AOA along with state associations are losing many members

[hello07]

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How do you all feel about this? Justifiable in light of what is going on with AOS and the AOA? More optometry schools opening up?
Folks, this is serious and the AOA leaders, board of directors couldn't care less about you and I.
Some responses please?

 

[KHE]

How do you all feel about this? Justifiable in light of what is going on with AOS and the AOA? More optometry schools opening up?
Folks, this is serious and the AOA leaders, board of directors couldn't care less about you and I.
Some responses please?

Most optometry students and virtually every pre-optometry student is not going to have an adequate frame of reference from which to comment on this.

 

[optom123]

I know the AOA might be crap, but without the AOA, optometry would just be like opticianry 😱

Even though the AOA is loosing members, I am sure graduates from newer schools would be able to equalize the loss of members. This is a good and bad thing, as per above.

I also heard the AMA was loosing membership, so its just not Optometry.

 

[Jason K]

.... I am sure graduates from newer schools would be able to equalize the loss of members. This is a good and bad thing, as per above.

What is your reasoning behind the assumption that graduates from newer schools will be likely to join the AOA? The problem with the AOA is - they don't don anything of value for practicing ODs. They bicker about ridiculous battles that 99% of optometrists couldn't care less about. That's not going to change any time soon. Line up 100 ODs and ask them how they feel about board certification and you'' see what I mean. AOA dues are also very expensive and when you're not getting anything of value in exchange for them, people are not going to pay up. The downward trend in membership will continue and I think it will only increase with new graduates from new programs. Those folks are going to be making less and less each year so expensive AOA memberships will not be flying off the shelves.

 

[Ben Chudner]

Even though the AOA is loosing members, I am sure graduates from newer schools would be able to equalize the loss of members. This is a good and bad thing, as per above.

As with other reactions to your statements of "fact", I am not sure where you get your information. As more grads have to start out in corporate locations, less will join the AOA. As a group, corporate OD's have the lowest percentage of AOA membership.

The AOA made the mistake of going forward with board certification and that's why OD's are quitting. That, plus it's expensive once you have been out for 5 years with little perceived benefit. Now, I am not saying that board certification is good or bad or that there is no actual benefit to being a member of AOA. I will say that having a group of OD's suing the AOA over board certification is not good for the profession, but since they were so opposed to it, I don't know how else they could have proceeded.

 

[Jason K]

How do you all feel about this? Justifiable in light of what is going on with AOS and the AOA? More optometry schools opening up?
Folks, this is serious and the AOA leaders, board of directors couldn't care less about you and I.
Some responses please?

If anyone is wondering why optometry is being allowed to wander aimlessly into its own demise, here's one of the reasons......

I was speaking with a dentist friend recently about our professions. I told him that there is an over supply of ODs and that new schools are being built. I told him the AOA is not doing anything to limit the number of OD schools and that they accept donations from insurance companies such as vsp.

The dentist friend thought that was really odd that the AOA accepts money from insurance companies such as vsp. He says that the ADA has sued insurance companies to make them pay dentists their fair share and got them to even pay penalties and interest.

The dental profession has also decreased the number of dental schools in the past when the supply of DDS was getting too high compared to the demand. The result is that vsp and eyemed pays rock bottom fees to ODs while dentists are doing much better.

I told him some Eyemed plans pay $40 for a comprehensive exam including dilation (and sometimes a letter to an OMD or MD to report on ocular diabetic findings) and vsp is only slightly better and that we cannot balance bill pts. We have to accept huge discounts on material offerings also.

The DDS tells me that for dental plans they can balance bill pts eg a crown costs $800 and dental insurance pays 50% and pt pays 50%. So the pt pays $400 and the insurance pays $400! I told him ODs make $40 for about the same if maybe a bit less time involved. He shook his head and chuckled. What a sad state optometry is in.