Volume 9, Issue 15│April 18, 2025 | | | The IOA's Executive Council met virtually this week to discuss the future of optometry in Illinois. | |
Now Accepting Nominations for 2025 OD & Young OD of the Year Awards 📢
Do you know an outstanding optometrist who should be recognized for their efforts in the field of optometry? Consider nominating them for the 2025 Optometrist of the Year or Young Optometrist of the Year awards. The Optometrist of the Year award recognizes an individual for performance of outstanding services on behalf of the profession and to the visual welfare of the public. The Young Optometrist of the Year award recognizes an optometrist who, within their first decade of practice, has shown leadership skills when serving their profession, their patients, and their community.
A nomination may be made by a member in good standing or by a society. Nominees must be current members of the IOA. Nominations for each award should be submitted online via the links below. A head and shoulders photograph must be included with the nomination. Nominations must be submitted by July 31, 2025.
| | |
ELIGIBILITY FOR OPTOMETRIST OF THE YEAR
- Any member in good standing who has been practicing for 11 years or more.
- Cannot be a current member of the Board of Directors or a Past President of the Association that has served in the last 5 years.
| | |
ELIGIBILITY FOR YOUNG OPTOMETRIST OF THE YEAR
- The nominee must be a member in good standing and be in active optometric practice 10 years or less (including residency or fellowship).
- Cannot be a current member of the Board of Directors.
| |
Now Accepting Student and Paraoptometric of the Year Nominations 🚨 | | |
The IOA recognizes a student entering their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year of Optometry School who shows leadership skills when serving their profession and their community, as well as earning academic achievements. Students may nominate themselves or another student.
The Student of the Year will be awarded a $2,000 grant to be used at the winner's discretion and will be recognized at the IOA Annual Meeting.
Nominations are due by July 31, 2025.
| | |
The IOA Paraoptometric of the Year Award recognizes a deserving individual paraoptometric who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of optometry, patients, and the public. This individual must be employed by an IOA member doctor.
A paraoptometric is one who works under the direct supervision of a licensed doctor of optometry, collects patient data, administers routine and technical tests of patient’s visual capabilities, and assists in office management. A paraoptometric may assist the doctor in providing patient care, examination and treatment services, including, but not limited to, contact lenses, low vision, vision therapy, ophthalmic dispensing, and office management.
The Para of the Year will be awarded free registration to the IOA Annual Meeting and will be recognized at the IOA Annual Meeting.
Nominations are due July 31, 2025.
| | |
Mark your calendar for the 2025 IOA Annual Meeting held at the Renaissance Convention Center Hotel in Schaumburg on September 25-28, 2025. The meeting will kick off with the Annual Golf Classic and Gray Cup on Thursday, September 25 followed by three days of CE on September 26-28 where doctors may earn up to 18 hours of TQ CE.
This gathering serves as a platform for professionals to come together, exchange knowledge, and foster meaningful connections within the industry.
Registration will open in July, offering you the opportunity to join us for an enriching experience filled with insightful discussions, innovative ideas, and networking opportunities. We look forward to welcoming you!
| | | | |
Thank you to our newest PAC donor!
Jeffrey Lewis, OD
East Central Society
| | |
IOA member Justin Kwan, OD was featured on ECP Viewpoints Podcast to share myopia management communication tips. Click the button below to access the podcast.
| | | |
Several IOA members attended ICO's 28th annual Practice Opportunities Symposium. The Practice Opportunities Symposium allows students to connect with practicing ODs and industry leaders through panels featuring doctors from different practice modalities and plenty of networking opportunities.
Thank you to Dr. Amanda Gerson, Dr. Caitlyn McHugh-Glab, Dr. Mallory McLaughlin, & Dr. Janice McMahon who represented at the IOA booth!
| | Pictured above: IOA Members Dr. Eric Baas, Dr. Samuel Forzley, Dr. Casey Hogan, Dr. Barry Eiden, and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis pictured at ICO's Practice Symposium. | | The Eyes on Tomorrow Fund, previously known as the Legislative Equity Fund, is a dedicated resource created by and for optometrists to support the Illinois Optometric Association’s (IOA) state-level advocacy efforts. This fund directly empowers optometry’s fight for scope expansion, the regulation of Vision Benefits Managers (VBMs), and other legislative battles crucial to protecting the profession and ensuring patient care. Unlike political action committees (PACs), this fund is not used to support candidates but instead provides critical resources for advancing optometry in Illinois. | | |
MEMBER BENEFIT: Utilize FREE On-Demand CE
Courses for the 2024-2026 licensing cycle are now available on the On-Demand CE platform. ODs can take all 18 regular hours of CE online through the On-Demand CE Series. As an Illinois licensed CE provider, all courses taken through IOA will count for an Illinois license renewal.
| | |
|
We want to hear from YOU!
Do you have a business question or a dilemma we can answer for you? Others may have the same inquiry. Ask away! We will answer your question in an upcoming issue.
(Don't worry, we won't include your name.)
| | |
|
Report illegal and unsafe contact lens sales to the FDA & FTC
| | |
Report Vision Plan Abuses to the IOA
The IOA recognizes that Vision Care Plan Regulation Act constitutes a significant stride forward for optometry. However, it doesn't signal the conclusion of our efforts to champion fair contracting with vision plans. In the next few years, our members will be renewing and amending their contracts to reflect the changes in the new law. Throughout this process, we will gain valuable insight directly from our members regarding instances of vision plan abuses.
If you encounter vision plan abuses, we ask that you fill out the form below to report abuse. The IOA will collect this information to prevent further vision plan abuses on behalf of our members.
| | |
AOA Statement on Tariffs
Tariffs impact optometry practices and the delivery of essential eye health and vision care. The AOA will maintain a continuous dialogue regarding tariff policy with White House and Federal agency officials and Members of Congress and will advise policy makers regarding any potential areas of harm to patients, doctors, critical medical device, equipment and related supply chains and the overall health care delivery system. Doctors with questions or concerns about incoming tariff-related communications they’re receiving from health plans and vision benefit managers (VBMs), manufacturers, suppliers and vendors are asked to contact AOA’s President, Dr. Steven Reed, at President@AOA.org.
| | |
Introducing a New AOA Member Benefit!
Introducing AOA Focus: a brand-new AOA member benefit! This dynamic online content hub is the next evolution of the AOA’s flagship magazine—bringing you 24/7 access to the latest news, expert insights, and essential resources, all in one powerful platform. Whether you're at the office, on the go, or catching up at home, AOA Focus delivers the content you care about, when and where you need it.
👉 Explore it now at aoa.org/news and experience the future of AOA content!
| |
New Mexico Governor Vetoes Laser Bill
Review of Optometry | By Staff
April 11, 2025
Optometric advocates in New Mexico introduced a bill in January proposing to add two laser procedures—SLT and YAG capsulotomy—to the state’s practice scope, which hasn’t been updated in over 10 years. While the legislation passed both the Senate and House, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced her decision to veto the bill in a letter released earlier today.
“I am vetoing this bill because it sets a dangerous precedent for allowing non-surgeons to perform surgical procedures,” Governor Lujan Grisham wrote. “In short,” she continued, “this bill allows non-surgeons to perform procedures that are currently performed by medical doctors with significantly more educational and hands-on training requirements to receive their degrees.”
These claims are at odds with the reality that most if not all optometry schools have been educating and training their students on the specific laser procedures outlined in the bill for over a decade. Moreover, 12 states currently allow optometrists to perform laser surgery, none of which have seen an increase in reports of adverse events or malpractice rates since expanding their practice scopes based on recent data derived from the National Practitioner Data Bank and analyzed by Eric Conley, OD, MJ, who practices in Wantagh, NY.
The Governor’s letter also made mention—without citing sources—of an incident in which “an optometrist in a neighboring state performed an unauthorized surgical procedure that this statute would legalize, resulting in complications so severe that the patient had to be transferred to the University of New Mexico for intervention by an ophthalmologist.” The Governor’s office did not immediately reply to a request for elaboration on these claims.
“New Mexico’s optometrists are extensively trained in diagnosing and managing eye diseases,” commented the president of the New Mexico Optometric Association (NMOA), Dwight Thibodeaux, OD, in a press release published by the association earlier today. “We are trusted primary eye care providers across New Mexico, and we will continue advocating for our patients’ ability to receive timely care from the professionals they already know and trust.”
