News from the AOA's Blog

Dear Editor:

I read with interest the article about voting for the top story of the past 50 years in optometry. I believe the top story was never widely published, but can be found in the AOA’s files. Read the rest of this entry ?

Editor:

Would you believe… the eye chart that was introduced over 150 years ago (1862 to be exact) is still present in every medical office in the world? It is still being used as a screening device for vision disorders. Before the Snellen eye chart was developed, there were no means to measure what the eye could see at great distances. Read the rest of this entry ?

Editor:

Optometrists should be vigilant to preserve the Medicare third-party model as we negotiate with vision insurers for contracts that are fair to all concerned. Whereas medical insurers typically recognize Medicare as the third-party model, some vision insurers are modifying the Medicare model for their own purposes. Because these corporate giants primarily recruit ODs as their vision providers, optometrists are effectively segregated from the majority of medical eye providers who do not also serve as vision providers. Therein lies a grave threat to optometry. As vision insurance is expanded to include medical eye coverage, optometrists contracted to provide services for combined vision and medical eye policies will likely lose parity on medical eye services with non-contracted ophthalmologists and all other medical eye providers. Read the rest of this entry ?

Editor,

The Texas Optometric Association (TOA) board met with VSP representatives at our board meeting to try and answer some questions about our relationship with them. Two days after the meeting, VSP announced that, in addition to Costco, Eyemasters will now be a VSP affiliate provider. They somehow failed to mention that at our meeting, and I believe that is a commentary on the relationship. Read the rest of this entry ?