Florida Optometric Association Rejects Board Certification Proposal

May 19, 2009



Open Letter to FOA Membership

RE: AOA JBCPT proposal on ‘Board Certification’


The FOA Board of Trustees has, through the dissemination of information and a survey, solicited the opinion of the FOA membership regarding the forthcoming AOA Joint Board Certification Project Team (JBCPT) proposal on ‘board certification’. Our efforts were for the purpose of affording each FOA member the opportunity to express his or her opinion and concerns regarding ‘board certification’. To that end, 55 % of our members who responded to the survey indicated that measuring continued competency in ‘some’ form is good for the profession of Optometry. However, over 77% of the members who responded do not support the proposed ‘board certification’ in the form presented by AOA JBCPT.


The FOA has reviewed national board certification models, including the 24 different board certifications offered under the jurisdiction of the American Board of Medical Specialties. FOA is also mindful of the recent announcements by CMS of the importance of advanced certification criteria. Further, recent reports from U.S. Senator Max Baucus, Chairman of Senate Finance Committee, concerning review of the issue of board certification and continued competency to participate in PQRI reimbursement models have likewise been assessed. Other professional Optometry resources [e.g., ODWire.org; OD2OD; Optometric Physician; etc] and ‘white papers’ both for and against ‘board certification’ were reviewed.


After more than 18 months of study by the JBCPT, the original JBCPT model was presented to the FOA leadership for the first time during the AOA President’s Council meeting in January, 2009 in St. Louis. This presentation described the JBCPT’s recommendation as including a ‘board certification’ model and related maintenance of continued competency. This initial presentation was shared with the FOA membership through correspondence and a posting on the FOA web site. In March, 2009, the FOA leadership received another presentation on this issue at SECO which revised the original January, 2009 JBCPT model. Subsequently, two additional conference calls and a webex presentation have disclosed additional changes to the January 2009 JBCPT model.


The AOA President and select AOA Board members have further expressed to state affiliate leaders that they wait until the AOA Congress – House of Delegates meeting in June to see the final model before making a decision on the issue.


The FOA Board of Trustees has reviewed the JBCPT recommendations and weighed the input of our membership very closely. The FOA leadership spent considerable time in discussions on this issue during the May 16th Board of Trustees’ meeting and a formal vote was taken by the Board of Trustees at that meeting. As a result of that vote, the FOA leadership and delegates will cast a vote of “No” on the JBCPT proposal at the upcoming AOA Congress – House of Delegates meeting in Washington, D.C. in June 2009. The “No” vote is not because FOA anticipates that the future of Optometry will not involve some formal program/requirement to measure advanced and/or continued competency. Rather, the “No” vote is based upon many elements of the original January 2009 JBCPT proposal which have continued to change, modified, or added without the benefit of full disclosure to, and input from, our membership.


The FOA Board of Trustees may consider supporting a Resolution to delay a vote on this issue, if a delay is proposed during the AOA House of Delegates meeting. Nevertheless, FOA leadership believes two elements will remain critical to a final decision in this matter: (a) the federal government’s involvement on this topic is not going away – rather, we expect that reimbursement and quality of care models will continue to challenge Optometry’s standing; and (b) until a final model, including an organizational formation (ABO), is resolved, it is impossible to keep the stakeholders (FOA members and AOA members) properly informed prior to implementation.


The FOA leadership applauds the JBCPT project team’s work on this issue. We further believe that future demands and outside influences will require the profession to consider enhancements to continued competency as it relates to value added services. However, in the ‘rush to succeed’ the better course of action should be to permit our members to be fully informed prior to implementation of the JBCPT model which has continued to change content and direction since its initial presentation.


Thank you for your continued FOA membership and your input and involvement in issues impacting your ability to practice Optometry.



Sincerely,



R. Andrew Wiles, O.D.
President