- Optometry gets results and more work to do in Washington, DC
- Bolstered by courts, AOA demands VBM cease anti-doctor policies
- FTC issues new warnings on Contact Lens, Eyeglass rules
- Understanding the impact of Total Vision vs. VSP settlement for optometrists
- AOA priorities advance as U.S. House approves sweeping legislation
- U.S. senators introduce VBM reform bill amid growing plan scrutiny
- DOC Access Act reintroduced amid growing Capitol Hill vigor for VBM reform
- U.S. House, Senate approve VA OD physician-level recognition legislation
- Citing array of concerns and complaints, Congress ramps up scrutiny of vision benefit manager industry
- AOA-PAC Election Report: Optometry Has Outsized Impact on 2024 Elections
- How the AOA and affiliates are fighting for reimbursement and coverage fairness
- Are you ready for the Eyeglass Rule of 2024?
- NIH, NEI consolidation plan ‘jeopardizes’ vision research, draws AOA opposition
- Bill seeks better fix to Medicare Physician Fee Schedule cuts
- How Chevron ruling could impact optometry
- Takeaways from CMS’ proposed 2025 Physician Fee Schedule
- FTC issues 10-year Eyeglass Rule update as AOA renews demand for crackdown on medical device scammers
- AOA joins other groups seeking Supreme Court reversal of decision favoring ERISA authority
- AOA sees positives in federal children’s eye health legislation
- CMS heeds AOA recommendations on Medicare supplemental benefits
- 'All the advocacy firepower’ called up at AOA on Capitol Hill
- What optometry’s advocates are championing at AOA on Capitol Hill
- Capitol Hill inquiries into plan abuses are expanding
- Vision plan abuses top of mind? Register for AOA’s town hall on reimbursement, coverage fairness advocacy
- 15 advocacy highlights of 2023
- CMS takes aim at Medicare Advantage plans misrepresenting vision benefits
- Fighting for veterans, fighting for optometry
- AOA: No letting up on Eyeglass Rule advocacy
- AOA and AFOS: ‘Cut through the noise’ and empower licensed doctors of optometry to provide greater access to care to veterans
- A force to reckon with
- U.S. House investigative committee calls for scrutiny of vision plans
- Retail optical lobbying group name change allays AOA, affiliate concerns
- Doctors of optometry challenge reasoning behind proposed Eyeglass Rule changes at FTC workshop
- Contact lens safety legislation proposes banning robocalls
- Help voice optometry’s priorities at AOA on Capitol Hill: Here’s how
- Part of the solution: Optometry groups join AOA in submitting actionable solutions for workforce shortages
- Hatch Act permits issue advocacy by doctors of optometry
- AOA makes robust rebuttal to FTC over proposed changes to Eyeglass Rule
- DOC Access Act introduced amid growing patient calls for Congress to act
- bill seeks advancement for VA doctors of optometry
- Are you adhering to the Contact Lens Rule
- AOA decries misleading Medicare Advantage advertising
- Gaining access A win for veterans and doctors of optometry
- Congress heeds AOA’s call to stop Medicare pay cuts, but lawmakers’ plan falls short
- Proactive advocacy gets early eyeglass rule gains, notice of potential new burden
- AOA PAC plays outsized role in 2022 midterm elections
- Veterans notch win as VA rescinds restrictive language governing community ODs
- Supporting Medicare Providers Act
- Federal student loan forgiveness: What to know
- Medicare Pay Cuts 2022
- 2022 Capitol Hill Recap
- AOA and South Carolina doctors expose and defeat retail lobby group’s influence scheme
- Medicare Pay Cuts March 2022
- Hold Medicare Advantage plans accountable
- Hubble Contacts slapped with 3.5 million penalties restrictions and supervision
- Medicare pay cuts, once delayed, looming without Congressional action
- Bipartisan AOA-backed bill targeting abusive discount plans gets boost from policy-expert report delivered to Congress
- Advocacy in optometry
- U.S. House, consumer groups mull federal action against DTC contact lens sales schemes
- Medicare Cuts Averted
- Medicare vision efforts fizzle 10 percent pay cuts still loom
- Optometry’s advocates going FAR beyond the call
- Lawmakers host AOA, patient and consumer advocates for VBM abuse briefing as Congress expands probes
- AOA-AFOS make case to Department of Veterans Affairs for access-boosting national practice standards
- Medicare expansion: The long road to here and now
- House pens Medicare vision benefits
- Congress sets deadline to ink Medicare vision expansion language
- White House extends student loan relief, AOA continues push for NHSC inclusion
- 4 questions about Medicare vision expansion answered
