Central Ohio Optometric Association
Central Ohio Optometric Association
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Message from the Governor
Wow...we are halfway through 2010. Where has the time gone? Thank you to the doctors, students, and local representatives who attended OSU senior night at the Fawcett Center. A new group of colleagues has joined our ranks. Hopefully, they will continue to support optometry through OOA membership and leadership as you have.
If you are interested in an afternoon of golfing, we are still looking for one more 4 some (does not have to be docs only) to play in the Ohio Optometric Foundation golf outing on Wednesday August 4 at Scioto Reserve. Please contact me at buckland.14@osu.edu if you are interested. If you are just interested in playing solo or have another group you can register on-line at www.ooa.org. The money raised is used to fund children's eye care and scholarships to optometry students from Ohio. After our summer break we will return to welcome Dr. Heath Gilbert as our next OOA president on Tuesday September 21. In October, I hope to see many of you attend East-West in Cleveland. East West registration will be arriving in the mail soon. Not only does East West provide excellent CE, it keeps our OOA membership dues at one of the lowest in the country. This year a new venue for the vendor exhibit hall is in public auditorium. The Friday night party is at Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. Zone 12’s goal is to have 50% (160) zone 12 ODs attend. Our last meeting of the year will hopefully be the return of staff appreciation night in November. The school nurse symposium in the Columbus area is scheduled for November 9.
A couple reminders and updates:
■ Turn in your InfantSee forms to the AOA. The goal is for AOA to receive 50,000 forms in 2010. This total number has been divided up by state and Ohio doctors need to submit 6,000 forms. The reason this is so important: national health care reform includes vision care as an essential benefit. Vision care wasn't defined, and all the interested parties (pediatricians, family doctors, nurse practitioners, PBA, etc.) are claiming they provide the vision care. In order for AOA to make the case for InfantSEE, they need the huge quantity of forms. Please, spread the word to your colleagues to ramp up InfantSEE in their practices and submit the forms asap. In 2009 from Ohio only 1,362 forms were submitted from Ohio. Through
April 2010, only 430 forms have been submitted from Ohio. More marketing for InfantSee is currently underway. On page 20 is an article regarding infant vision and page 21 contains an add for InfatnSee: http://doc.mediaplanet.com/all_projects/5189.pdf
■ 2010 Ohio’s Aging Eyes Campaign
To assist you with your local campaign efforts, AOA uploaded the media materials to both the AOA’s Web board, as well as to the “On the Frontline Together” collaboration Web site.
· Link to AOA’s Web board: http://www.aoabbs.org/aoabbs/forumdisplay.php?f=139
· Link to materials “On the Frontline Together” Web site: https://optometryawareness.groupsite.com/file_cabinet
■ The AOA is proud to announce an exciting partnership with the PRS Network, a leading provider of physician reimbursement services. This relationship offers active and renewing members the benefits of AOACodingToday, an online, Optometric-coding and reimbursement resource tool at no cost. This is a $349 value!
AOA members may access this tool in two ways:
1. www.AOACodingToday.com – login using their existing AOA.org username and password
2. www.aoa.org – accessible through several locations on the site, including the AOA Practice Resources section
The site features Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Reimbursement News and Coding Tips. Free training sessions and tutorial videos are available for new users. The site is continuously being updated with new content and the database of frequently asked questions will be updated soon with many more FAQs.
■ The American Osteopathic Association joined the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia (MSDC) to file a lawsuit today in federal court seeking to prevent the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from extending identity theft regulations to physicians. Our complaint targets the contentious "red flags rule," which requires creditors to implement safeguards against identity theft, charging that the FTC's rule exceeds the powers delegated to it by Congress and that its application to physicians is "arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the law." President Wickless was quoted in a press release regarding the lawsuit, stating that "the FTC's decision to apply the rule to physicians is both misguided and inconsistent with its regulatory power."
While this litigation proceeds, the American Optometric Association offers many online resources to help ODs comply with the FTC Red Flags Rule.
I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable summer!
Sincerely,
Michelle J. Buckland
Zone 12 Governor
Central Ohio Optometric Association
