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President's Message
Report on The House of Delegates-Part 1 Update on Board Certification
by Lisa Weiss, O.D., F.A.A.O., F.C.O.V.D.
The house of delegates took place in Ontario on January 29 and 30th. We had 16 delegates attend representing our society. I would first like to thank the members who took time out of their busy schedule to attend the House Delegates and help to shape and grow our society and our state association. Our delegates included Drs. Jack Anthony, Susan Truong-Cervantes, Joe Garvin, Gregory Hom, Joe Mallinger, Doug Osborne, Dawn Pewitt, John Riggs, Gary Shute, Richard Skay, Phil Smith, Jason Tu, Eric White, Katherine Whitmeyer, and Robert Meisel. Participation in this process is very important as we get a chance to have our voices heard regarding the practice of optometry in California. Beginning the meeting, we heard from our 2009 COA president Hilary Hawthorne reviewing the issues that we faced in 2009 including board certification, the passage of our new glaucoma bill SB 1406, the loss of the ability to examine medi-cal patients, and the importance of commitment to membership and the benefits of organized optometry.
One of the crucial issues at this house of delegates was the conduct surrounding the passage of Board Certification and formation of the American Board of Optometry. During the AOA house of Delegates, the delegates from California voted in a bloc and due to our delegate strength were able to have a strong influence in the passage of the formation of the American Board of Optometry.
In closed session, there was a plethora of comments revolving around the issue that in order to compete within the medical field, a requirement of continued competency should be offered for Optometry. This would show that we are committed as a profession to keep up with new technology and research in our field to best provide for our patients. There is also a concern that we might be in a better position to negotiate with insurance panels with a board certification requirement in place. We are trying to strive to be in control of our own destiny as a profession before outside forces can dictate how we run our profession. On the other side of the coin, there is concern that board certification will imply that the board certified doctors are better and more qualified than those who are not certified. This is seen as a divisive issue for our profession.
Prior to the HOD meeting, the society presidents were presented with 2 resolutions and asked us to poll our societies to determine the way our members wanted us to vote on the resolutions. The first resolution involves proportional voting by California Delegates to the AOA House of Delegates and the second addressed the fact that despite survey results showing that the members were largely opposed to board certification the COA voted in a bloc for the creation of the American Board of Optometry.
Dr. Joe Mallinger was the chair of the reference committee in charge of reviewing these proposed policy resolutions. The summary of the block voting issue includes the point that there is no instruction in the bylaws as to how the delegates may vote. We have the largest delegation present at the AOA HOD and sometimes uses our votes strategically in that position. It is the desire of COA to be an influenial member of the HOD. We have less power if our votes are split. Additionally, the decision to bloc vote in this case was a democratic process and the delegates voted to represent as a unified whole.
One point of information that was discussed is that the COA members elect our own board of trustees in a democratic process and we need to trust that these leaders will do what is in the best interest of the COA members and the profession as a whole. After the discussion, it was voted that COA delegates will not be required to vote in a bloc, but will be free to vote as they wish. The vote did not eliminate the posilbility of bloc voting in the future.
The resolution proposed to withdraw the AOA suporrt of the American Board of Optometry was amended by substitution to allow the continued development of a board certification process but to postpone the implementation until a time that board certification is deemed more necessary to our profession. During clarification of the issue, the AOA voted to support the formation of the ABO and has 2 members sitting on the board of the ABO. Many other organizations also sit on the board of the ABO and the board certification process will continue regardless of participation from the AOA. This resolution did not pass.
Regardless of any discussion about how the voting occurred, the fact of the matter remains that the AOA 2009 House of Delegates passed a resolution to support the formation of the American Board of Optometry. Subsequently, this board has been formed and is currently working on the details of the program and will be accepting applications by the second quarter of 2010 and will have a test developed by first quarter of 2011. The house additionally voted on another resolution that ensures that the COA have an active role in monitoring the ABO and the development of the board certification process.
After listening to all of the discussion, it is apparent that our leaders in the COA care about our profession and are trying to look ahead to keep Optometry in the forefront of vision care and medicine. As stated by Dr. Joe Garvin in front of the house, "our job is to create a future where Optometry creates Optometry" and I believe that our leaders are achieving this.
Due to the number of updates and issues that are presented at the House of Delegates, participation in this meeting is essential for any of our members that want to be kept informed about what is happening in our profession and to have a voice in this process. Next year's House of Delegates will be held in Visalia at the beginning of Feb 2011. We hope to have a full strength delegation again next year.
Last Updated by Admin on 2010-02-02 11:07:47.