Volume 9, Issue 9│March 7, 2025

Thank you to all who attended the IOA Winter CE Series for 2025!

As a reminder, TQ certificates will be emailed from ICO approximately one month after the test deadline. Questions for TQ certificates can be sent to Martha Acosta at macosta@ico.edu

Save the Date 📍📅



Save the Date for the 2025 IOA Annual Meeting held at the Renaissance Convention Center Hotel in Schaumburg, IL. Meeting details and registration for the 2025 Annual Meeting will open in July 2025. 

We hope to see you there! 

IOA Classifieds 🔎📰

New ads, fresh opportunities, and exciting career moves await! Check out our Classifieds section or click the button below to see what new opportunities are available.

AOA Advocacy Action Alert: Tell Lawmakers Gov't Spending Bill MUST Include Medicare Pay Fix

Congress is now developing text of federal spending legislation needed to keep the government operating past the current March 14 deadline. AOA advocacy leaders view this must-pass legislation as the best opportunity to advance AOA-backed language that would replace ongoing Medicare pay cuts with pay increases. Though, with many competing Capitol Hill priorities and Congressional leaders deciding what’s in and what’s out in the coming days, it is vital that your lawmakers hear from you and hundreds of other trusted ODs on this issue right away.

Background

AOA pushed for and won inclusion of language in Congress’s 2024 end-of-year spending legislation that would have stopped most of the 2.83 percent cut mandated under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. That fix, however, was scuttled in favor of a bare-bones spending bill. Now, with 2025 Medicare pay cuts continuing to harm ODs and other physicians, the AOA is backing new legislation that would reverse the cut and provide a pay increase through the end of the year.

The legislation, called the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act (H.R. 879), would stop the ongoing 2.8 percent Medicare pay cut starting April 1 and provide a 6.62 percent increase from April 1 to the end of the year. With many priorities competing for attention on Capitol Hill, lawmakers need to hear from you that they must co-sponsor H.R. 879 right away and fight for its inclusion in the upcoming spending bill, which may be closed to changes in the next couple of days. 

Take Action Today

Here are steps to take action to urge your lawmakers to co-sponsor H.R. 879 and support its inclusion in the upcoming government spending bill:

1. Make Sure Your House Member is a Co-Sponsor of H.R. 879. Click here to see if your U.S. House member is a co-sponsor of H.R. 879. If not, use the AOA’s Online Action Center or text PAYMENT to 855.465.5124 to urge your lawmaker to join as an official supporter.

2. Call Your U.S. Senators and House Member and Urge They Support Inclusion of H.R. 879 in Upcoming Government Spending Legislation – Lawmakers need to hear from you immediately about the urgency of including H.R. 879 in the upcoming spending bill.

 a. If needed, lookup your House member or Senators. Contact

AOA advocacy staff  with any questions.  

 b. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your House member. If you are unable to reach their D.C. office, look up and call their local district or state office. Repeat this step for each of your senators. 

 c. When connected, use the talking points below. 

 d. Report needed follow-up to AOA advocacy staff. 

- Hello, I'm a Doctor of Optometry living and working in _________ and I’m committed to providing the quality eye health and vision care our community needs, including local Medicare beneficiaries.

-I’m calling today to urge Representative/Senator ___________ to support the inclusion of H.R. 879, the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act, in the upcoming government spending bill.

-H.R. 879 would address ongoing Medicare payment cuts now hurting optometrists and other Medicare physicians. Without this fix, my practice and senior access to care will suffer.

-This key legislation seeks to put an end to 5 straight years of Medicare physician payment cuts. Adjusted for inflation, Medicare pay to doctors of optometry and others has fallen by roughly 33% since 2001. This is simply unsustainable.

- I want nothing more than to continue to serve my Medicare patients and the growing vision and eye health care needs of our community, but my practice and eye care practices across our state are under immense pressure – and we need your help.

-Thank you for considering.

3. After you reach out to your Member of Congress, please contact AOA Advocacy staffers, Matt Willette or Ruth Hazdovac, with any questions or to discuss needed follow-up. Thank you for taking action and for all that you have done and continue to do for patients and the profession.

FinCEN Opts Against Fines, Penalties for Current BOI Reporting Deadline

The U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced it will not issue any fines or penalties, or take any other enforcement action, against any companies based on any failure to file or update beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports pursuant to the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) by the current deadline (March 21, 2025).

A forthcoming interim final rule, expected to be issued no later than March 21, 2025, will extend BOI reporting deadlines. The FinCEN recognizes the need to provide new guidance and clarity as soon as possible.

