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New AOA president encourages personal advocacy
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PHILADELPHIA – “The American Optometric Association gets a lot of credit for moving things forward, as do the state affiliates. But they only move forward because of the personal advocacy efforts of each of you,” incoming AOA President David Cockrell, OD, told the AOA’s House of Delegates here at Optometry’s Meeting.
“Every voice counts,” he continued. “This is a period of change for our country; we are undergoing upheaval politically and due to the Affordable Care Act, and we’re going to move through that because of your efforts.”
Cockrell said he began volunteering for the AOA because he was asked by a colleague to serve.
David Cockrell
Source: American Optometric Association
“I said ‘yes’ when I was asked,” Cockrell said. “We are a profession that says ‘yes’ – to our communities, our patients, AOA, state affiliates, the AOA-Political Action Committee. That’s what makes our profession so special.”
Optometrists can advocate personally in many ways, he said.
“I’ve been talking about politics,” Cockrell said. “There are a few quiet ways optometrists can advocate.”
He asked for support of the Think About Your Eyes (TAYE) public awareness program.
“We need a program like dentists have, encouraging people to get their teeth cleaned every 6 months,” Cockrell said. “That’s what Think About Your Eyes is. We need your help.
“There are 700 industry participants that sell us products to take care of our patients,” he continued. “Right now only 14 support TAYE. Join us – it’s not expensive – but also ask every one of your industry reps to support it. The four ODs in my office are contributing more toward this program than 686 companies in the industry.”
He recognized the states that have recently passed legislation, specifically Louisiana and Nebraska, who also passed surgery bills, he said.
Uncertainty remains regarding the Affordable Care Act, the implementation of ICD-10 and electronic medical records, he said.
“In the past we were excluded from Medicare as providers,” Cockrell said. “And you think we had a debate over board certification? We had arguments over moving forward with diagnostics. Think of where you would be if we didn’t have that. Children’s vision took us a long time, but we now have the pediatric vision benefit that went into place this year.
“The challenges we have today aren’t any larger; they may not even be as large,” he continued. “We’re much better organized, knowledgeable and more active on a person-by-person basis.”
Cockrell recognized all of the board of trustees members he has worked with; “they do the work when you can’t,” he said.
“I wish every optometrist could be in the house to see the business of optometry conducted and how you look after optometry every single day,” he said. “The decisions of the House of Delegates affect every optometrist in the country, whether they’re an AOA member or not. You all create the history of the profession with your actions in this house.” – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS