ADVOCACY
North Dakota secures telemedicine provisions, ignites grassroots advocacy
Pivotal new law establishes crucial safeguards and accountability for optometric telemedicine services but revitalizes grassroots engagement and strengthens the future of care in North Dakota along the way.
AOA, affiliates take on VBM lobby’s attacks on optometry
Vision plan group’s smear tactics and misinformation are soundly rejected by legislators and formally rebuked by AOA as momentum for accountability increases.
How to build productive relationships with legislators
AOA members share how solid relationships made all the difference in their scope battles.
Committee spotlight: AOA’s State Government Relations Committee
Get to know the committee that serves as a comprehensive resource for state affiliates’ political activities.
Why you should fight for scope expansion
Two AOA members who have spent countless hours advocating for scope expansion in their home states share why—and how—they did it.
Surveys say patient and doctor concerns about health industry middlemen on the rise
Insurers, vision benefit managers and their abuses represent “what’s wrong” with health care, fresh indicators show.
How Arkansas’ major VBM law delivers on calls to promote fairness, doctor-patient relationships
Optometry’s advocates continue to build momentum at a state—and federal—level behind VBM policy changes that rebalance the relationship among plans, patients and their doctors.
Texas optometrists mount defense in court and legislature of landmark law on vision plan abuses
The Texas Optometric Association delivers a strong retort to attempts by vision benefits managers to circumvent the state’s landmark 2023 law curbing abuses.
DOC Access Act reintroduced amid growing Capitol Hill vigor for VBM reform
The bipartisan Dental and Optometric Care Access (DOC Access) Act takes on the abusive practices by Vision Benefit Managers and seeks rebalance in relationship between plans, patients and their doctors.
Warby Parker slapped with $1.5 million penalty for HIPAA breach
Hackers gained unauthorized access to nearly 200,000 individuals’ protected health information in 2018 attack; investigators find three HIPAA Security Rule violations.
In rural America, opportunity for optometry amid shortfall of ophthalmologists
Patient access to eye care and care itself in rural America is jeopardized by the shortage of ophthalmologists, a new study suggests. AOA President Steven T. Reed, O.D., says optometry can help close the gap between the shrinking supply of ophthalmologists and the demand for care. By comparison, more than 99% of Americans live in counties with a doctor of optometry.