Additionally, FinCEN intends to solicit a public comment on revisions to existing BOI reporting requirements. FinCEN will consider those comments as part of a notice of proposed rulemaking anticipated to be issued later this year to minimize burden on small businesses while ensuring that BOI is highly useful to important national security, intelligence, and law enforcement activities, as well to determine what, if any, modifications to the deadlines referenced here should be considered.

Meanwhile, the AOA will continue to fight for relief. The U.S. House passed a one-year delay in reporting, with AOA advocating the Senate act in kind. Access AOA practice resources on the CTA and stay-up-to-date on developments.

How Arkansas' Major VBM Law Delivers on Calls to Promote Fairness, Doctor-Patient Relationships

— Optometry’s advocates continue to build momentum at a state—and federal—level behind VBM policy changes that rebalance the relationship among plans, patients and their doctors.

AOA | By Staff

March 4, 2025

Arkansas optometrists achieve sweeping vision benefit manager (VBM) reforms that restore patient choice and access, and support independent practices, as advocates challenge plans’ outsized influence. 

Signed into law on Feb. 25 by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Act 142 of 2025, formerly H.B. 1353, ensures VBMs offer contract terms that are fair for providers and benefits that are appealing for consumers via provisions that seek to rebalance the relationship among plans, patients and their doctors. Such reforms come at a pivotal time for optometry’s advocates as the AOA and affiliates’ full-court press against anti-competitive, anti-patient VBM policies spans boardrooms to legal chambers, and statehouses to the U.S. Capitol. 

What does Act 142 accomplish in Arkansas? 

Effective in August 2025, 90 days after conclusion of the legislative session, Act 142 would ensure the following for Arkansas’ doctors of optometry: 

• Fair Reimbursements. Requires reimbursement rates to be at least that of Medicare for covered services and materials.
• Coordination of Benefits. Allows patients to combine and coordinate vision and medical benefits to maximize their coverage.
• Bans Unfair Audits. Prohibits the use of “batch” or “extrapolation” audits of participating providers; any additional payments due must be based on the actual over/under payment. 
• Payment Protection. Prohibits VBMs from restricting cash payments to providers when it’s the lowest-cost option for patients. 
• Reimbursement Certainty. Prohibits VBMs from reimbursing at a different amount based on providers’ choice of optical lab, health record software or equipment doctors choose. 
• Eliminates Virtual Credit Card Requirements. Prohibits VBMs from requiring providers to accept forms of payment where a processing fee is assessed in order to get reimbursed. 
• Transparent Provider and Service Listings. Prohibits VBMs from misleading enrollees about what services are fully covered, as well as prevents "steering” of enrollees and “tiering” of providers based on noncovered service discounts or brands of products carried. Also prevents “steering” of enrollees to one provider over another; to any retail establishment affiliated with the VBM; or to any internet or virtual provider affiliated with the VBM. 
• Increased Oversight. Expands the Insurance Department’s regulatory authority by adding VBMs to the definition of a health benefit plan. 

Introduced in January, H.B. 1353 (Act 142) resonated with legislators, passing the House 96-0 and Senate 28-1, in part because lawmakers were struck by the imbalanced paradigm between plans and providers; namely, decades of stagnant reimbursement rates coupled with headline inflation on practice costs and expenses, as well as unfair mandates that made such contracts untenable for doctors and frustrating for patients.  

That message overwhelmingly resonated as optometry’s advocates testified in committee hearings to the anti-competitive nature of VBM policies. Now, Arkansas optometrists have delivered two significant legislative victories—including a 2019 scope win—in slightly more than a handful of years. 

“We are thrilled with how our elected leaders agreed that VBM reform was necessary,” says Matt Jones, O.D., Arkansas Optometric Association (ArOA) Legislative co-chair. “In 2019, we passed scope of practice legislation, and now in 2025 we are able to pass sweeping VBM legislation. Both advocacy efforts serve a similar purpose, which is to give patients access to high-quality eye care across the state. Act 142 is a huge victory for all eye care providers and our patients.” 

Adds Joseph Sugg, O.D., ArOA Legislative co-chair: "This law removes influence from insurance companies on where patients receive their eye care. It promotes competition in the vision care market, increases patient choice and access to care by the doctors they prefer to see, and allows patients to use their benefits in combination with their medical insurance. It also strengthens contract terms between doctors and VBMs, and this should only help to further increase patient choice and access." 

