Maximize Your Membership
There are many ways you can become involved with the AOA from joining as a member to advocating to lawmakers on behalf of the profession! Any and all involvement is encouraged and greatly encouraged by the the AOA Board of Trustees and staff.
Become a Member
Advance your profession and your career. Join the AOA and unite with 44,000+ other professionals passionate about improving patient care, public awareness, and the professional standing of optometry.
Join a committee
The AOA could not provide the advocacy, education, practice tools and public awareness programs that support our profession without the contributions of our volunteers. Recruiting passionate and energetic leaders with diverse backgrounds and experiences to join the AOA volunteer network is essential to our mission and vision for the profession, today and in the future.
To learn more about the AOA volunteer committees, click here.
The AOA is always looking for volunteers to help advance the profession. If you are interested in volunteering, please complete the form below.
Advocate
Optometry is a legislated profession. The decisions made by local and national politicians have a direct, and often long-lasting, effect on optometry. The rules set forth in federal and state legislation have a broad impact on what doctors of optometry can and cannot do with regard to patient care and the overall practice of optometry.
Legislators, along with agency regulators, determine how doctors of optometry are to be paid, how much they are to be paid, or if they are to be paid for the services they render to the citizens of this country.
Defending the rights of doctors of optometry to practice full-scope optometry is one of the most important roles of the American Optometric Association. The volunteers and staff of the AOA Advocacy Group are dedicated to preserving and forwarding the interests of doctors of optometry and their patients in the legislatures of the United States to ensure that Americans continue to have access to quality vision care.
You can also advocate for the profession at both the State and Federal level.
Donate to AOA-PAC
The American Optometric Association Political Action Committee (AOA-PAC) is a voluntary, nonprofit, unincorporated committee of doctors of optometry. This committee is not affiliated with any political party or any other political committee.
AOA-PAC, is your voice to help elect candidates who understand and support optometry's interest. These are not member dues, but money freely given by doctors of optometry in recognition of the importance of the political process.
Contact Us
If you have questions about or need assistance with maximizing your membership, please contact the AOA .
AOA and AFOS: ‘Cut through the noise’ and empower licensed doctors of optometry to provide greater access to care to veterans
Eye care is the third-most requested health service by veterans at the VA—and doctors of optometry provide the majority of that care. Yet, as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) considers new national standards of practice for more than 50 health professions at its facilities, optometrists are making a winning case for expanding their role at an understaffed VA and are galvanizing against baseless attacks from organized medicine, ophthalmology and a few unbending legislators.
3 coding questions cracked
Does Medicare allow you to bill fundus photos and an optical coherence tomography on the same day for two different diagnoses? The answer to this question, and more, from the AOA’s experts.
Born to serve: Active duty paraoptometric professionals provide critical care
September is Paraoptometric Appreciation Month, celebrating optometric practice staff around the country. Two paraoptometric professionals who provide eye care as active-duty veterans in the United States Armed Forces share their stories.