Volume 6, Issue 21 │May 27, 2022
|
|
|
Congratulations Graduates!
The Illinois Optometric Association welcomes you to our profession. We wish you a long and rewarding career.
The Illinois College of Optometry hosted commencement ceremonies on May 21st for the 179th time.
One hundred and thirty-two new Illinois College of Optometry Graduates join the growing family of alumni, which includes over eight thousand members around the world.
|
Photo: Graduates take the Optometric Oath
|
Volunteers Needed: 2022 Special Olympics Opening Eyes Program
The Special Olympics Lions Club International Opening Eyes Program is back for the first time since 2019 and is looking for volunteer optometrists, students, and opticians. The goal of the Special Olympics Lions Club International Opening Eyes Program is to bring quality vision care to children and adults with intellectual disabilities. The assessment consists of visual acuity testing, cover test, extraocular motility testing, pupils, color vision, stereopsis, non-contact tonometry, slit lamp evaluation, and ophthalmoscopy. If the athlete is determined to need glasses, they are given a full refraction with subjective testing.
Opening Eyes Program details:
When: Saturday, June 18 from 9 am- 4 pm
Where: Illinois State University in Normal, IL.
If you have any questions, please contact Christine Allison, O.D. at 312-949-7336 or callison@ico.edu. Follow the link below to register to volunteer.
|
|
Report illegal and unsafe contact lens sales to the FDA & FTC
|
2022 Medicare Fee Schedules
|
Labor Law Poster - 2022 Updates
|
|
Get to Know an IOA Board Member: Vesna Simic, O.D.
What Dr. Simic loves most about her job:
"Meeting different people and their families, helping them overcome visual and functional challenges. “
Advice for new optometrists?
“You are here to change patients’ lives – don’t be afraid to be the best you can be! Always go with your gut feeling, that will lead you in the right direction! “
|
|
Congratulations to IOA Member Millicent Knight, O.D. on receiving an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Augustana College. Dr. Knight is an alumnus of Augustana and a member of the Augustana College Board of Trustees. She was hooded by Professor Dara Wegman-Geedey, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and the Pre-Optometry Advisor.
Pictured below, left: Dr. Millicent Knight is hooded during Augustana College's 162nd Commencement. Right: Dr. Millicent Knight and her family after the ceremony.
|
Congratulations to IOA Member and AOA Trustee Lori Grover, O.D., Ph.D. on her piece published in Modern Optometry:
Telemedicine Principles and Practices:
Speaking the Language
Considerations for doctors, patients, and the profession.
Dr. Grover explains why it’s important for Doctors of Optometry to remain diligent when it comes to telehealth and telemedicine and how they can do so.
|
|
Editor's Note:
The IOA office will be closed on Monday, May 30, in honor of Memorial Day. We hope you have a safe and healthy
Memorial Day weekend.
|
|
License Renewal Deadline Approaching: Renew by May 31, 2022
The deadline to renew an optometry & controlled substance license is May 31, 2022. If you have your login information but have been unable to proceed through the renewal process, here are steps to take to renew your license:
-
Log in with your username and password here: https://online-dfpr.micropact.com/
-
Click on "My Account" at the top right of the page.
-
Click on "Create/Continue a Renewal" under "More Online Services", as shown in the screenshot below.
- Complete all steps of the license renewal process. An updated license with a 3/31/2024 expiration date will be available within 1-5 business days.
|
|
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (DFPR) has extended the license renewal deadline until May 31, 2022.
Doctors who did not receive an email from IDFPR with their username and password, or who cannot log in with their username and password, should follow the MATCH instructions posted here.
Click here to read the FAQs before renewing your license.
|
|
Are you on the updated report of providers missing digital contact information?
The CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Public Reporting of Missing Digital Contact Information has been updated. The report includes the names and National Provider Identifiers of providers who did not update their digital contact information (endpoints) in NPPES as of March 31, 2022. Are you on the list?
|
|
ANNUAL MEETING SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT
Mary Schmidt, ABOC, CP
Mary E. Schmidt, ABOC, CPO is the founder of EyeSystems a professional training and practice consulting firm, specializing in the eyecare field.