AOA, affiliates’ VBM advocacy for optometry achieving results 

The AOA secured a critical win for Arkansas’ optometrists, but the AOA and affiliates’ work isn’t done. Tens of millions of Americans rely on their local doctors of optometry for their comprehensive eye health and vision needs, and even despite historic advancements in optometry’s scope and level of care provided, plans haven’t sufficiently advanced alongside the profession. Toward that end, the AOA and affiliates continue a multi-pronged approach to achieving reimbursement and coverage fairness.  

📺WATCH: Patients Rising video on stopping VBM abuses.  

Even now, Texas doctors continue to fight for their own VBM law—groundbreaking legislation in its own right.

In 2023, Texas broke new ground when H.B. 1696 became law, addressing grievous VBM policies, such as patient steering and doctor tiering, as well as eliminating chargebacks, noncovered services, audit extrapolation and more. While VBMs immediately challenged the law in court, a legal battle that is still ongoing, Texas recently introduced 2025 legislation to bolster patient access to vision care and counteract VBMs’ aim to limit doctors’ participation as in-network providers. 

In addition to supporting states’ advocacy, the AOA continues to advocate at a federal level, as well as directly with plans on behalf of members. In fact, this direct advocacy is already having an effect: over $2.9 million has been driven back into optometry practices. 

Here’s how else the AOA is championing VBM reforms: 

• Federal legislation. The recently reintroduced Dental and Optometric Care Access Act, a bipartisan effort by Reps. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., and Yvette Clark, D-N.Y., would lower vision costs and put decision-making power back into the hands of patients and their doctors by targeting ERISA plans. 
• Federal investigations. Three Congressional investigations into VBMs, their policies and market actions, are currently ongoing by the U.S. House Oversight Committee, House Energy & Commerce Committee and U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. 
• Direct plan advocacy. Doctors can email stopplanabuses@aoa.org with a health or vision plan challenge and the AOA will help fight on their behalf. Additionally, the AOA offers resources to empower doctors in these issues, including responding to automatic downcoding programs. 

Additionally, the AOA continues to review and monitor such plan mandates and challenges alongside anti-trust experts, as well as provide enhanced transparency behind these actions with the AOA’s Health and Vision Plan Action Report. This daily accounting of the AOA’s actions regarding health and vision plans can be found in members’ First Look emails, Monday through Friday. 

Vision Awareness Patch Program 👓

Here’s a unique community outreach opportunity that you can easily incorporate into your practice!

There are thousands of participants in scouting programs across our state, with involvement starting at the kindergarten level. Many children remain involved up to and through high school.

As doctors of optometry, you know more than anyone that clear and comfortable vision is imperative to help ensure a child’s ability to learn, which can only be assessed through a comprehensive eye exam.

This outreach is also an opportunity to introduce careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), most importantly the profession of optometry.



Our state association is making materials and suggested activities available to you and your staff to reach out to scouts, and their parent leaders and other volunteers, to introduce the program.

3/18- Young Professionals Mixer

6/10- IVOS Meeting & CE

7/8- IVOS Meeting & CE

Eyes on Tomorrow Fund



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: 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. 

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.

HFS, Stakeholders Discuss Impact of Potential Medicaid Cuts on Illinois

Health News Illinois | By Ryan Voyles

March 6, 2025

Advocates and provider groups said Wednesday that the future of Medicaid and the millions of Illinoisans it covers is uncertain as federal lawmakers consider billions of dollars in cuts to the program.

The House Appropriations-Health and Human Services Committee heard several hours of testimony on the issue Wednesday morning. Rep. Anna Moeller, a Democrat from Elgin and chair of the committee, said the discussion was meant to highlight how the proposed cuts “threaten not only individual lives but the stability of our healthcare system.”

“Since 1965, Medicaid has been a lifeline for millions of Illinoisans, ensuring that children, seniors and people with disabilities receive essential care,” she said. “But today, we know that that lifeline is under attack.”

Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Elizabeth Whitehorn said that at the end of the last fiscal year, roughly 3.4 million Illinoisans, including 1.4 million children, were covered by Medicaid. Of those covered, 9 percent were seniors and 7 percent were adults with disabilities.

Medicaid covers over two-thirds of nursing facility days in the state and nearly half of all births.

Whitehorn said they are concerned that 770,000 Illinoisans could lose coverage if Congress cuts the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Illinois currently contributes $750 million to cover that population, with the federal government contributing $7.5 billion.

House Republicans last month narrowly passed a budget bill, which is the first step toward extending President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and reducing spending on Medicaid. A House proposal has called for $880 billion in cuts to programs like Medicaid.

