What time is it?

Did you know?  The annual 1-800 Contacts marketing spend is $33 million. Venture Capital funding for Opternative/Visibly is $18.3 million. Hubble Contacts is $73.7 million. And Warby Parker is $295 million. Total venture capital funding for these disrupters is $387,000,000.

Everyone wants a piece of what we do for a living. We have to protect it for our patients. It’s time.
I love YouTube. I recently saw a video about army ants and their strength in numbers. Their entire existence depends on their ability to cooperate with one another. A single ant can carry approximately 20 times its weight. An entire colony of ants is very powerful. With their intricate division of labor and communication skills, a colony can defeat extremely large prey in a matter of minutes.

Our profession has so many similarities to the army ants. Optometry is being attacked by large prey and it’s time to show our strength in numbers. The POA’s Board of Directors and committee structure consisting of optometrists volunteer their time and efforts to promote and protect our profession in Pennsylvania. We have a division of labor and communication skills and are facing battles that can affect all of our futures. What we need is strength in numbers if we hope to be victorious.

So how can you as an individual help accomplish our goals? How can you help us achieve success?
New graduates: We understand you have bills and debt to pay back. You can contribute your time. Call the POA office and find out where help is needed. Call and visit your local legislators. Ask your patients to sign a letter supporting our scope modernization and children’s vision bills. Come to Legislative Day in Harrisburg on March 16. Yes, it’s a day out of the office, but its only one day. It will open your eyes to how our bills get passed and how every member’s voice counts.

Established practitioners: Your practice is busy and time away from the office may be difficult. Consider writing a POPAC check so that we can continue to attend legislative events and educate our legislators about optometry. Your practice has benefited from those who helped pass legislation for the therapeutic privileges we currently enjoy. Help pay it forward with a POPAC check. Give as much as you can so the POA has the ongoing ability to educate our legislators about matters of importance to the visual health of Pennsylvanians.

Our Legislative Affairs Committee needs your help. As a group, they have invested days out of the office for meetings, time away from their families for evening conference calls, supported POPAC financially, and met with legislators to get these bills passed. Many have spent years on this committee and they do it all as volunteers. They deserve your support and appreciation.
If you haven’t contributed your time, finances or both, IT’S TIME. We haven’t been this close to passing a bill for many years. Let’s show our strength in numbers.

Call the POA at 717-233-6455. Send a check to “POPAC” at Pennsylvania Optometric Association, 218 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101.

Thank you in advance,

David Evans, O.D.
POA President

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It’s 2020! What comes to mind when you think of 2020? For me, it’s opportunity. Every time someone says 2020, they should think about our profession. This year, we have a great opportunity to grow our practices. We have a tremendous amount of competitors in our industry and they will be using 2020 as a means of growing their businesses; why shouldn’t we?

Every year, March rolls around and only a few of us take advantage of the promotional opportunities that come along with Save Your Vision Month because we haven’t prepared and, before we know it, the month has passed. That’s why I’m proposing we start thinking ahead for a great Save Your Vision Month. The AOA will be promoting awareness around digital eyestrain and the importance of receiving regular, comprehensive eye exams from a doctor of optometry and we should prepare to take advantage of the marketing efforts they put forth. In addition, as a POA member, you have access to Think About Your Eyes at discounted prices (included with Active POA membership) and should recommend the site to your patients as another resource for eye care information.

In the past, the POA has provided annual coloring sheets for members to distribute, but what other things have you done to promote Save Your Vision Month? I suggest having a banner or sign for your office, doing a community screening, or something with your local society. In March, the POA will be joining VSP to provide a community eye exam event in conjunction with Lobby Day in Harrisburg. Please read the update by Executive Director Joseph Ricci on page 4 and join us in this worthwhile event.

Another tool to spread the word of Save Your Vision Month, and optometry in general, is social media. Make sure to Like and Follow the Pennsylvania Optometric Association Facebook page where the POA will be posting eye care articles for you to share in the coming months. Ask your Facebook friends to do the same. Just imagine how many people we could reach. Let’s use social media to benefit our profession this year.

Other means of growing and bettering your practice are included in your POA membership: the Pennsylvania Diabetic Eye Health Alliance (PDEHA) recently started a working relationship with UPMC that will increase the number of patients PDEHA members see in their offices. Similar initiatives with Geisinger, Highmark, and Lehigh Valley Health Network are already in place, and if you’d like to join the PDEHA and the initiatives, email Kelsey@poaeyes.org. More information on the Alliance can be found here: https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/doctors/poa-member-resources/pennsylvania-diabetic-eye-health-alliance.

A new group, the Children’s Vision Care Alliance (CVCA), has formed to promote children’s eye exams. To join, a member has to commit to the examination standards of this group when performing an examination on a child. Educational and informational events are being planned for local societies, but find out more here: https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/doctors/poa-member-resources/childrens-vision-care-alliance.

The 2020 POA Board of Directors are passionate about making 2020 a year to remember. They are:

President Elect Dr. Edward Savarno, Secretary/Treasurer Dr. Jessie Jones, Trustee Dr. Tracey Sepich, Trustee Dr. Ryan Edmonds, Trustee Dr. James Deom, and Trustee Dr. Jessica Young. Our immediate past president is Dr. Lori Gray.

I look forward to serving as President for 2020 and working with the great group of dedicated professionals to advance our profession. Please join us. Get involved. Together, we can accomplish so much!