She provides full scope paraoptometric education with a focus on dispensing skills and patient care. Her emphasis is on organization and professionalism. The American Optometric Association and the American Board of Opticianry have accredited her programs.
Mary has over 30 years experience within the optical field including ten years of hands-on in office experience along with practice administration for multi-doctor practices, outside sales and marketing experience and she was manager of education and training for a large practice management group.
Mary has presented programs to state wide, national and international audiences along with personalized private training since 1995. She is a popular speaker with the ability to motivate and inspire.
|
|
|
6/29/2022: Fox Valley Meeting & CE (details coming soon!)
|
|
Check out the newest IOA classifieds here!
Looking for coverage in my Bloomingdale office. The dates are June 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25, or 27. (Read more)
Doctor of Optometry needed for Full Medical Scope / Dry Eye Clinic - Full Time - Rockford, Illinois (Read more)
|
|
Gov. Pritzker Signs Legislation Allowing Optometrists to Authorize Homestead Exemption for Persons with Disabilities
This week, Governor Pritzker signed SB1975 into law, which made optometrists eligible to sign off on a homestead exemption if the applicant qualifies because of a visual disability. Optometrists can now sign off on the PTAX - 343A form (Homestead Exemption for Persons with Disabilities). In 2021, optometrists were added as authorized signers to the PTAX - 343A form, but the legislation signed this week officially adds optometrists to state law as eligible signers.
|
|
Illinois Health Officials Following WHO Guidance on Second Booster Shot
(The Center Square) – Illinois health officials are asking some residents to roll up their sleeves and get a second COVID-19 booster shot as cases rise around the state. An expert group convened by the World Health Organization said there may be some benefit in giving a second booster dose of coronavirus vaccine to the most vulnerable groups.
IDPH reports eight Illinois counties have risen to the high-risk level of transmission, areas that include the cities of Peoria, Rockford, and Champaign.
The medical consensus so far is that there hasn’t been enough research on how much protection a fourth dose can offer.
“What we know from immunology is that if you give another booster, you will see a temporary increase in the neutralizing antibodies," WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told CNBC. “But what we’ve also seen is that these neutralizing antibodies will wane quite rapidly.”
IDPH is recommending the booster for people over the age of 50 and those with weak immune systems. The shot should be taken four months after the first booster shot. Paula Basta, director of the Illinois Department on Aging, said the second booster is readily available.
|
|
Weekly COVID-19 Testing Program
Offices utilizing Arctic Dx's weekly in-office COVD testing program recently received a notice that the program would be discontinued. After several offices reached out, Arctic Dx has chosen to continue the program into at least early June, when they will re-evaluate the need for the program.
As a reminder, the Executive Order mandating that all health care workers must either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly (at minimum) testing for COVID-19 is still in effect. Employers must either maintain proof of vaccination status or proof of weekly negative COVID-19 tests in their personnel files.
-
Click here for a Q&A put together by the IOA
-
Click here for a Q&A issued by the Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity
-
Click here for information about a COVID-19 saliva testing program through ArcticDX
|
|
United States Senator
John Boozman, O.D. Clinches His Primary Bid for Reelection
|
Senator Boozman, O.D., who graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in 1977 and entered private practice that same year, co-founding a family business with his brother that would ultimately become a major provider of eye care to Northwest Arkansas,1 won his primary bid for reelection and faces 2 opponents in the November general election.
1 Biography: John Boozman, United States Senator for Arkansas
|
|
Pictured at AOA on Capitol Hill
Chelsey Moore, O.D., Senator John Boozman, O.D., Tim Cundiff, O.D.(President and Chair of the IOA)
|
|
Healthcare Spending Could Decline By More Than $11.4B In 2023 If Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire, Report Finds
Healthcare Dive (5/26, Pifer) reports, “Healthcare spending could drop by more than $11.4 billion next year if enhanced premium tax credits enacted in the American Rescue Plan expire,” according to a report by “the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.” The report found that “hospital spending would decline by $3.8 billion, while spending on physician practice services would drop by $1.3 billion.” Furthermore, “prescription drug spending would decline by $3.4 billion and spending on other services outside of hospital and doctors’ offices would fall by $2.8 billion.”
|
|
THANK YOU TO OUR INDUSTRY PARTNERS!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|