A second reason for the bill’s veto, Governor Lujan Grisham explained in her executive message, is the lack of “persuasive evidence that this bill would increase access to care.” She wrote that “optometrists that are currently performing more limited laser procedures cover an area similar to ophthalmologists, typically within a 30-minute drive for the vast majority of patients,” though her letter did not cite any sources for such a statement. It’s important to highlight that drive time is only one of several factors influencing access to care, another being doctor availability in a timely manner. The AOA reported recently that wait times to receive a YAG capsulotomy are significantly less when performed by an OD vs. MD in states where optometrists are authorized to perform this procedure.1
Addressing this claim from the Governor, the NMOA noted in its press release that SLT and YAG capsulotomy “are especially vital in rural and underserved areas of New Mexico, where ophthalmologists are often not readily available.”
Governor Lujan Grisham did note in her letter that she would consider signing a future bill to add laser procedures to New Mexico’s practice scope, given the inclusion of additional oversight and supervision requirements.
While the NMOA is “disappointed” by the veto, according to its press release, “the organization remains optimistic and committed to advancing legislation that improves access to essential eye care services across the state.” Dr. Thibodeaux adds, “We remain hopeful and look forward to collaborating with [Governor Lujan Grisham] and other stakeholders to address any concerns and continue working toward modernizing eye care in our state.”
| | |
Long Term Care Residents Face Barriers to Vision Screening, Eye Care, Review Finds
Healio | By Justin Cooper
April 15, 2025
Vision screening and eye care for residents of long-term care facilities have significant potential to enhance quality of life, but there are barriers to care in these communities, according to a review.
“The prevalence of visual impairment among individuals living in long-term care is substantial, yet eye care is often disregarded and inadequately addressed. This neglect contributes to a decline in quality of life for residents,” Divya Anantharaman, MPhil, a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, Australia, and colleagues wrote in Optometry and Vision Science. “There is therefore significant potential to enhance the quality of vision and overall well-being of long-term care residents by addressing the impact of visual impairment through the timely identification and management of eye conditions.”
To learn more about the barriers and potential solutions in this area, Anantharaman and colleagues reviewed 11 studies focused on vision and eye care in long-term care facilities, analyzing the challenges to eye care in this setting from the perspectives of different stakeholders, including long-term care residents, family members, facility staff and eye care professionals.
The analysis suggested that older people may view the deterioration of their vision as simply “inevitable and irreversible,” with one study showing that many long-term care residents in South India did not avail themselves of free eye care services near their facility.
“Residents could be empowered with the knowledge that vision loss caused by conditions such as cataracts can be successfully treated,” Anantharaman and colleagues wrote. “Creating strategies to increase awareness could help to enhance residents’ knowledge and their desire to seek appropriate eye care.”
Residents also reported their glasses being physically difficult to handle or being lost, stolen or broken, particularly among those with dementia.
“When residents are often not using their glasses, eye care professionals and aged care staff could take a person-centered care approach to understand their visual requirements and offer solutions to maximize their vision through refractive correction and thereby enhance their quality of life related to vision,” the researchers wrote.
Optometrists highlighted the challenges of accurately assessing the vision of people with dementia due to impaired cognitive ability and communication. Potential strategies to overcome this include “repeated testing to ensure reliability, evaluating patients at the optimal time of day to elicit an effective response, speaking clearly, providing encouragement and tailoring the assessment to match individual needs,” Anantharaman and colleagues wrote.
“Depending on the resident’s cognitive capacity, the optometrist should choose between using a counting fingers test and different types of visual acuity charts, such as those using letters, numbers or pictures,” they added. “They could utilize objective measurements with an autorefractor, combined with questionnaires assessing subjective perceptions of vision problems and ophthalmic assessments, such as pupil reactions and ocular movements.”
Anantharaman and colleagues concluded that attempts to overcome these barriers “should not target a single stakeholder but rather involve the behavioral perspectives of all stakeholders.”
“When eye care professionals are approached by long-term care communities to serve their residents, they might seize the challenging but rewarding opportunity to enhance residents’ visual capacity,” they added. “While providing interventions, it is crucial to actively engage the residents, considering their cognitive capacity, and involve their family members in the decision-making.