David Evans, O.D.
POA President

Dr. Gray thanks you

It’s hard to believe we’ve already made it to the autumn of 2019. At the POA, we are diligently preparing for the planning session at the beginning of November to discuss 2020. Is it just me or does 2020—20/20—feel like our year, Optometry’s year? That’s not to say 2019 has not been fantastic because it has been! I am so proud of the POA and all we have accomplished this year!

I want to take a moment to thank our volunteers. To all of you in our volunteer structure, diligently working for the POA in your spare time, thank you. Whether you serve on one committee or several, it is important work you are doing. Perhaps you attended our Lobby Day in Harrisburg or simply met with your legislators in your home district, thank you. Maybe your volunteer time is spent more on the local society level or the AOA level; we need that too, thank you. And for those of you who understand the value of simply being a member because numbers give us strength, thank you. The POA is a volunteer-based organization that cannot run without our volunteers, but does not exist without our members. It truly takes all of us to keep things going as well as they’ve been; thank you!

As many of you know, this organization also includes several employees who work so hard for our profession, and they deserve some recognition.

To Dr. Charlie Stuckey: we are so happy to have you assisting with the Third Party Center. You bring wisdom and experience that is extremely valuable.

To Danette Swartley: we appreciate all that you have done with membership and you will be missed.

To Joanne Cope, our Claims Administrator: you make a job that stresses and confuses so many of us look easy.

To Jean, our Membership Coordinator: thank you for organizing our members’ dues and more.

To Kelsey, our Communications Coordinator: in a world where so many things are happening at once, you do a fantastic job getting the POA message out in so many different ways.

To Ilene, our Director of Education: you help us host fantastic, organized meetings that run smoothly. You’ve been a part of this organization for decades and you do so much for us.

To Deb, our Chief Operating Officer: we cannot thank you enough for taking care of this tedious task. Your organization is impeccable and you make the job of Board member so much easier while keeping us all in line.

To Joe, our Executive Director: from overseeing the Harrisburg office to propelling this profession forward legislatively, and from coming up with new ways to promote optometry to being there for the daily questions of our members, you somehow manage to be everywhere at once.

We are so lucky as an organization to have these wonderful people working for us and with us. The next time you see one of these folks or call into the POA office and speak to them, please thank them. They deserve to hear from all of us!

I also want to thank the 2019 Board of Directors. It has been one wild year! Thank you for sticking together through the challenging times and for laughing together through the fun times. Your hard work and dedication to this organization are impressive and our profession is lucky to have each of you on its team.

All of these amazing people, our volunteers, our members, our board, and our staff have all helped to make 2019 such a fantastic year. Together, we have been able to accomplish so much. This year, we have worked hard to increase membership, improve communication, and expand our education. We have worked incredibly hard to advance our relationships with our Third Party Center and our Legislative Affairs Committee. From the creation of the Children’s Vision Care Alliance, which promotes the visual welfare of all of the children of the Commonwealth, to the leadership training that will keep us strong as an organization, we have accomplished so much. We currently sit in the middle of a two-year legislative cycle with multiple bills on the table and a keyperson structure that is stronger than it’s been in over a decade. Job well done, POA! And while I love sharing with you what we’ve accomplished together in 2019, I’m even more excited to tell you about 2020.

The AOA has termed 2020 The Year of the Eye Exam. They are working hard to encourage every employer in American to remind their employees of the importance of an annual eye exam and to encourage every person in American to schedule an in-person, comprehensive eye exam with an AOA doctor of optometry. More information is available at https://www.aoa.org/2020. Here in Pennsylvania, we are planning to promote those same ideas. In addition, we are planning a big event in March for Save Your Vision Month. It’s our hope that through this event we will be able to reach many people in need and promote our profession in new ways that haven’t been done before. Watch for more information to be distributed after our planning meeting in November.

As you’ve read, it’s been a busy 2019 and we are positioned well for a fantastic 2020. It’s been an honor serving as your President for 2019. Thank you!

Lori

Introducing the CVCA

At the POA’s House of Delegates meeting on May 17, 2019, we officially instituted an exciting and resource-rich program: the Children’s Vision Care Alliance (CVCA), a program that will enhance children’s vision care and assure that our children are getting the services they need to thrive and succeed. The POA has been supporting children’s vision for decades. In 2001, we created the Kids Welcome Here® (KWH) program. The KWH program is a multi-pronged education campaign designed to educate the public about the importance of comprehensive vision care for children. The essentials of the KWH are as follows:

·         Educational materials for parents and those who care for children;

·         Posters and flyers highlighting the importance of regular eye exams for kids;

·         Continuing education in pediatric vision care for optometrists;

·         Consultation with the PA DOH to revise vision screening protocols;

·         Education for school nurses on proper vision screening techniques; and

·         Education program for nurses and teachers about the link between vision and learning.

This program was so successful the POA licensed it to other state associations! This is also a good reminder that these materials are still available to our members—request a free poster and brochures by calling (717) 233-6455 or emailing Kelsey Rodkey, the POA’s Communications Coordinator, at Kelsey@poaeyes.org.

In 2004, the national InfantSEE® program was added to our KWH campaign. InfantSEE® is a public health initiative of the American Optometric Association designed to offer a one-time free eye and vision assessment to infants under the age of one year. Over four hundred and fifty Pennsylvania optometrists across the state have volunteered to provide this public health service. These programs are incredible and they continue to be relevant and important. However, the children of the Commonwealth need more. Current vision screening programs are not adequate. Here are some facts that I feel are important to share:

·         The American Academy of Ophthalmology found between 40-67 percent of children with failed screenings do not get the necessary follow-up care.

