Volume 6, Issue 42│October 21, 2022
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Continuing Education and Camaraderie
For the first time in three years, continuing education for optometrists and paraoptometric professionals was offered in one location at the IOA Annual meeting in Springfield in October. Optometrists were able to take all 12 hours of tested CE with 18 total hours offered.
Some practices brought their entire staff to take advantage of CE and some team building. Clint Taylor, OD said, “My team enjoyed being together for the annual meeting, seeing the awards presentations, and meeting professionals from across the state.” Taylor hosted a dinner for his team which gave them a chance to reflect on the conference and interact in a social setting. “We all have very busy lives so taking some time to be together outside of the office is important and we all benefit from it,” Taylor said.
The team from Chittick Eye Care, led by Ryan Witt, OD, and Shawn Mallady, OD, also took advantage of the one-stop-shop CE at the Annual Meeting. “We all work side by side each day, so it makes sense to attend CE and learn together as we earn our hours," Witt said. “I highly recommend this experience for any team, large or small.”
Mark the date now for the next IOA Annual Meeting in Schaumburg, Illinois on September 28th through October 1st, 2023, and bring your team when we celebrate the 125th anniversary of the IOA.
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We want to hear your memories of the IOA! In celebration of our 125th anniversary in 2023, the IOA is collecting your stories about the organization.
Please share your thoughts on the importance of IOA membership, favorite memories from IOA, or your thoughts on the history of the IOA.
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Political Events
Drs Robert Brenart, Gabrielle Szwajca-Drewiak, Vince Brandys, and Greg Pappas attended a Chicago River Cruise with Senator Duckworth.
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Dr. Pete Kehoe attended a political fundraiser for U.S. Representative Darin LaHood this week.
Pictured right: U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, Dr. Pete Kehoe, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst
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WHAT ILLINOIS OPTOMETRY STUDENTS ARE LEARNING |
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Chicago College of Optometry
OD2s started the academic year practicing their skills on fellow Midwestern University students. They performed a binocular vision screening on all entering MWU Dental students to ensure they would be able to use their loupes.
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Illinois College of Optometry
In early September, the ICO took its annual trip to DePaul for its sports vision screening event. This is their 39th year of participating in the event.
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Students, faculty, and residents will be presenting nearly 40 research topics at the annual American Academy of Optometry meeting in San Diego later this month.
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Call for Courses - 2023 Annual Meeting
The IOA has opened the Call for Courses for the 2023 Annual Meeting in Schaumburg, IL on September 28-October 1. Lecturers are invited to submit their lecture(s) and workshop courses in the online portal at the link below. All courses must be submitted online by December 16, 2022.
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2022 Medicare Fee Schedules
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Report illegal and unsafe contact lens sales to the FDA & FTC
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Check out the newest IOA classifieds here!
Looking to build your own practice at your own pace with no income ceiling? Explore a very unique practice opportunity to build your own practice with your own specialty! (Read more)
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Like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, LinkedIn Stories are pieces of content you can post to your profile that last 24 hours before disappearing. The maximum length of time for a LinkedIn Story is 20 seconds. You can upload a photo from your library or snap a picture or video in real-time. "Stories have become one of the most effective formats for engaging users and getting them to visit your website. But you can use them for additional purposes: increasing brand awareness, getting feedback from your customers, or increasing the audience of your profile."
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Mask Requirement No Longer in Effect; Follow Local Community Transmission Levels
The Executive Order requiring masks in all Illinois healthcare facilities, including optometry offices, has expired, effective October 14. Healthcare offices should now follow CDC mask guidance which states that masks should be worn in healthcare facilities in counties with high COVID-19 community transmission levels.
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State Rep. Lamont Robinson to Announce Bid for Chicago City Council
Capitol Fax reports that State Rep. Lamont Robinson (D-Chicago) will be announcing his run for 4th Ward Alderman of Chicago on Saturday. Rep. Robinson plans to make the announcement at Ain't She Sweet restaurant in Chicago at 11am, Saturday, October 22. According to an announcement, Rep. Robinson hopes to "take his statewide experience to the City Council to continue to improve the safety, equity, and well-being of his local neighborhoods within the 4th ward."
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Professional Basketball Player Max Strus Kicks Off New Season With Upgraded Vision From Life-Changing EVO ICL Lenses
LAKE FOREST, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable lenses and companion delivery systems for the eye, today announced a partnership with professional basketball player Max Strus to further its mission of bringing EVO Implantable Collamer® Lenses (EVO) to the millions of Americans who suffer from myopia or nearsightedness. EVO is an FDA-approved vision correction lens designed for the correction/reduction of myopia with or without astigmatism. In August, Strus, with a prescription less than (-5) diopters, had EVO lenses implanted by his doctor (EVO procedure) to finally end the frustrations of glasses and contact lenses which have plagued him since the 5th grade.