- AOA, AFOS work to ensure optometry well represented in formation of national practice standards by Veterans Affairs
- Congress urges administration to fully implement provider nondiscrimination law
- Department of Veterans Affairs Optometry Service and doctors of optometry
- Medicare Vision Expansion
- AOA-backed DOC Access Act reintroduced to combat anti-competitive vision plans
- 2021 Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill Wrap-up
- Contact lens prescription verification failings targeted by new legislation
- Advocacy Bootcamp
- Medicare Telehealth Expansion
- 2 percent Medicare sequester delayed
- Doctors of optometry obtain 2.1 billion in federal relief
- CL rule takes effect
- Medicare Sequester
- Expanded COVID-19 vaccinator workforce includes doctors and students of optometry
- NBEO decisions provoke AOA-AOSA response
- Congress’ COVID-19 relief package HHS funds-ERC extension
- Why staff involvement is critical
- 2021 Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill
- Ohio activates eligible doctors for COVID-19 vaccine administration AOA focuses new relief efforts
- Congress President Biden asked to activate optometry for COVID-19 vaccination response
- AOA- AOSA-backed federal student loan relief extended through September
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- Contact Lens Rule bill gains backing
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- 1-800 Contacts notifies patients not to wear AquaSoft lenses due to lens defect
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- Concerns as optometry students prepare for boards
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- Proposed payment model would have put burden solely on shoulders of doctors of optometry
- Optometry help divert emergent eye cases from ER COVID-19
- Medicaid CHIP relief funds
- AOA address increased cost personal protective equipment
- AOA and state affiliates put optometry's concerns front and center in Washington
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- Pandemic relief bill will help optometry practices nationwide
- AOA mobilizes for doctors in national response to pandemic
- AOA assembles industry leaders set future guidance telehealth services
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- reauthorization of higher education act
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- DOC Access Act fights harmful vision plan abuses
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- FTC contact lens paperwork proposal update
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- AOA alerts states to NAVCP backed noncovered services bill
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- AOA submits comments on FTC Contact Lens Eyeglasses rules
- FTC seeks feedback on Contact Lens and Eyeglasses rules
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- Optometrys advocates mobilize during Congressional recess
- AOA steps up efforts to guide NAM vision study
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- Medicare seniors deserve better coverage for eye care
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Medicare expansion momentum grows in Congress as AOA mobilizes doctors, students
July 22, 2021
The AOA is hosting a profession-wide videoconference, Thursday, July 29, to discuss rapidly developing legislation to expand Medicare benefits and is seeking members’ input to inform advocacy.
Tag(s): Advocacy, Federal Advocacy
Register now for the #AskAOA webinar: Medicare Vision Benefit Expansion
An upcoming #AskAOA webinar, at 9 p.m. ET, Thursday, July 29, will provide participants an overview of the proposed Medicare legislation, explanation of how the benefit expansion would work and offers an opportunity to help inform the AOA’s advocacy going forward.
Congressional plans to expand Medicare by adding a new refraction and materials benefit have drawn the AOA’s full advocacy mobilization with a special advisory committee convening in the days ahead to provide guidance on the sweeping legislation.
On July 13, Senate Democrats and the White House announced they would soon unveil a massive, $3.5 trillion budget resolution that includes spending on a historic Medicare expansion that would add new vision, hearing and dental coverage for the program’s roughly 62 million seniors and younger people with disabilities. The budget framework is not yet finalized, and specific proposals are likely to change as legislation progresses, but the White House and supportive majorities in Congress are actively working toward a program expansion that looks increasingly likely to pass through the budget reconciliation process.