·         National Eye Institute study of Vision in Preschoolers found that even the most highly trained screeners using the best equipment missed 33% of children with an eye or vision problem

·         Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, in 2002, noted that 79% of children had not seen an eye care provider in the past year.

·         Of children aged 3-5 seen by a pediatrician, only 66% received a vision screening (defined as spending 10 or more seconds trying to get the child’s cooperation).

·         One third of children with a late diagnosis of amblyopia had undergone a screening as a preschooler.

·         The Journal of the American Public Health Association notes: 10% of preschoolers have vision deficiencies (Pennsylvania has 75,200 students in preschool). 25% of children in grades K-6 have vision deficiencies (Pennsylvania has 318,000 students in grades K-6).

·         We know the prevalence of vision deficiencies increases for children at risk or classified as special needs.

·         60% of “problem learners” have undetected or untreated vision problems. The NJ Commission on Business Efficiency of the Public Schools found children with reading difficulties fall into two categories of visual problems: untreated or undiagnosed.

·         Current Ophthalmology reports that vision disorders are the fourth most common disability in the U.S. and the most prevalent handicapping condition in children.

·         Untreated visual deficiencies result in a 12% reduction in wages.

You can clearly see from all of this data something had to be done. The obvious answer to addressing these significant problems with undetected vision deficiencies is conducting a proper comprehensive eye examination on every one of our children. Experience has shown that education alone is not sufficient to correct the problem. The best solution is a system that encourages regular, comprehensive eye examinations for all of our children. Our next step as we work towards achieving these goals is to create a new coalition that will work with our existing programs and go further for the visual wellbeing of our children. This is how the idea for the CVCA came to be. The mission of the CVCA is to establish a network of Pennsylvania optometrists who agree to provide exemplary vision and eye care to children by following the American Optometric Association’s Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, promoting children’s vision, and networking with schools and other professionals to improve the quality of children’s vision, thereby improving a child’s chances for success in life. We are currently working to add CVCA members. If you are already a member, thank you! If you are not, please consider joining this important cause. It is simple to become a member of the CVCA, all you have to do is complete the agreement found here: https://pennsylvania.aoa.org/Documents/PA/CVCA-LetterofAgreement.pdf and send it to the POA (fax: 717-233-6833, mail: POA, 218 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101, email: Kelsey@poaeyes.org).

I couldn’t be prouder of the POA and our hard-working members than I am right now. This program is a great example of the good we can do when we all work together for the welfare of our patients. Special thank you to Dr. Ed Savarno (WPOS), Dr. Tracy Sepich (MCOS), Dr. Perry Umlauf (BCOS), Dr. Dave Wagner (NWOS), and the many other doctors who worked so hard to turn this important idea into the CVCA. These doctors in conjunction with our Advocacy Division, our Board of Directors, and our staff are currently working with Pennsylvania legislators to create a Children’s Vision Bill. I look forward to seeing what is next to come!

Lori Gray, O.D.

POA President

Advocacy and the POA

Over the past few weeks, I have been so impressed with POA doctors! On March 25th, more than 80 doctors and students attended the POA Lobby Day in Harrisburg. These volunteers met with legislators to discuss the bills that are so important to Pennsylvania optometrists and our patients. This day came together with the help of so many people and, while I can’t name everyone, there are a few people I want to recognize: our Legislative Affairs Committee and its chair, Dr. Rich Christoph, and especially Dr. Perry Umlauf. The day was made successful with tremendous support from POA Executive Director Joe Ricci and our awesome POA staff. Dr. Linda Casser, our State and National Education Chair, and her team designed the necessary handouts and training material for our doctors. Everyone worked together with our fantastic local society presidents to organize the volunteer doctors and students. Salus University and, in particular, Drs. Mike Mittelman and Melissa Trego were very supportive; they even rented a bus to bring the students to the capitol! So many other people were involved to make this day a success including our lobby teams, our board and, most importantly, the volunteer doctors and students who took the time away for their offices, school, and their families to come to Harrisburg to represent us. Thank you very much, everyone! This day was extremely well coordinated; we had over 25 meetings with our legislators. In addition, many other meetings have taken place in our local districts both before and after Lobby Day. 

In early April, a dozen Pennsylvania doctors gathered in Washington, D.C. for three days to represent our state at AOA on Capitol Hill 2019. In total, there were over 600 doctors and students present at this meeting! I would like to thank our Pennsylvania delegation for their time and effort. We had many meetings with our Senators and Representatives in D.C. and numerous meetings occurred both before and since then in our local districts. During our time in D.C., Pennsylvania was proud to have one of our own legislators, Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, win the AOA Healthcare Leadership Award, which was presented to him by his keyperson and long-time POA member, Dr. Bob Bittel.
Photos from both of these events can be seen in this issue of the Keystoner. More are available on our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

As you read this, I hope you are as proud of our POA volunteers and staff as I am. If you are reading this and inspired to help, there are several opportunities. Please consider serving as a keyperson to your state and/or national legislators. This is easier than it sounds; all of the information you will need can be found on our website under the Advocacy tab. Dr. James Deom is the chair of our Keyperson Committee and he and his committee would be happy to help you. Another way we could use help from everyone is by donating to our PAC (Political Action Committee) on the state and national levels. Contribution forms are available at http://pennsylvania.aoa.org/documents/PA/POA-POPAC-pledge-form.pdf. Dr. Greg Caldwell, the chair of the POPAC Committee, would also be happy to assist you. 