Like most athletes, Max Strus is prepping for the upcoming season by giving himself all possible advantages to help improve his competitive edge. As part of his preparation, he decided to undergo the EVO procedure, which involved adding a small, flexible lens in both eyes to correct his distance vision. Following the EVO procedure, he went from struggling with the hassles of contact lenses, both on and off the court, to having clear vision better than 20/20. EVO is different from other vision correction procedures, like LASIK, because it provides sharp, clear vision day and night while preserving the cornea.2,3 If desired, EVO lenses are also removable by a doctor for added peace of mind.
“I struggled on the court a long time with my contact lenses, whether I was dealing with the discomfort of seasonal allergies or being worried that one of my contacts would accidentally pop out while playing,” said Max Strus. “After learning about vision correction options from my doctor, one of the top reasons I chose EVO over other options was knowing it was removable by a doctor if I ever wanted, and that gave me incredible peace of mind. I am so excited to kick off the season with 20/10 vision!”
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Study: Specialized smart soft contact lenses can address global issue of glaucoma diagnosis, management
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The vision of Purdue University biomedical engineer Chi Hwan Lee to develop specialized smart soft contact lenses that can accurately measure intraocular pressure (IOP) in a person’s eye could be the latest answer to stopping glaucoma-related blindness.
Lee, the Leslie A. Geddes Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering in Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, led a research team that developed new ocular technology to continuously monitor patients’ IOP readings more comfortably and accurately.
The technology serves as another option for eye specialists to identify glaucoma, which, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, can steal a person’s vision without early warning signs or pain and affects more than 80 million people worldwide.
The only known modifiable risk factor is lowering a person’s IOP, which is difficult to monitor for long periods of time, particularly during sleep.
While exams can be performed in a specialist’s office and at-home monitoring systems are available, these all have their limitations. For instance, in-office measures are time-consuming, and current at-home technology is difficult to use, is uncomfortable and doesn’t gather sufficient data at the right time periods or over long enough time periods for specialists to appropriately use the information to make optimized treatment decisions.
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Billionaire MacKenzie Scott Donates $15m to Help Provide Glasses to Farmers in Developing Countries
Donation is believed to be the largest single donation towards helping solve the problem of uncorrected blurry vision
The Guardian reports that MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and former wife of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated $15m (£13.5m) to a social enterprise that helps provide glasses to farmers in developing countries.
Scott’s donation to VisionSpring is believed to be the largest single private donation towards helping solve the problem of uncorrected blurry vision which leaves hundreds of millions of people in poverty.
The donation – announced on World Sight Day – kickstarts an initiative to provide glasses to hundreds of thousands of low-income tea, coffee, cocoa and artisan workers in India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.
VisionSpring says its $70m Livelihoods in Focus campaign could create more than $1bn of new income among tea, coffee, cocoa and artisan workers by 2030 by allowing them to see clearer and earn more.
“The gift from Ms Scott is an incredible acknowledgment of the power of a simple pair of eyeglasses to unlock earning, learning, safety and wellbeing for people vulnerable to poverty,” VisionSpring’s chief executive Ella Gudwin said.
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Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Latest: Application Now Available
OCTOBER 19, 2022
As the Department of Education releases an official application for loan forgiveness, optometry’s advocates continue to emphasize that eligibility for debt relief programs should not exclude optometry and greater options should be available for debt forgiveness programs.
On Oct. 17, President Joe Biden announced the official application process for a federal student loan debt cancellation program was now available online as 8 million borrowers already applied for loan relief during a soft launch period in the preceding days. Eligible borrowers seeking federal loan debt cancellation can follow these steps:
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Visit the studentaid.gov site for the debt relief application.
- Input borrower information, including name, social security number, birthdate, phone number and email address. (The application does not require documentation of income or student loans).
- Review the eligibility rules and affirm your eligibility status.
Then, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) will use existing records to ensure applicants’ eligibility, and some may be required to provide additional documentation to prove income levels. Once the form is submitted, the process is expected to take four to six weeks, reportedly, and applicants’ loan servicers will notify when fully processed.
Borrowers seeking relief are encouraged to apply before mid-November as the Biden administration seeks to lift the federal student loan payment moratorium and restart payments on Jan. 1, 2023.
On Aug. 24, President Joe Biden announced an historic decision to forgive $10,000 in federal student loan debt for individuals with incomes below $125,000 a year, or households earning less than $250,000, as well as an additional $10,000 in forgiveness for federal Pell grantees. The cancellation applies to loans held by the DOE and used to attend undergraduate or graduate school. Current students are eligible if their loans were issued before July 1, 2022, and dependent students are eligible based on their parents’ income as opposed to their own.
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Biden Administration Extends COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Through January 11
The AP (10/13, Seitz) reports the Biden Administration on Thursday “said...that the COVID-19 public health emergency will continue through Jan. 11 as officials brace for a spike in cases this winter.” The Administration “said it would provide 60 days' notice before it ends the public health emergency.”
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THANK YOU TO OUR INDUSTRY PARTNERS! |
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