“The next few months will be an extremely busy time,” noted Robert C. Layman, O.D., AOA president, in an all-member letter. “Through it all, as we take our message to the U.S. Capitol, the AOA will keep you informed and provide you with specific actions to help ensure that our profession is heard loud and clear throughout Washington, D.C., at each step of this process.”
Doctors of optometry annually see tens of millions of patient encounters with total reimbursement exceeding $1.5 billion, providing for the primary eye health care needs of Medicare beneficiaries. However, Medicare currently only provides coverage for a complete comprehensive exam if a medical condition is identified or present—and typically requires beneficiaries to pay 100% of costs for eyeglasses or contact lenses. Unfortunately, this creates conditions wherein many seniors either delay or completely forgo essential, annual eye health care.
Such is the case, the Congressional Budget Office projects that initial proposals for expanded coverage would permit earlier diagnosis and treatment of visual and systemic health threats, as well as increased billings for doctors of optometry and other physicians. Exact figures are still to be determined as a final bill may not be forthcoming until mid-to-late fall. Nonetheless, given the far-reaching effect that this coverage expansion would have, the AOA continues to work closely with leaders in Congress to proactively build support for optometry and provide essential input to the legislative process.
AOA convenes Special Advisory Committee on Medicare Expansion
Toward that end, the AOA not only intends to provide members relevant information and details about the current legislative effort, but also needs to hear from members about how such an expansion could affect their practices. The AOA is immediately convening a videoconference in the coming week—open to all doctors, optometry students and paraoptometric staff—to discuss the full range of issues and help inform the work of the AOA’s board and advocacy team.
Moderated by AOA Quality Improvement and Data Committee member Jeff Michaels, O.D., this townhall-style #AskAOA webinar on Thursday, July 29, will form the basis of the AOA’s Special Advisory Committee on Medicare Expansion, convening periodically and providing a continual source of feedback in the months ahead.
What: #AskAOA webinar: Medicare Expansion
When: 9 p.m. ET, Thursday, July 29
“This is a benefit that can reshape how beneficiaries receive care for decades to come,” Dr. Michaels says. “The AOA is working hard to make sure AOA members are able to drive the highest standard of care with appropriate reimbursements in line with the education and training that doctors of optometry receive.”
Members’ feedback is especially critical as insurers and discount plans look to shape these new benefits and shift the debate away from quality care. However, the AOA remains at the forefront of Capitol Hill conversations regarding any Medicare vision benefit expansion in either chamber of Congress.
Optometry’s advocates diligent in Medicare proposals
Over a third of Medicare beneficiaries have vision problems, yet more than half (57%) fail to receive a yearly eye examination. Such is the case; the AOA is a leading proponent for policy recommendations focused on optometry’s essential role in meeting the needs of Medicare patients and the importance of the doctor-patient relationship in delivering healthy outcomes.
In May, optometry’s advocates, participating in over 300 congressional meetings with lawmakers and their staffs as part of the Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill, championed the profession’s priorities and concerns in legislative efforts coalescing at that time to expand the Medicare vision benefit. And there’s evidence that optometry’s voice is being heard with proponents in the House and Senate casting their support behind Medicare expansion efforts.
“The AOA will continue fighting for our rightful seat at the table as Congress over the next few weeks and months considers the creation of a new refraction and materials benefit under traditional Medicare,” noted AOA Federal Relations Committee member Deanna Alexander, O.D., during a Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill issues briefing.
“We know that our combined advocacy will be key to getting this potential benefit right, especially considering that some insurers and other payers are already trying to gain control of it, impose enforced restrictions on the professional judgement and authority of doctors, and segment vision from overall patient health.”
Such a significant expansion requires thoughtful consideration, which is why when Congress first took up the issue in December 2019, the AOA diligently provided input to ensure the benefit expansion accomplished what it purported to provide. Now, the AOA once again is poised to help shape consequential Medicare legislation and members’ input is needed to help guide advocacy.
Learn more about supporting the AOA’s advocacy, including by becoming an AOA-PAC investor, one of the easiest and most effective ways to make an impact in the AOA’s ongoing federal advocacy efforts.