Protecting our profession and ensuring we move forward is an immense responsibility and we need everyone’s help!

Lori Gray, O.D.
POA President

What's to come in 2019

Happy New Year and welcome to 2019! I wish you all a healthy and prosperous year! According to the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, 2019 is the year of the Pig. The Feng Shui Kua Number of 2019 is 8. For the POA, I am looking at 2019 as a year of leadership. Every great organization needs to prepare its current and future leaders for what lies ahead. Some people are born leaders and some people need to work a little harder to get there. One thing is for sure, there is not a single person among us who couldn’t benefit from some training. The best part of this training is that it will carry forward through all aspects of our lives. This will benefit us in our personal lives, our professional lives, and our philanthropic/volunteer lives.

This will be a fantastic year for the POA! I can say this with certainty because of the hard work and dedication of our staff, our Board of Directors, and all our volunteers. I would like to take a moment to thank each of you for what you do for optometry and for this great organization on the local, state, and national levels. Optometry was ranked the 23rd greatest job on the US News and World Report list of 100 Best Jobs of 2018. I am sure most of us agree, there is nothing else we would rather be doing with our lives. For me, optometry is the #1 best job I could ask for, but just in case you were wondering, Software Engineer was #1 according to the report.

As you are aware, in Pennsylvania, our legislative cycle is two years. 2017-2018 was a great cycle for optometry. This was thanks to the hard work of our Legislative Affairs Committee, our Keyperson Committee, our Political Action Committee, our State and National Education Committee, all of our volunteer leaders and, most importantly, our members. It was awesome to see our members unite for our profession and our patients as we mobilized the most effective grassroots campaign this organization has seen in years! Thank you, everyone, and job well done! As we look forward to our next legislative cycle, 2019-2020, we will be exploring children’s vision legislation, scope modification, and more.

We have a few more goals for 2019, including improving communication. I realize this seems like such a simple goal, but our organization is vast. We have so many tasks and projects happening simultaneously. With that, it’s a challenge to keep everyone on the same page. Our goal is to increase communication between our members, our chairs, our Board of Directors, and our staff. And last, as an association, we must answer the challenge that was brought forth in the House of Delegates of May 2018. We need to work together to increase our non-dues revenue. We have created a new committee led by Dr. Scott Edmonds to focus on this issue. I will keep you posted as there are updates.

The Table of Organization has been set for 2019 with a great mix of seasoned and fresh leaders. At the November meeting, our leaders and members had an extremely productive strategic planning session. We created many new action plans and have already started to put them into motion. I promise you that I will do my best to serve this organization as your president. However, as we all know, an organization does not get its strength from its president. An organization gets is strength from its members. We have great members doing great work! I may be biased, but 2019 is going to be a pretty fantastic year!

Thank you,
Lori Gray, O.D.

Another two-year legislative cycle closes

Dear Colleagues,

As 2018 comes to an end, another two-year legislative cycle closes for organized optometry in Pennsylvania. I am grateful for your ongoing work to protect and advance our profession at both the state and national levels and your unending efforts to safeguard the visual welfare of our patients. Let’s take a closer look legislatively at what we have accomplished together in two short years.
Our vision plan bill, SB 257, amended into HB 1013 for administrative reasons, passed both the Senate and House and is awaiting the signature of Governor Wolf. This law, when enacted, will serve to level the playing field between providers and vision care plans. I congratulate Drs. Paul Lobby and Greg Caldwell in conjunction with the Legislative Affairs Committee for accomplishing this goal.
The handicapped placard and license plate bill, passed in 2017, now includes optometrists on the list of providers who have the privilege of helping our visually handicapped patients cope with their visual challenges. Many thanks to Dr. Bob Owens and the POA’s Motorist Vision Committee on attaining this goal on behalf of our patients.

We were in a position to pass a third bill, our scope of practice modernization bill; however, we came up short. I understand the frustration we all feel with this. It is even more difficult knowing it passed the full Senate by a bipartisan 32-17 margin and that we were told we had the votes necessary for passage in both the House Professional Licensure Committee and the full House. Unfortunately, the Chairman of the House Professional Licensure Committee, State Representative Mark Mustio, chose not to run the bill and it died in his committee.

While this bill didn’t cross the finish line, we are further today than we have been in 16 years. A large part of our success was the incredible contribution of the membership in the form of letters, faxes, and phone calls to legislators as part of our advocacy campaign. It made a substantial impact. The momentum is with us as we move into another legislative cycle. You will be called upon in 2019, under the leadership of incoming president Dr. Lori Gray, to do your part. The challenge will be to reach out to our elected officials and point out the facts.

I want to thank the POA volunteer leadership, our Board of Directors, POA staff, and most importantly, each of you, our members. We are fortunate to have such a strong association. Please know your dues, your POPAC contributions, and your membership matter. Thank you for your hard work, tireless efforts, and support! A good friend once told me this is a thankless job and I’m here to say THANK YOU! It has been a pleasure to serve as your 2018 POA president. I look forward to many years of continued service to our profession and protecting the visual welfare of our patients.

Respectfully Submitted,

Rebecca Wincek Bateson, O.D.
POA President

Hard Work Boulevard

All roads that lead to success must pass through hard work boulevard at some point. 
- Eric Thomas

For over a decade, optometrists have been advocating for our patients to gain access to safe, innovative, and quality eye care. While technology is advancing at lightning speed, optometrists are practicing under an Optometric Practice Act that was last modified 16 years ago. In my last editorial, I described where Pennsylvania stands in the nation providing care to our patients. The great state of Pennsylvania is falling behind and new graduates are leaving to work in states that permit them to practice at their highest level of training.

