Important AOA Congress update for seniordoc.org members

Paul Farkas

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 28, 2000
80,893
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www.odwire.org
School/Org
Columbia University / PCO
City
Lake Oswego
State
OR
The AOA Congress on June 26- June 30, 2002 is almost here. Docwolf and I will be attending and participating in some important meetings. We would love to meet seniordoc.org members who are attending the Congress.

If you would like to say hello and perhaps meet other seniordoc.org members, we shall be at the American Academy of Optometry Booth at the Exhibit Hall, on Saturday 29, from 11am – 12 noon. If that interferes with your schedule, Adam and I will also be visiting the Exhibits and attending some evening functions.

How to recognize us? Look for a tired bearded Seniordoc accompanied by a very fit Web master who looks more like a student than the President/CEO of a Bioscience Company. We look forward to meeting you in person rather than just on the Internet.

If you are not attending the Congress, you may still participate by proxy. If you have any questions, comments or concerns post them on this Topic. I’ll pass them along to the AOA Leaders past and present, as well as the conscientious AOA staff who I shall be meeting.

If you prefer, for personal reasons, to remain anonymous, use the “Post Anonymous” feature located to the left of this post. I will receive your communication but will not know who or where it originated. I shall then place it on this or the appropriate Topic to share with our membership.

If you are pleased with the AOA, positive comments are always appreciated. Since seniordoc.org has no affiliation with any Organization or Corporation we report exactly the opinions of our membership. Seniordoc.org is a most democratic organization but what is required for any democracy to work, is your participation.

See you at the Congress or on line.
;)
 
I can't believe that, in our fairly technologically advanced society, the Practice Resource Network is still run via paper forms. PLEASE tell them to make the database accessible to AOA members online! I can see keeping the confidential inquiries only accessible via paper, but I think it's ridiculous that I have to send in a paper request and can only see some information for positions in 5 states at a time. I'm not married and could move anywhere within 2 months and, in my opinion, they aren't serving those who pay their salaries, at least in this aspect, satisfactorily.
Thanks.
 
Funny you should ask

Docwolf and I will be meeting with interested AOA leadership to determine if seniordoc.org with our "Student Match!" Program can in some way have a cooperative system to allow the similar AOA program to become more Interactive.

I hope we can report some positive news after the AOA Congress.

Stay tuned and keep giving us your wish lists.




;)
 
I'd love to meet you guys! I'll be hanging around booth #425 if you want to come by and say hello. I try to take every opportunity to put a face to the name. :)
 
Hi Paul:

I will be in Board reviews until noon on Saturday, so I won't be able to make it to the Booth. If we get out early for some reason, then I will try to hurry over.

Are you going to the CLCS dinner? I'm still trying to decide if I want to go to that our the student reception. I plan on going to all of the contact lens oriented CE courses(Friday morning I think?), so I could try to catch up with you there too if you are going to be around.

Lots of opportunities and we'll definitely have to catch up at some point.

See ya in N'Awlins,

Danelle

P.S.

I'd love to meet all you other seniordoc members too if something works out. Just let me know your plans! :p
 
This e mail arrived from Forum Moderator Harvey Rosenwasser that he requested I post. He wrote...


"Hi Paul,

Just returned from visiting grandchildren.

Something for the AOA leadership to work on with the ophthalmologists:

Both groups should demand proper renumeration for refractions.

History: When medicare came along, the OMDs decided to be cute and wrote the law to pay for eye examinations but not refractions. This was in anticipation of ODs getting the right to be providers. It took years, but when we finally got the right to be providers, no one got paid for refractions. It was meanspiritedness that backfired on the OMDs. Sort of a pissing contest where everyone got wet.

Even then, the MDs were glad to give away their services and hide the refraction in the general exam fees. When we came on the Medicare scene, we had to do the same. I remember having to write on the govt. form, DOES NOT INCLUDE REFRACTION. Otherwise they would have subtracted 20% and called that the refraction fee.

It's about time to have refractions covered under Medicare. It might even be a bipartisan effort on the part of ODs and OMDs to lock out lay-refractionists efforts to permit opticians to refract. That might be the unifying theme.

Have a grand time at the conference. My best to Adam (whom I've not met) for doing a good job as your webmaster.

Harvey"

I have a long list of questions. I hope to share some answers with you upon my return from the AOA Congress.
 
Harvey:

Call me crazy, but I think it is a good thing that refraction is not included under medicare. As it is now, I can charge what I want for refraction, get paid in full, and adjust the fee depending on the difficulty of the refraction.








This e mail arrived from Forum Moderator Harvey Rosenwasser that he requested I post. He wrote...


"Hi Paul,

Just returned from visiting grandchildren.

Something for the AOA leadership to work on with the ophthalmologists:

Both groups should demand proper renumeration for refractions.

It's about time to have refractions covered under Medicare. ]
 
It just goes to show, every issue has at least 2 sides and every cloud has a silver lining.

Now if we can figure what is good about Mail Order Contact Lens Companies Practicing Optometry without a license...

;)
 
Reply to Javelin's NPRN Post

As the AOA staff coordinator for the NPRN, I would just like to say thank you to Javelin for the June post concerning the AOA's National Practice Resource Network (NPRN) service. I hope it is of some consolation to know that we have been working for some time now to gain the necessary approval and funding to put
the NPRN online along with valuable career resources and information. However, it was only recently that we acquired the Web technology that would allow this to happen. But it is now in the works. By the way, if you haven't visited the new AOA Web site yet, I encourage you to do so at www.aoa.org.

In the meantime, if you would like to contact me at 800/365-2219, x107 or by e-mail at NPRN@aoa.org, I would be more than happy to help you add additional states to your search or help in any other way that I can. I certainly understand your frustration and that's why we are working to change the service, to bring it up with the times and make it a more user-friendly and beneficial service for members. Thanks again for your comment.
 
Congratulations Denise

You are the first AOA staff member who has posted on seniordoc.org. You have supplied our membership valuable information.

I wonder how many AOA members even know about the AOA web site and the valuable up to date material that can be found? It is well designed and even won an award!

I hope interactivity on the AOA web site becomes a reality soon. Without that important feature this static site cannot reach its full potential.

I notice that only the AOA staff members have posted their e mail address. Don't the AOA Officers and Trustees want to know the individual opinions of the AOA Members?

If the answer is "no e mail address for Officers and Trustees", can you let the seniordoc.org membership know why this is not possible?

Denise, we look forward to your continued participation. Encourage your fellow staff members to share their opinions and expertise with us.

Thank you.
 
92015 and Medicare

I agree with the other reply, leave 92015 out of the Medicare fee schedule forever. I can just see the reimbursement, $7.47!

I also feel that there is no place for "Routine" non medical eye care in Medicare. It is major medical insurance.

JW