With the recent retirement of John Townsend, O.D., as head of the VA’s Optometry Service, the Armed Forces Optometric Society and the AOA look forward to working together on continuing to build up access and care for veterans and their families.

The AOA continues to be at the forefront of discussions with lawmakers over the makeup of new legislation that would grant all traditional Medicare beneficiaries a new refraction and materials benefit.

Colleagues met with their lawmakers to champion issues, including robocalls, vision plan abuses, a new Medicare vision benefit, provider nondiscrimination and VA optometry.

Reintroduced in Congress, the bipartisan bills would curb anti-patient, anti-doctor mandates by vision plans and affirm doctor-patient relationship.

The AOA-backed bill recently introduced in Congress would close some egregious loopholes in the problematic verification process, such as automated “robocalls.”

A limited-time, members-only course offers an introduction to professional advocacy as optometry’s advocates gear up for Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill, May 23-25.

Momentum builds on Capitol Hill for a permanent expansion of Medicare telehealth criteria—find out how optometry’s advocates are approaching the conversation.

Although Congressional action staved off an immediate 2% cut to providers’ Medicare payments this year, attention now shifts to additional cuts mandated by federal spending controls.

Even as doctors of optometry receive the much-needed funds, the AOA remains committed to advocating for optometry’s inclusion in federal crisis measures. Reminder: the deadline to apply for relief has been extended to May 31.

Despite yearslong opposition by the AOA, other medical groups and many in Congress, the government’s Contact Lens Rule changes requiring confirmations and recordkeeping for at least three years are in effect. The Federal Trade Commission confirms it has authority to seek fines for noncompliance.