• PA is one of only two states that continue to use an outdated, antiquated process to authorize new medications for the treatment of eye disease by relying upon approval by the Secretary of Health. 
• PA is one of 8 states that still need the hydrocodone fix.
• PA is one of 10 states that do not permit an optometrist to give an injection to a patient for anaphylactic reaction.

The POA’s efforts to move optometry forward are close to paying off, but victory is going to take effort from every member. It will require a small fraction of your time and support of our Political Action Committee with a modest monetary contribution.

First, every member must be involved. Please contact Dr. James Deom, chair of our Keyperson Committee, to find out how you can help in our grassroots campaign. Dr. Deom can be reached at dr.deom@gmail.com. This fall, it is critical to attend a local fundraiser for your legislator and maintain a positive ongoing relationship. A visit to your legislator’s local office to express your support for the legislation POA supports is crucial to our success. Information about the various bills is found on the POA website under Advocacy.

Next, make a financial contribution to our POA Political Action Fund, POPAC. This money is used to support legislative fundraisers in Harrisburg and around the Commonwealth. Our lobbyists in Harrisburg, along with our Executive Director, attend many fundraisers on our behalf, and it is POPAC funds that allow them to do that. Supporting our legislators is an important way to make the POA known. Ophthalmology, vision plans, and insurance companies all have funds working against us. The POA asks for a $500 annual contribution. To make your contribution, contact Ilene from the POA at ilene@poaeyes.org.

The opportunity is upon us, as an association and as optometrists, to pass through the hard work boulevard of the legislative arena. There is a critical, small window of opportunity of approximately 8-10 legislative session days left through the middle of October to pass three pieces of legislation—our Scope Modification bill (SB 668), the Vision Benefits bill (SB 257), and the Telemedicine bill (SB 780). The POA is the only group that advocates legislatively for you and your patients. I am humbled by your continued support of your POA Board and your association.

Becca Wincek-Bateson, O.D.

POA President

Where does Pennsylvania stand?

As president of the Pennsylvania Optometric Association, one of my volunteer duties includes attending the American Optometric Association’s Optometry’s Meeting, which was held in Denver, Colorado, from June 20 to 24 this year. While at the President’s Council, I gathered with other association presidents, president elects, vice presidents, and executive directors for a valuable opportunity to hear what is happening across the nation, both legislatively and with third party payers. For the last two years, I’ve heard of the battles many states are having legislatively, just as we are here in Pennsylvania. I want to take the time to update you where Pennsylvania stands in the nation.

Pennsylvania is one of two states that continue to use an outdated, antiquated process through the Secretary of Health to authorize new medications for the treatment of eye disease. This process undeniably delays care to the citizens of the Commonwealth. Currently, when a new medication is approved by the FDA for treatment of eye disease, we must request approval by the Secretary of Health and wait for approval. This process takes, on average, six to nine months. 

Pennsylvania is one of seven states that still need the hydrocodone fix. Access to care is crucial to Pennsylvania citizens. Optometrists, unlike ophthalmologists, are able to provide care to 99.9% of Pennsylvania. Doctors of optometry are currently practicing in 65 of the 67 Pennsylvania counties. Ophthalmologists have no direct in-county providers in 11 counties, forcing patients in 15% of the state to travel for care that could otherwise be provided by an optometrist. This means that, in those counties, optometrists are the only eye care provider providing access to eye care for 75,039 urban residents and 204,183 rural residents. The two counties in which optometrists are not currently practicing are also without an ophthalmologist. These counties lacking a local eye care provider are Forest and Cameron; together they comprise 2,677 urban residents and 10,124 rural residents. The population of Forest County is 100% rural.

Pennsylvania is one of 11 states that do not permit an optometrist, through the Optometric Practice Act, to give an injection to a patient for anaphylactic reaction. By law, even school bus drivers and crossing guards are permitted to give an injection. 

Currently, there are two pieces of legislation in the general assembly that affect optometry. Senator Ward’s Senate Bill 257 (SB257) provides Pennsylvania’s citizens protection from the actions of Vision Care Plans. The second is Senator Gordner’s Senate Bill 668 (SB668), to modernize Pennsylvania optometrists’ scope of practice. Please join me in the fight to pass SB257 and SB668 to ensure that our patient’s, the residents of Pennsylvania, receive the highest quality, most cost-effective eye care possible and protection from vision plans. More information and resources on these bills can be found on the POA website at www.poaeyes.org under the password-protected Advocacy section.

Rebecca Wincek-Bateson, O.D.
POA President

June 4, 2018 – Optometry at the Capitol Day

Dear POA Members,

While April showers brings May flowers, the POA’s lobby day on June 4th will bring optometry’s voice to Harrisburg. I am excited to invite you to attend a legislative action day on Capitol Hill on Monday, June 4, 2018 as we educate our elected officials about the important role optometrists play in the vision health of Commonwealth residents. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both the House and Senate members, who were visited by POA doctors in October of 2017, and we want to continue riding that momentum with a second round of visits.

Never attended a lobby day before? No worries! Our day will begin with a dynamic and information-filled program ensuring you are prepared for discussions with your legislator. If you prefer, we can pair you with an experienced optometrist to join you for your legislator visit. You will learn about two current legislative efforts impacting optometry and our patients.

