AOA Case

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Hi All,

I just finished my first year at ICO in May. The AOA sent out a mass e-mail a few days ago about a court case that will threaten to revoke our physician status. I'll post the link below, but I want to know what you all think about this and what it means for the future of optometry.
Honestly, I'm concerned myself. I've had a friend leave after her first year (she just made it official last week) because she doesn't think that optometry is going to be worth pursuing any longer in the coming years.

Opinions please!

http://newsfromaoa.org/2012/06/21/ao...sician-status/

Originally Posted by Opt2011

Hi All,

I just finished my first year at ICO in May. The AOA sent out a mass e-mail a few days ago about a court case that will threaten to revoke our physician status. I'll post the link below, but I want to know what you all think about this and what it means for the future of optometry.
Honestly, I'm concerned myself. I've had a friend leave after her first year (she just made it official last week) because she doesn't think that optometry is going to be worth pursuing any longer in the coming years.

Opinions please!

http://newsfromaoa.org/2012/06/21/ao...sician-status/

It's a load of garbage designed to manipulate people who have cash in their pockets. Optometry is screwed, but the reasons behind its ailing structure have NOTHING to do with board certification.

The message seems desperate and biased. Something like high school drama except for adults.

I really don't think some judges statements will change the law. ODs are still physicians under Medicare and the Joint Commission has recently revised its definition of a physician to include ODs. The Joint Commission is the organization that accredits most hospitals in the USA.

It seems more of an attention grabbing ploy by the AOA. By the way I am not loyal to the AOA or AOS. I really don't know enough to say which organization is right.

The AOA is in desperation mode. The bogus "board certification" didn't work out as they planned. Only a few hundred ODs have so far been dumb enough to pay thousands of dollars for a useless bogus piece of paper. They where counting on it to bring in the money that they lost from all the ODs that have dropped out of the AOA.

OD are NOT physicians. Never have been. Never will be. Not supposed to be. Only on paper. We paid enough politicians to have them word it that way. "Chiropractic physicians" too. It all had to be dumbed down for the idiot gov't agencies to pay us. So they included ODs as "physician" for Medicare payment.

The lastest ploy is an pathetic attempt by an unskilled 'politican' at the level of AOA president 'Dori Carlson'..........(our president sounds like a character from 'Saving Nemo'). She's trying to use fear tactics to get people to join back up to the AOA. It won't work.

But as others have said, believe me, our pseudo-physician status with Medicare is the LEAST of your concerns as a student.

The AOA president sounds about as desperate as our pathetic US president:

Wow. Just wow. So glad I'm not still wearing the uniform under this clown "community organizer".

http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/the-obama-event-registry?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

OMG "judge made a comment that ODs are not physicians" that automatically means from now ODs can't bill medicare, optometry is doomed because of AOS. Stop the lawsuit now !!

Ya right, nice try AOA.

I know I'm likely preaching to the choir here, but the ABO really has no idea what "board certification" means do they? At least, not if the purpose is to appear to have parity with MDs which seems reasonably likely.

Originally Posted by VA Hopeful Dr

I know I'm likely preaching to the choir here, but the ABO really has no idea what "board certification" means do they? At least, not if the purpose is to appear to have parity with MDs which seems reasonably likely.

That's the problem - optometric "board certification" has parity with medical board certification in name only. Beyond that, it has no meaning whatsoever. Optometrists are all generalists, even if we do "residencies," (which are not really residencies as much as they are extended, concentrated internships.) The whole thing is basically a shameless attempt to drum up revenue for a dying organization that can't keep its members happy. Pathetic.

Originally Posted by Jason K

That's the problem - optometric "board certification" has parity with medical board certification in name only. Beyond that, it has no meaning whatsoever. Optometrists are all generalists, even if we do "residencies," (which are not really residencies as much as they are extended, concentrated internships.) The whole thing is basically a shameless attempt to drum up revenue for a dying organization that can't keep its members happy. Pathetic.

