is restricted to optometrists, according to Shin.
“However, there’s no way we would have the innovation and technology in our profession without industry,” she said. “Last week, I received a call from an industry representative who was very supportive of TOS.”
As of late January, Shin said that TOS had several dozen members, and Steinberg said the AADO had about 200 members and was growing daily. Both groups hope that as their membership increases they will be better able to help the optometric community.
AADO mission
“The AADO was formed to obtain the resources, and by that, I mean principally the money, to hire the experts we as a profession need to start pushing back against abusive practices and oppressive rules being imposed by third-party vision care plans,” Steinberg said. “It’s not about reimbursement rates; it’s about regaining control of our own offices and stopping these plans from taking over the profession, which leads to less choice, higher prices and lower quality for our patients.
“The independent practice of optometry and the private practice are disappearing because we are losing the ability to operate our practices how we want,” he continued. “It is for this reason that one of the first things the AADO has done is hired a nationally known Washington, D.C., antitrust attorney to begin investigating these plans and put together a presentation for the Federal Trade Commission to determine the extent to which third-party plans may be violating federal antitrust law.”
TOS mission
Shin explained the objectives of TOS: “We want to promote a positive, supportive relationship with other optometric organizations. We want to monitor, protect and improve the representation of our members at the local, state and federal level. We support education, competency and excellence in optometry.
“We haven’t taken a poll of our membership yet,” she continued. “Once we do, we’ll know what concerns and interests our doctors have, and we’ll move in that direction.”
Lisa Shin
Shin admitted that TOS’s mission statement and some goals are similar to those of the American Optometric Society (AOS), which filed for bankruptcy and was dissolved in July 2013.
“TOS has new leadership with different goals and agenda,” she said.
Steinberg and Epstein were both involved with the AOS, Steinberg as general counsel and Epstein as a board member and director of communications until stepping down in May 2010.
“The guiding principle of TOS is to represent the individual doctor,” Shin said. “That was one of the principles of AOS, but their focus was on board certification. TOS plans to focus on a broad range of issues.”
While the AADO and TOS have different causes, their ultimate goals are the same – to address the unmet needs of optometrists and complement the support provided by the American Optometric Association (AOA) to give optometrists the best resources possible.
Art Epstein
“It’s so important that the AOA recognizes that this is not a threat; this is not a group that is looking to enforce eccentric ideas or its will on the AOA – that’s not the case,” Epstein said in an interview with PCON. “Our interests are focused on a very specific area, and that’s something that benefits the AOA and its membership. I’m really hoping that we can, at least as much as legally possible, work with the AOA.”
The AOA, established in 1898, strives to “advocate for the profession and serve optometrists in meeting the eye care needs of the public,” according to its website. It says it “represents approximately 36,000 doctors of optometry, optometry students and paraoptometric assistants and technicians.”
The organization’s 27,211 members include active practicing optometrists, partial practice members, educators, postgraduates and life members, the AOA told PCON.
“I think that as the AOA grows in number, and doctors have a certain interest or goal that is not being addressed, there is a possibility for more groups emerging,” Shin said. “I’m hopeful that these groups can partner with the AOA to strengthen the overall profession. I think that’s a positive thing. We want to work together for common goals.”
“The AOA can only do so much,” Steinberg said. “For instance, we’ve talked about the Harkin Amendment, which the AOA got passed and put into the health care legislation. And that’s great, but if there’s nobody there to enforce it, if there’s no one there to help fund the cost of pursuing a plan that’s violating it, it has no teeth. So, the AADO can pick up where the AOA leaves off. AOA passes this great legislation; AADO has the collective funds to help enforce it.”
“A significant amount of divisiveness still permeates our profession, and a lot of those issues have not been adequately reconciled,” Epstein said. “It’s extremely important for the profession to work together for the common good of our patients… we don’t need a million different organizations, but we need the issues of all of them addressed.”
At the most fundamental level, all three organizations share similar missions to advocate, serve, improve, protect or support the field of optometry.
“Everybody means well,” Epstein said. “I think we’re sick and tired of taking it. We really want to fulfill our responsibilities as health care professionals in the broadest sense possible, more so than as each individual working in isolation. The bubble that separated us from everybody and everything else has burst, and we need to begin to work together. We don’t have a choice.”
The AOA declined to speak with Primary Care Optometry News regarding these new groups. – by Chelsea Frajerman