The first is Senator Ward’s SB257, “Quality Eye Care for Insured Pennsylvanians”. This bill provides Pennsylvania’s citizens protection from the actions of Vision Care Plans. These plan designs often attempt to restrict the patient’s freedom of choice by dictating the suppliers and brands of products covered by their plans. As these companies continue to vertically integrate, they increasingly force our patients into products that financially benefit the Vision Care Plan, at the expense of patient choice. The bill also helps to limit the discounts that our members are forced to give, limiting it to services and products that are actually covered by the plan.

The second is Senator Gordner’s bill to modernize Pennsylvania optometrists’ scope of practice. Currently, optometrists are subject to some outdated regulations in the Optometric Practice Act. Any new medications need to be approved by the Secretary of Health, resulting in a delay in our patients having availability to new and beneficial treatments. For example, when Xiidra was introduced last summer, it took about four months for it to be approved. Another regulation requires optometrists consult with a medical doctor when a patient’s treatment exceeds six weeks. This requirement was not included when the scope was modified to include glaucoma. Obviously if there is no issue with optometrists treating glaucoma beyond six weeks, there should not be an issue with dry eye or allergy drops either. It is definitely time for these outdated regulations to be removed. The bill will also allow optometrists to prescribe hydrocodone again, which was lost when it was reclassified as a level 2 narcotic, and allow injections for anaphylaxis and into the upper and lower eyelids. 

For this day to be successful, please block off your patient schedule now for Monday, June 4, 2018 and plan to attend the 2018 Optometry at the Capitol Day. Your voice is important and your participation will make an impact. Our political action days in Harrisburg continue to grow; it is time for you to join us in advocating for our patients so the General Assembly recognizes the strength and importance of organized optometry.

Rebecca Wincek-Bateson, O.D.
POA President

The POA's Resolutions

Happy 2018! I hope you had a wonderful and safe holiday season with family and friends.

I’m sure you, like me, set some new year resolutions. Your professional association set some “resolutions” as well, known as a strategic plan. In the autumn of 2017, the Board of Directors met with a strategic planning coordinator from outside of the organization to help assess the needs of our association and our members.

Both member and leadership surveys were used to develop key operational areas of focus. As with any resolution or goal, it must become operational to be successful. While most of us are able to strategize and set goals, a majority of us find difficulty in actually doing the work it takes to become successful. However, if the right structure and the right support system are in place success is more likely obtainable.

This thought process is analogous to recent action by the POA Board as it relates to the strategic plan. The Board took a hard look at the structure and function of the association. Upon in-depth review, the Board decided to make changes to the structure of the table of organization to better support the goals of our members and the success of our association. With these changes comes a sustainable support system and collaboration across all committees. Albeit, a better road to success.

A few new changes worth mentioning are the Clinical Practice Resource Committee, the Communication Committee, and the Local Society Leadership Committee. The Clinical Practice Resource Committee is comprised of members with various areas of interest within optometry related to pediatric vision, low vision, contact lens, concussion, motorist vision, dry eye and diabetes. Its members collaborate to develop guidelines, educational information, and practice tips for the benefit of colleagues, staff and the general public.

The Communication Committee encompasses members from the Legislative Advocacy, Third Party, Clinical Education, Clinical Resources, Membership, Fiscal, and Administrative committees. Organizations cannot succeed if there is not adequate knowledge of the organization’s programs, benefits and activities. The committee strives to assure all members are fully informed of the POA’s actions and events, and encourages all members to become fully engaged in their professional association. The committee creates open lines of communication between committee chairs, committee members, and leadership so POA programs are consistent, coordinated and collegial.
The Local Society Leadership Committee is comprised of leaders from our 14 local societies. It is designed to provide our local societies with the ideas, the resources, and the confidence to become advocates for the profession, not only in their home towns but across the Commonwealth. They also serve as a communication network between local society leadership, POA staff, and the Board of Directors.

I am so very thankful to have a great volunteer structure and POA staff to support our association in 2018. Thank you to our volunteer Board members, our POA staff, committee chairs and members, and our local society presidents and volunteers for your time and leadership. This is a team effort. We will move forward operationally with our goals and, as an association, we will accomplish a great deal this year. I wish you the best in 2018. May your resolutions become operational and be successful!

Becca Wincek-Bateson, O.D.

2018 POA President

October 16: Optometry at the Capitol Day

In my last editorial, I promised more information about your opportunity to advocate for your profession. Thanks to the hard work of the POA Legislative Affairs Committee, staff, lobbyists, and Board of Directors, we bring to you Optometry at the Capitol Day on October 16, 2017! We are hoping to see hundreds of POA optometrists and Salus students rush the Harrisburg Capitol Complex to promote optometry and the ocular health of Pennsylvania’s residents. Believe me when I say that your volunteer leadership, staff, and lobbyists have been banging optometry’s drum since the beginning of this legislative session. Regardless, it is vital for the legislators to hear from the rank and file optometrists about how the pending legislation helps not only their constituent optometrists, but also their constituents that are patients in our practices.

We have created a program chocked full of information to educate you on the legislative initiatives that relate to optometry. You will hear from legislators about the value of advocacy and what they want to hear from you. You will hear from the legislators who introduced the bills and why they feel they are important for Pennsylvania’s residents. We have members from the AOA and the POA Advocacy teams to help train you on how to intelligently communicate with your legislators. All of this leads up to the opportunity to meet with your legislators and discuss these important bills.