Specific cuts or changes to the program have not been introduced, but Whitehorn told lawmakers that the reported changes would all lead to some decline in enrollment or benefits.

A per capita cap to limit federal Medicaid funding to states could cause Illinois to lose between $24 and $39 billion over 10 years.

“We'd be left to make unimaginable decisions about limiting benefits for customers,” Whitehorn said of that option.

Whitehorn said between 344,000 and 633,000 Illinoisans could lose coverage if work requirements are implemented. She said some of those would be due to administrative burdens, such as filing necessary paperwork in a timely fashion.

Another idea floated is to change provider taxes, which states use to help fund the program. The state will collect over $3.9 billion in assessments on hospitals, nursing homes and managed care organizations this fiscal year.

“We are continuing to follow all of this and continuing to assess what it means for the state of Illinois,” Whitehorn said.

New Public Act 103-1064 Requires Stricter Documentation for Authorized Requestors Obtaining Confidential ILPMP Prescription Data



ILPMP | Newsletter

February 2025

Public Act 103-1064, effective February 7, 2025, has been incorporated into the Illinois Controlled Substance Act. This legislation required stricter requirements for obtaining confidential information from the ILPMP aiming to ensure all requests are legally documented, reducing the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive patient data.

Under Public Act 103-1064, the applicant must: 

1. Have reason to believe a violation involving a controlled substance had occurred under state or federal law.  
2. Demonstrate that the requested information was reasonably related to the investigation, adjudication, or prosecution of the violation.  
3. Provide a valid court order or subpoena. 
4. An administrative subpoena will only be accepted if issued by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).
5. Department of Children and Family Service (DCFS) requests do not require court order or subpoena.  

 Other changes addressed include:

• Specifies that decisions regarding treatment with controlled substances, including opioids, should not be restricted by CDC Morphine Milligram Equivalent (MME) guidelines, unless required under federal law.
• Language stating ILPMP Peer Review Committee (PRC) retains full authority to use MME threshold for clinical oversight and monitoring. ​
• Adds trained designee may review and release ILPMP information upon review.
• Confidential information shared from Opioid Treatment Programs or confidential information otherwise protected under federal confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records regulations under 42 CFR Part 2 shall not be included in the information shared.​

Due to these recent legislative changes, the formerly known Law Enforcement Online Request (LEOR) portal is no longer available. Law enforcement entities are no longer permitted to log in and submit requests online. See link below with revised guidelines regarding process changes.

Pritzker Tries Prying Back $2B in Frozen Fed Funds

Politico | By Shia Kapos

February 26, 2025

Nearly $2 billion in federal funding for Illinois has been cut off by the Trump administration, according to a letter from Gov. JB Pritzker, Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and the Illinois Democratic congressional delegation.

“These frozen funds impact programs that provide technical assistance for small businesses, provide affordable solar energy for low-income residents, improve roads and bridges and more,” the Illinois lawmakers said in their letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget. The full letter is here.

The Illinois Democrats’ letter was made public after Pritzker made a whirlwind trip to the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. He met with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to talk about federal cuts that are hitting Illinois, according to his office.

Some departments not receiving funds, which total $1.88 billion, include Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Illinois Community College Board, Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, among others. In their letter, the Illinois Democrats have asked for answers about when the funding will resume and the steps that will be taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

The Illinois request came as a federal judge issued a long-term block on the Trump administration’s plan to freeze grants, loans and other payments across the country, saying the White House actions were “irrational, imprudent, and precipitated a nationwide crisis.”

Also while he was in D.C., Pritzker headlined the Together for Democracy conference hosted by Democracy Forward at the National Press Club. His speech criticized Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk for claiming to address cost-savings but focusing instead on “cruelty. ... Their mission is to make people cynical and hopeless about government so they can consolidate power — at the expense of people, especially the most vulnerable,” Pritzker said. His full remarks are here.

Pritzker has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration and of Democrats who aren’t speaking out against the actions by Trump and Musk.

“Let me be clear — when WE fail to speak up, when WE fail to fight, when WE stay silent because we’ve become so captive to institutional norms and rules of engagement that only ever apply to one side of the aisle — well that’s not on them — that’s on us,” Pritzker said at the Press Club.

TAKE ACTION: Introduce Yourself to the 119th Congress

HCAPS | Newsletter

March 2025

As the new Congress continues its work, it’s time to set our sights on engaging with lawmakers to make a difference for the doctor-patient relationship, patient safety, and the optometry community in 2025 and beyond.

Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is the most common ocular disorder globally and studies, such as the recently published myopia study by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), show that its prevalence continues to grow. In fact, according to NASEM’s findings, by 2050 almost half the global population could have myopia. HCAPS and the academy both believe there should be a national strategy developed to build understanding on the implications of myopia and the need for early comprehensive eye exams for all students.

The contact lens market has seen an increase in exploiting loopholes for profit, including company driven substitution of contact lenses utilizing robocalls. This happens at the expense of patient safety and undermines the authority of health care professionals. Within the last two years, HCAPS has secured bi-partisan and bicameral introduction of the Contact Lens Prescription Verification Modernization Act (S. 4083/H.R. 2748). This legislation aims to modernize the contact lens prescription verification process and prohibit robocalls from being used to verify patients’ prescriptions. 

​Send a letter to your lawmakers today to let them know our community is primed to take action on the important issues facing the optometric community this year and beyond. ​​​​​​

Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities Set to Expire March 31

NBC News | By Bracey Harris

February 27, 2025

For Kaye Peterson, 67, the expansion of Medicare telehealth coverage during Covid-19 was a godsend.  

Peterson, who has Type 1 diabetes and lives in an assisted living facility, no longer drives, so she depends on extended family when she needs in-person appointments with specialists who are roughly an hour away from her home in Lebanon, Kentucky. But for routine primary care, she simply uses her iPhone. 

Soon that may no longer be possible. On March 31, Medicare telehealth “flexibilities” established during the Covid-19 pandemic are set to expire. Recent social media posts, including the one that alerted Peterson to the change, have prompted an outcry from beneficiaries and their families who rely on the service. 

“I’m in a care facility full of people in wheelchairs and on oxygen,” Peterson said. “It’s just a commonsense rule that needs to be extended.” 

Health advocates say the telemedicine options now at risk are particularly important for older adults who are homebound or, like Peterson, live in rural communities far from their doctors’ offices. 

The current flexibilities were enacted when Congress waived restrictions in March 2020 under President Donald Trump and were extended several times under President Joe Biden.

If Congress doesn’t act, on April 1, the previous rules will largely be restored, which means most telehealth appointments will be covered only if they’re provided in person at rural medical facilities.

There will be exceptions for certain services, such as mental health care and some visits for home dialysis treatments. 

A lapse could have ramifications for millions of Medicare beneficiaries. Roughly 13% of the nearly 22 million people with traditional coverage received a telehealth service from October to December 2023. 

Dr. Cecil Bennett, a family medicine physician in Newnan, Georgia, outside Atlanta, estimates that half of his clinic’s patients are on Medicare. Some already have telehealth appointments scheduled months out. He often uses telehealth to deliver simple information, like lab results, and fears that some patients may miss necessary appointments if they require in-person visits, allowing conditions to worsen. 

Stem Cell Transplant Restores Vision After Blinding Eye Injuries

— Success rate exceeded 90% in preliminary clinical study

MedPage Today | By Charles Bankhead

March 4, 2025

Transplanted epithelial stem cells from a healthy eye repaired irreversible corneal injury and restored at least partial vision in more than 90% of patients, a preliminary clinical study showed.

Within 3 months of the transplant, seven of 14 patients had completely restored corneas, increasing to 11 of 14 at 12 months. Including partial responses, more than 90% of the patients achieved successful outcomes at 12 and 18 months.

The transplant procedure proved to be safe, with no serious systemic adverse events, particularly serious infections, despite no use of antibiotics, reported Ula V. Jurkunas, MD, of Mass Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and co-authors in Nature Communications.

The results met or exceeded expectations; she told MedPage Today.

"We had some literature on similar technologies used in Europe and Asia, and those treatments were maybe 70-80% successful," said Jurkunas. "Our study, although it's not a large study, was 92% successful at 18 months, so we felt very good about the protocol and the process of our products and our stem cells. We felt like it was kind of above expectations."

The initial study was limited to patients with unilateral limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) caused by chemical burns and other serious eye injuries. Healthy stem cells were harvested from a patient's healthy eye, processed, and transplanted into the injured eye. Whether allogeneic transplants are feasible for patients with bilateral LSCD, caused by injuries or inherited eye diseases, remains unknown but represents the "holy grail" of limbal stem cell transplantation research.

"For those patients [with bilateral LSCD] we can develop a similar protocol and use cadaveric corneal stem cells and grow them in the lab," said Jurkunas. "That is a next step. We don't have a trial on that, and we cannot offer that to patients yet. But that is what we will be doing next, for bilateral cases, taking allogeneic limbal stem cells."

The preliminary results are very promising for a treatment that could potentially address a significant unmet clinical need, said Christopher Starr, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.

"This is a small preliminary phase I/II study largely looking at safety and feasibility and was not masked, randomized, or controlled," Starr, who is also an American Academy of Ophthalmology spokesperson, told MedPage Today. "That being said, the primary safety and feasibility outcomes were achieved, and the secondary outcomes of complete and partial success rates were also quite impressive and highly encouraging."

A challenging aspect of the procedure is the need for sufficient stem cells in a patient's healthy eye to permit safe harvesting and cultivation of the cellular construct without jeopardizing the health of the better eye, he added.

Check out the newest IOA classifieds here!

ODs Wanted:

Northern IL:

Part time OD needed at medically based practice (Read more)

Chicago IL:

OD needed 1-2 days per week (Read more)

Chicago Suburbs:

Full- Time OD Needed Burbank & Willowbrook IL (Read more)

Full-Time Optometrist Needed at Morrison Eyecare in Chicagoland (Read more)

Looking for extra $$$, OD needed 1-2 days a week (Read more)

Looking for 2 optometrist in Buffalo Grove & Schaumburg offices (Read more)

Optometrist needed at privately owned practice (Read more)

Medical Optometrist opportunity with private practice in Chicagloand area (Read more)

Central IL:

Part-Time Optometrist Opportunity with Full-Time Potential – Private Practice (Read more)

Springfield Clinic is seeking additional Optometrists to join its Eye Institute (Read more)

Southern IL:

OD Needed in Terre Haute (Read more)

Optometrist Needed – Part-Time Opportunity at Metro Eye Care (Read more)



Southern IL Optometrist Needed, Part-Time (Read more)

Out of State:

Optometrist needed in Door County Wisconsin (Read more)

Practices for Sale:

Practice for Sale in Rock Island County (Read more)

Northwest Suburb of Chicago Practice for Sale (Read more)

Practice for Sale in Western Illinois (Read more)

Equipment for Sale:

Selling equipment that is in great condition (Read more)

In the Spotlight: An interview with Mandy Sallach, OD

— Associate Director, Professional Relations

Johnson & Johnson | Q&A

March 2025

Q: Were there any experiences from your past that shaped your decision to become an optometrist?

A: I started wearing glasses in third grade as a young myope, and like so many, my eyes were opened to a whole new world and my fascination grew from there. When I was 12 I begged my parents for contact lenses (because I didn’t love the tortoise shell metal frames that covered half of my face—what were my parents thinking?!). Through these formative experiences I developed a close relationship with my local optometrist. I am also fortunate to have amazing mentors who helped me see the breadth and depth of what we can do, which solidified my choice!

Q: How do you bring your voice and the voice of optometry to J&J, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world?

A: Whether I am sharing my own personal experience as a doctor or speaking more broadly on behalf of the profession, I have the chance work closely with leaders across the company to help

inform how we can better support the doctors and patients we have the privilege of serving.

Q: How does J&J use its size for good when it comes to supporting advocacy for doctors and patients?

A: Advocacy is about taking action. We do this by building relationships and engaging with policymakers and regulators, supporting regulations that protect patient health and the patient-doctor relationship, and collaborating with doctors and professional associations-which is my favorite part! When we talk to legislators and policymakers, our dedicated advocacy team focuses on core issues that matter to doctors and patients; advocating to improve patient outcomes.

Q: How can our colleagues support advocacy efforts beyond “The Hill?”

A: There are so many ways to get involved and advocate for our profession and patients. It sounds simple, but sometimes it can feel ambiguous or broad, especially if you are not actively engaging with legislators or lobbying on capitol hill. The truth is though, we are all advocates. Getting involved with your local, state, and national associations is a great place to start. I would also encourage everyone to act each day. Whether you are educating your patients in the chair about what you’re doing during an exam, engaging with your local community to educate about the importance of getting an eye exam, or building relationships with leaders--you are taking action to elevate the profession through awareness and connection within your circle of influence.

Q: What is something people may not know about you?

A: I have been involved with advocacy since 8th grade! My first experience was through a program in Wisconsin where I got to visit the state capital, Madison, and learn about the fundamentals of civics. From there I just kept saying yes and being involved, as a student and professional. I advocate for myself, those I love, and the causes that are near and dear to me-and Optometry fits all three!