“This may entail enhancing the residents’ vision-related quality of life by providing them with visual aids and surgical or medical intervention or offering customized guidance on environmental modifications designed to meet each resident’s specific needs.”
| |
MLB Player Loses Contacts on Game-Winning Hit
MLB | By Bryan Hoch
April 15, 2025
NEW YORK -- The improvements in Jasson Domínguez’s defensive game have been noticeable to uniformed personnel and observers alike, with “The Martian” showcasing better reactions and more efficient routes in recent games. He’s making his presence felt at the plate, too.
Domínguez collected three hits on Tuesday evening, including a go-ahead, three-run double, helping lead the Yankees to a 4-2 victory over the Royals at Yankee Stadium.
On the swing, Domínguez’s backswing clipped his batting helmet, knocking it from his head -- and, as it turned out, also loosening his contact lenses.
Domínguez lost those somewhere between home plate and second base, prompting Boone to remove him from the game after the half-inning ended.
| | |
Gov. Pritzker, Other Governors Issue Joint Letter in Response to CMS Proposed Rule
WSILTV | By Mike Mohundro
April 15, 2025
CHICAGO, Ill. (WSIL) -- Multiple governors, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, issued a join letter to the director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in regards to health insurance marketplace regulations and coverage.
Pritzker, along with Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, issued the joint letter on April 15, to Peter Nelson, Director of CMS, in response to the Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule (CMS-9884-P “Proposed Rule”).
The proposed rule can be found here.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website, the 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule "proposes standards for the Health Insurance Marketplaces, as well as for health insurance issuers, brokers, and agents who connect millions of consumers to Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage. The rule proposes additional safeguards to protect consumers from improper enrollments and changes to their health care coverage, as well as establish standards to ensure the integrity of the Marketplaces."
In a joint release, the five Governors stated this rule "would restrict states’ ability to regulate their health insurance marketplaces, causing confusion among customers, limiting enrollment options for low-income families, and ultimately disrupting local healthcare landscapes and making coverage less accessible to residents."
The Governors are urging Director Nelson to withdraw the Proposed Rule.
The signed joint Governor letter can be found below
| | |
Raoul, Colleagues Condemn Proposed Changes to ACA Marketplace
Health News Illinois | By Ryan Voyles
April 15, 2025
Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined nearly two dozen colleagues on Monday to urge the federal government to reverse several proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
In their letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, the 22 attorneys general said the changes could cause up to two million Americans to lose health insurance coverage for the coming plan year.
The proposed rules require all exchanges, whether state-based or federally-facilitated, to have a 45-day open enrollment period that closes on December 15. The federal government also seeks to eliminate a special enrollment period for low-income individuals.
Another proposal would allow health insurance plans to deny enrollment to anyone who has missed a premium payment once, regardless of when the missed payment occurred.
The federal government also plans to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care as an essential health benefit.
The attorneys general argued the rules would create “new hurdles that will significantly restrict eligibility, diminish enrollment, and increase consumers’ health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs.”
“These proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act are unnecessary and disturbing,” Raoul said in a statement. “Everyone in this country deserves access to lifesaving health services and these changes could cause hundreds of thousands of Americans to be uninsured.”
Illinois will launch a state-based exchange later this year.
| | |
Hospitals Sue HHS to Boost DSH Payments
Modern Healthcare | By Alex Kacik
April 14, 2025
Modern Healthcare (subscript Publication) reports that a “growing number of hospitals are working to bolster providers’ legal fight to increase Medicare reimbursement for treating low-income patients.” About 150 hospitals “filed three lawsuits last week” alleging that HHS’ Provider Reimbursement Review Board “wrongfully denied appeals to boost Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments, which are meant to support providers that treat many low-income patients.” The hospitals maintain that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “should include all Medicare, Medicare Advantage and Social Security Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries when figuring how much DSH-eligible providers should get paid.” The complaints “are similar to ongoing lawsuits representing hundreds of other providers looking to overturn review board denials due to alleged DSH miscalculations.”
| | THANK YOU TO OUR INDUSTRY PARTNERS! | |
Illinois Optometric Association
217-525-8012
| | | | | |