Now when you get out your calendar to mark down the date, you’re going to realize that October 16 is a Monday, and for most of us Monday is a busy patient day. So now the question comes, how can I afford to take a day off for this? Well, the answer is you really can’t afford not to. Our profession is a legislated profession. No matter what your training is in optometry school, if your state law doesn’t say you can do it, you can’t do it. It is essential that we promote these bills that allow us to practice to the level of our training and be able to provide the best level of care to our patients. Please, please help contribute to this process. Take the day off, allow your associate doctors to take the day off, and travel to Harrisburg to advocate for your profession. Come spend the day with your colleagues and reconnect with your friends. Make some new friends! Think of this as an investment in your professional future. Don’t worry, your patients will be there on Tuesday. I’m sure each and every one of you can think of a day you took off to play a terrible round of golf, or sit through a terribly boring CE class, or to catch up on yard work. Well, let me tell you that this will be a much more rewarding experience, and you will find yourself looking forward to the next opportunity to advocate again. So, I expect to see each and every one of you on October 16th in Harrisburg.








Steven Eiss, O.D.

A is for Advocacy

By the time you are reading this, thousands of optometrists and optometry students will have converged on Washington, D.C. for the 2017 Optometry’s Meeting (OM). If you are a regular or even occasional attendee of OM, you would have noticed that this year was a little different. In the past, the AOA has held their Advocacy Conference every April in Washington, D.C. That meeting centered around visiting legislators to advocate for optometry-related bills. A big part of that meeting was student participation. A high percentage of the students who had participated in the Advocacy Conference converted into AOA members. Since OM was in D.C. this year, the AOA combined it with the Advocacy Conference, which meant a big increase in student attendance. The really cool thing about this was that a lot of optometrists will have had the opportunity to interact with their legislators and the students. If you have never had the opportunity to do this, I would strongly suggest you do in the future. Every year at the Advocacy Conference, we have had a number of doctors and students with no experience in speaking with their legislators. The hesitation—and sometimes even fear—in their eyes as we prepared for the visits was easy to see. The statement “you don’t really expect me to talk, do you?” was frequently heard, but it was really rewarding to see these same individuals taking the lead in the discussion by the second or third visit. Almost everyone would then look forward to coming back the next year.

So, this year’s meeting has given me the opportunity to strike this same fear into the eyes of some of our members that would never normally think of attending the Advocacy Conference. As I write this, I have already begun the process of recruiting a number of attending POA members into the ranks storming Capitol Hill in 2017. I can already hear the hesitation through the emailed replies: “you expect me to set up an appointment with my Congressperson, and then to actually go!?” Yes, I do! And I really look forward to the follow-up question, “when can we do this again?” The answer is coming to Harrisburg in the near future—stay tuned.








Steve Eiss, O.D.
POA President

Spring is here; time to get moving

As the weather starts warming up, everything begins to get moving. And, believe it or not, so does the Pennsylvania legislature. All joking aside, we do have bills being introduced that have an impact on our profession.

Senator Ward has again introduced her “Quality Eye Care for Insured Pennsylvanians” bill, SB 257. This bill provides Pennsylvanians protection from the actions of Vision Care Plans. The designs of these plans often attempt to restrict the patient’s freedom of choice by dictating the suppliers and brands of products that are covered by their plans. As these companies continue to vertically integrate, they increasingly force our patients into products that financially benefit the Vision Care Plan, at the expense of patient choice. The bill also helps to limit the discounts our members are forced to give, limiting it to services and products that are actually covered by the plan. 

In addition, Representative Marshall is reintroducing his handicapped placard bill. Currently, optometrists are not authorized to certify a patient as disabled, even though blindness is an eligibility criteria for a parking placard. Obviously, this will be a huge convenience for our disabled patients, preventing them from having to schedule an unnecessary office visit with another health care provider just to be certified.

And finally, Senator Gordner plans to introduce a scope of practice bill. Optometrists are currently subjected to some outdated regulations in the Optometric Practice Act. Any new medications need to be approved by the Secretary of Health, resulting in a delay in our patients having accessibility to new and beneficial treatments. For example, when Xiidra was introduced last summer, it took about four months for it to be approved. Another regulation requires optometrists to consult with a medical doctor when a patient’s treatment exceeds six weeks. This requirement was not included when the scope legislation was modified to include glaucoma. If there is no issue with optometrists treating glaucoma beyond six weeks, there should not be an issue with dry eye or allergy drops either. It is definitely time for these outdated regulations to be removed. The bill will also allow optometrists to prescribe hydrocodone again, which was lost when it was reclassified as a level 2 narcotic, and allow injections for anaphylaxis and into the upper and lower eyelids. 

Spring also means it is time for you, our member, to get moving, too. For these legislative initiatives to have success, there are a couple things we need from you. First, we need you to begin forging a relationship with your local Representative and Senator. Watch for any events they are sponsoring in your district, make an attempt to attend, and introduce yourself as an optometrist in their district. If you already have a good relationship with your legislator, and are not a Keyperson for that legislator, please contact the POA office and let Executive Director Joseph Ricci know. Keep your eyes open for communications from the POA as we will advise you of the appropriate times to contact your legislators about these bills. Also watch for legislative training sessions coming to your part of the state soon! Lastly, we need continued support of POPAC. If you are not currently on a monthly contribution schedule, please call the POA office and set that up.

Remember that all of the work that has been done on these initiatives will be for naught if there is not significant support from the general membership. It will take the support and contribution of every member if you want some of these changes to happen. I continue to look forward to a productive year and hope to see everyone in Pittsburgh for Congress from May 18-21!

Steven Eiss, O.D.

This isn’t what I signed up for!