From what I know it is just a test that you write, nothing else. How is that suppose to help optometry? Is AOA saying by being board certified ODs will have easier time getting on medical panels, less discrimination and equal reimbursement, more respect from medical community and general public? All this just by passing a test. Imagine telling OMDs how one becomes board certified OD in optometry.

I approve being called a physician so we can get paid by medicare and insurances but I do I think we are "real" physicians...Come on..seriously? Definitely not. We are optometrists. Our leadership had to use these terms to try to get advances for us for scope of practice but we are not physicians in the true sense. Just cos I took a blood pressure when I was in school it isn't the same as my ophtho friends who coded people as interns. I think the people who are into this are just fooling themselves.

Originally Posted by mclem222

I approve being called a physician so we can get paid by medicare and insurances but I do I think we are "real" physicians...Come on..seriously? Definitely not. We are optometrists. Our leadership had to use these terms to try to get advances for us for scope of practice but we are not physicians in the true sense. Just cos I took a blood pressure when I was in school it isn't the same as my ophtho friends who coded people as interns. I think the people who are into this are just fooling themselves.

Originally Posted by mclem222

I approve being called a physician so we can get paid by medicare and insurances but I do I think we are "real" physicians...Come on..seriously? Definitely not. We are optometrists. Our leadership had to use these terms to try to get advances for us for scope of practice but we are not physicians in the true sense. Just cos I took a blood pressure when I was in school it isn't the same as my ophtho friends who coded people as interns. I think the people who are into this are just fooling themselves.

Let us look at the definition of a physician:
1) A person qualified to practice medicine.
2) A healer.

Let us look at the definition of medicine:
1) The science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery).


You can exclude yourself from diagnosing, treating and preventing diseases and call yourself a non-physician. But not everyone wants to do as you.

Originally Posted by Shnurek

Let us look at the definition of a physician:
1) A person qualified to practice medicine.
2) A healer.

Let us look at the definition of medicine:
1) The science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery).


You can exclude yourself from diagnosing, treating and preventing diseases and call yourself a non-physician. But not everyone wants to do as you.

That brings up a curiousity I have regarding how often optometrists choose to treat diseases vs. referring the patient out. All the optometrists I've observed and talked with always refer their patients. This may be due to the presence of a large eye clinic in my city with has numerous ophthalmologists who specialize in everything under the sun. But what other reasons would optometrists choose to always refer? Insurance issues, not lucrative enough, feel their patient would be better off going to an MD, or just don't want to bother with anything other than the basics?

Originally Posted by pudgie84

That brings up a curiousity I have regarding how often optometrists choose to treat diseases vs. referring the patient out. All the optometrists I've observed and talked with always refer their patients. This may be due to the presence of a large eye clinic in my city with has numerous ophthalmologists who specialize in everything under the sun. But what other reasons would optometrists choose to always refer? Insurance issues, not lucrative enough, feel their patient would be better off going to an MD, or just don't want to bother with anything other than the basics?

Answer: 1. Laziness 2. Uncomfortable with anything that won't get better with Tobradex in a week. 3. Corporate master don't want them wasting time on non-optical producing work.

An OD should rarely send any patient to an ophthalmologist unless they need surgery or have a rare ocular problem needing a specialist opinion.

#3 is becoming more and more the norm. But as optical whores work to further degrade optometry by working in Opto-marts and warehouse stores across the nation and optical income disappears for the real ODs working in private practice, we are treating more non-optical ocular disorders. It's the new world order in optometry. But there are two problems with this:

1. Optometry schools do not teach students the logistics to make a living treating eye diseases.
2. There is not enough eye disease, even amoung the aging population, to keep 50,000 ODs and __ thousand OMDs busy.

Thus, optometry is screwed!

Originally Posted by Tippytoe

An OD should rarely send any patient to an ophthalmologist unless they need surgery or have a rare ocular problem needing a specialist opinion.

Originally Posted by Opt2011

Hi All,

I just finished my first year at ICO in May. The AOA sent out a mass e-mail a few days ago about a court case that will threaten to revoke our physician status. I'll post the link below, but I want to know what you all think about this and what it means for the future of optometry.
Honestly, I'm concerned myself. I've had a friend leave after her first year (she just made it official last week) because she doesn't think that optometry is going to be worth pursuing any longer in the coming years.

