Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology

“The academy has a management service agreement with milliron goodman, llc, in which milliron goodman provides administrative services to the academy, which includes membership/administration coordination, board and committee support, marketing and communications, meeting coordination, technology management, and financial management. In return for these services, the academy pays milliron goodman a monthly base fee of 5,866.”

“The academy is a member driven organization. To qualify for membership, one must be a physician (holding a degree of doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathy) whose practice of medicine has been limited to the specialty of ophthalmology for at least two years from the completion of his/her residency or fellowship training in ophthalmology. Members may also be currently in training at a qualified ophthalmology residency or fellowship program or retired. Qualified candidates must apply for membership and be approved by a membership committee.”

“The members of the academy have a vote which decides the president, president-elect and aao councilors. All other board positions are appointed.”

“There are times throughout the year in which items for discussion require the entire memberships' vote for approval.”

“The management the academy reviews the form 990 and then distributes the form 990 to the entire board to review prior to filing.”

“A conflict of interest statement is completed annually by officers and directors. The president and executive director monitor the policy. Family and business relationships are expressly mentioned in the policy. Board members and other interested persons shall disclose all facts material to the conflict. Any such person will not participate in or be present to hear discussions on the conflict except to disclose material facts and respond to questions. The person will not vote on any questions regarding a conflict.”

“The academy makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policies, and financial statements available to public inspection upon request.”

“Pennsylvania academy of ophthalmology was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in september 1990. The academy's purpose is to act as the voice of ophthalmologic medicine in pennsylvania; to foster among its members the provision of their talents, knowledge, and skill or the benefit of the public; to serve as a patient advocate in promoting preventive eye care; and to advance the knowledge, science, and practice of ophthalmology.”

“The pao fulfills its mission by providing education for doctors and their staff, by advocating for ophthalmologists and their patients in the state legislature, and promoting preventative eye care to the citizens of pennsylvania. Activities that support this mission include: 1) pao, with the help of their government relations firm, provided input to state legislators promoting school age children in pennsylvania with low- cost vision screenings as opposed to costly eye exams each year. This legislation was enacted in 2020 but has been reintroduced and continues to be of concern. The pao also successfully worked with the pa dept of health and the governor's office to increase more than 37 ophthalmic medicaid rates that will increase reimbursements for all ophthalmologists across the state. 2)pao's young ophthalmologists committees sponsored the popular webinars for early career ophthalmologists that were open to full membership on "choosing your career path in ophthalmology- and "negotiating your first employment contract" the "yo"s also held the 2nd annual pao state-wide virtual grand rounds competition. This year they grew the participation in the networking events for residents and early-career ophthalmologists. 3)the program for early career ophthalmologists called "the business of ophthalmology" included three live webinars on topics not covered by formal medical education: practice management, billing coding, and the insurance perspective, and personal finance. The series was endorsed by the national organization and the recordings are shared at residency programs across the state. 4)pao sponsored several educational webinars for continuing medical education (cme) credits free to our members: "2024 annual symposium: new treatments in 2024" "oculoplastics," "artificial intelligence in ophthalmology," new advances in dry eye treatments,- and "omic- lessons learned when safety protocols fail" " live webinars provided 7 hours of cme. Our virtual medical coding seminar was attended by more than 75 attendees. 5)the pao published two print newsletters in 2024 and published 2 digital newsletters as well as over 29 informational e-blasts to the membership on topics of state advocacy, updates in pa provider changes, medical license renewals, certified ophthalmic assistant programs, and loss of residency rotation.”