12/19/2024

2024 Year in Review

Elizabeth Muckley, OD, OOA CEO & Executive Director

As I reflect on the past year, I’m filled with immense gratitude and pride for the progress made by our organization. It has been a year of growth, adaptation, and success as we continue to deliver on our mission of serving members and patients by advocating for the profession to the public and policymakers, promoting the importance of and access to comprehensive eye care, and providing meaningful resources that strengthen professional viability. Our accomplishments are a testament to the hard work and dedication of every volunteer member, external partner, and supporter who has been part of our mission.

2024 OOA highlights include:

• Delivering proponent testimony for our scope modernization bill SB 129
• Receipt of the $2.5-million grant from the Office of Budget Management for Children’s Vision Initiatives through the Ohio Optometric Foundation
• Governor DeWine’s creation and appointment of Dr. Shane Foster, Interim Dean Jeff Walline, and OOA Executive Director, Dr. Elizabeth Muckley to the Children’s Vision Strike Force to help take the iSee Program, considered one of the models, to all four corners of Ohio
• Implementation of KP Dashboard a software tool to coordiante Key ODs with Legislators
• Realeyes reaching an impressive 163,253 students this year in 6,747 classrooms and in 833 schools to educate kids, teachers, nurses, and parents on the importance of a lifetime of eye care (reaching over 1.7 million students since inception)
• The update and revision of Sammy Safe Eyes as well as the creation of a new middle/high school “Optometry as a Career” curriculum
• Realeyes presentations to 93,000 students on solar eclipse safety
• Engagement with Inspire PR Group to jointly represent both the OOA and OOF to elevate our messaging to members, the public, and most importantly our government officials
• Successes in Third Party issues:
  • Fighting violations of HB 156 by getting ODs reinstated on medical plans that had dropped them for no longer contracting with the vision plan
  • Developing a Medicaid “dream plan” at the request of Medicaid
  • Negotiating with CareSource My Care regarding claw backs to save member OD providers tens of thousands of dollars in take-backs
• The East West Eye Conference continuing to provide premiere education and workshops to over 1000 attendees
• The OOA office moved across the hall at 250 East Wilson Bridge Rd in November when the lease was up due to growth of the Foundation and the addition of three new OOF staff
• The development of EastWest Online University to debut in January, 2025

I remain confident as we move into the next year that under the leadership of the OOA Board and president, Dr. Tim Fries, along with the support of our talented OOA staff and collaborative partners, we will continue to grow, innovate, and make a lasting impact on the optometric profession providing our patients with the highest quality care.

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