Don’t worry, I am not about to go on a rant about my first month as POA president. The title of my editorial came to me as I was having an email discussion with a member about MIPS and PQRS. After some back and forth about the various measures we will have to be reporting, the response I received was, “Remind me why I went into medicine?” For me, that pretty much sums up what I think many of us in the healthcare community are feeling.

As the payment reform train continues hurdling down the tracks, many of us probably feel we are being left behind. We spent many years of training learning to care for our patients, diagnose and treat their problems, make sure they get to the correct provider to address their ailments. Now we feel we have to take away from our time caring for our patients, instead staring at a computer screen making sure we are clicking all the right boxes. It is a bit ironic that if you spend more of your time examining and listening to your patient, and less time clicking the boxes on your computer screen, you will be deemed as providing inferior care and thus penalized in your reimbursement. Huh? 

But this is the brave new world we are entering. Data collection is king, just look at ICD-10. We now have dozens of codes to specify how severe your glaucoma or macular degeneration is. I’m sure the day will come when we will be graded on the percentage of moderate glaucoma patients that convert to severe glaucoma. 

For those of us who have been doing this for many years, it is hard for us to comprehend anything but fee for service reimbursement. But I see the MIPS program as the first real step away from our traditional payment methodologies and towards a quality- and outcomes-based reimbursement system. If the thought of this scares you to the brink of early retirement, fear not, you are not alone. 

I truly believe optometrists in general provide some of the highest quality of care in the healthcare field. We spend a lot of time evaluating and listening to our patients. The challenge is to make sure we are communicating this into the electronic box that now takes up most of our desktop. But don’t worry, your professional associations are here to help. 
The AOA has developed an optometric-based registry, AOA MORE, that will allow you to link your electronic health records and be able to seamlessly report your quality data directly through the registry. The days of having to make sure you remember to add all the correct PQRS codes will be gone. The best part is that AOA MORE is a free member benefit, so if you have electronic records, make sure you register for AOA MORE. If you don’t have an EHR, the AOA just recently held a webinar on how you can participate in MIPS too. So, don’t think that if you are not electronic, you have to be left behind.

It is not just providers coming under more scrutiny for quality care, either. The insurance companies are subject to these measures, too, and are graded by HEDIS and STAR scores. 

Here at the POA, we have been able to utilize our Diabetic Eye Health Alliance to advance optometry’s role here, too. Our pilot program with Geisinger Health Plan (GHP) has seen our members partner with GHP to get 71% of their delinquent diabetics dilated retinal exams in 2015, and we’re seeing similar results for 2016. As we expand this program to Highmark and hopefully more health plans this coming year, this will help cement optometry’s role as the primary eye care provider in this new world, and allow us to work with the insurance companies to provide higher quality care to all of our patients. And isn’t that what we have all been trying to do, even before electronic health records, PQRS and HEDIS scores—provide better care to our patients?

Stay tuned; the ride is just beginning!

Steve Eiss, O.D.

End of an era

By the time you are reading this, the Pennsylvania Optometric Association will be transitioning to a new executive director for the first time in almost 20 years. The retirement of Dr. Charles Stuckey will definitely mark the end of an era in our association. For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Stuckey, which I am sure is not many of you, let me give you a little history lesson. Dr. Stuckey graduated from Southern College of Optometry in 1974. After graduation, he settled in Pennsylvania to begin practicing optometry. He saw patients for a number of years, eventually merging his practice with an ophthalmology practice. He was probably among the first optometrists to partner in a multi-specialty practice and became the managing partner. Throughout this time, he always remained active in organized optometry, from the AOSA as a student to eventually serving as POA President in 1990. 

Then in 1997, the position of executive director of the POA became available. As a result of his astute ability as a leader and advocate, the POA leadership at the time asked him to consider the position. And here we are almost two decades later. 

The reason I describe this as the end of an era is that I don’t believe we will see many optometrists as association executive directors going forward. When Dr. Stuckey took the position, Pennsylvania optometrists only had just progressed past diagnostic privileges. For those younger docs out there, yes, that means we were only able to dilate patients, but not treat any of their ailments with therapeutic medications. Dr. Stuckey ushered us through the legislative and regulatory processes to allow us to use ocular medications for infections and eventually the use of systemic and glaucoma medications. Having an executive director who was in the profession was invaluable when we had to present to legislators why we should be allowed to expand our scope of practice to these new levels. 

As our privileges expanded, we had to work with the medical carriers to have them allow optometrists to join the panels and get reimbursed for the services they were providing. Again, having one of our own guiding the association was a great asset, and with the current legislative climate it will be interesting to see if other associations find former optometrists willing to take on this challenge in the future.

In 2009, Dr. Stuckey received the Virgil Deering Optometric Executive Director of the Year Award for his service to the association, and in 2013, the H. Ward Ewalt Meritorious Service Award for outstanding service to the POA and optometry. Dr. Stuckey also has a strong interest in the third-party arena.  

I want to make sure we take a moment to thank Dr. Stuckey for his many years of service to the POA. Although it is a paid position, he has always gone well beyond the job description for his profession, and I’m not sure we can ever properly compensate him for the “heartburn” he has had to endure over the years. And being the glutton for punishment that he is, I am sure he will continue to serve the association going forward any way he can. Although I am confident that our next executive director, Joseph Ricci, will be a great asset to the POA and bring his own set of unique skills to our association, I’m not sure we will ever again see the pure passion for our profession that Dr. Charles J. Stuckey, Jr. brought to the table. So for that, I thank you, my colleague and my friend....ya know.

Steve Eiss, O.D.