ABO Attends AFOS Meeting In Indianapolis

For the first time in ABO’s history, staff participated in the AFOS meeting held in conjunction with Academy in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our leadership team has met regularly with AFOS leadership over the last 18 months to better understand the needs of federal service optometrists. Identifying obstacles to board certification for certain branches of federal ODs, ABO has worked to develop a path to board certification that more closely aligns with the structured environment of a military, VA or public health optometrist.

In the spring of 2024, ABO formed a committee to identify ways of enhancing our application process to reach a broader audience across the optometry profession. Several of these changes are noted in the Changes Coming for 2025 – You Asked, We Listened article in this newsletter. Elimination of the 3-year rule, with a shift to recognizing practice-based experience through patient encounters, benefits federal service ODs by allowing for a faster track to earning the 150 qualification points required for exam eligibility. Military optometrists, in particular, may find this change appealing for promotion or pay increase.

ABO had the opportunity to discuss these changes with many interested ODs during our time in the AFOS exhibit hall. Executive Director, April Wilhelm, and Director of Education and Assessment, Dr. Cathy Hines, also spoke at the AFOS luncheon on Tuesday, November 5^th, where they announced a collaboration with AFOS leadership to offer a fee waiver of the $300 application fee for board certification. This fee waiver is available to all AFOS members. All AFOS members, as well as all other federal service optometrists, also receive a reduced rate of $500 to take the board certification exam.

We would like to thank AFOS Executive Director, Dr. Lindsay Wright and AFOS President, Dr. Meghan Elkins, for welcoming ABO to their meeting in Indy and providing a great environment to share the benefits of our board certification and maintenance of certification programs. We will be back at the AFOS meeting at SECO in February 2025!