Opinions please!

http://newsfromaoa.org/2012/06/21/ao...sician-status/

Read this article if you wanted to see the other perspective. I'm glad you reached out to get other points of view.

http://www.optometricsociety.org/blo...ofessionq.html

just because medicare lets us bill as physicians doesn't mean we are actually physicians. NPs can bill as physicians and they are not physicians and neither are nurse anesthesists.

I think the thing the students should worry about is that most of them will work at lens crafters, americas best etc.. after graduation. That is the reality. Just like your pharmacist at CVS....that will be your future...accept it...

Got this email today:

A Special Message from AOA President Dr. Ron Hopping
I am sharing the announcement from the ABO regarding the conclusion of the AOS lawsuit against the ABO. As you will note the judge ruled in favor of the ABO. This ruling is seen as support for the five forward thinking professional organizations (ASCO, AAO, AOSA, NBEO and the AOA) who saw the need for Board Certification for our profession and who designed and recommended the Board Certification program to the ABO. I compliment those optometrists who voluntarily serve as ABO leaders for their successful defense of Optometric Board Certification.
I think the next steps our profession takes are critical. As I said in my acceptance speech, “I am proud of this House, and the other associations in this profession, for making a proactive decision (supporting Board Certification). Now we have much bigger challenges ahead of us. We can wallow in this Board Certification turmoil while the rest of the world moves forward or, if we are going to be successful, we can move on. We must move on. We have much bigger challenges ahead of us.”
Following this clear judicial ruling, I ask for your help in turning a new page for our profession, and for your help in healing our profession. I welcome the participation of every optometrist in moving our profession forward. Our future now depends on what we all do together.

P.S. Is Dori Carlson not president anymore?

I have never been happier to be leaving this absolutely doomed profession. The board certification farce, in my mind, will mark the beginning of a rapid downslide for the entire field, not because of anything inherent to the BC nonsense, itself, but because it clearly demonstrates that the AOA "leadership" will continue on with its clueless path with the new person in the driver's seat. There will be no attention given to the oversupply issue, no concern about the commercial take-over that's happening quietly as we all stand by and watch, and nothing but high fives from one AOA official to another ABO official as they pass each other in the hallway....oh, wait, I forgot, they're totally separate entities so they don't share hallways.

There was a chance to save optometry, probably 10 or 15 years ago, but it was let by. I hope all OD students right now will see this decision for what it really is - the clear mark of a struggling, floundering profession that is out of control, literally. If you want to be one of the lucky few on the "lifeboat" I've been mentioning, you'd better start preparing yesterday.

Originally Posted by Jason K

I have never been happier to be leaving this absolutely doomed profession. The board certification farce, in my mind, will mark the beginning of a rapid downslide for the entire field, not because of anything inherent to the BC nonsense, itself, but because it clearly demonstrates that the AOA "leadership" will continue on with its clueless path with the new person in the driver's seat. There will be no attention given to the oversupply issue, no concern about the commercial take-over that's happening quietly as we all stand by and watch, and nothing but high fives from one AOA official to another ABO official as they pass each other in the hallway....oh, wait, I forgot, they're totally separate entities so they don't share hallways.

There was a chance to save optometry, probably 10 or 15 years ago, but it was let by. I hope all OD students right now will see this decision for what it really is - the clear mark of a struggling, floundering profession that is out of control, literally. If you want to be one of the lucky few on the "lifeboat" I've been mentioning, you'd better start preparing yesterday.

You're leaving the profession? What will you do now?

Originally Posted by Parklife

You're leaving the profession? What will you do now?

This is a post from a few weeks ago....

Originally Posted by Jason K

Istarted my exit from optometry in January of this year. I don't want to be depending on it for income when the ship finally sinks, which will happen in the coming years. I work as an OD alternating 1 and 2 days per week. The rest of the time I run my own business which has been in my family for years - quite happily, I might add. By the end of the summer, I hope to be free of optometry forever.