AAO to Lobby Congress on Key Issues

After cancelling in 2020 and holding a virtual event in 2021, the Academy’s Mid-Year Forum is back in person. Today, 345 members will take part in Congressional Advocacy Day to lobby Congress on key issues that protect sight and are important to our profession. Current registration is 458 for the 3-day meeting.

While some of the meetings with Congress members today will be virtual, more than 100 will be in person. For comparison, two other medical societies managed to organize just 17 in-person meetings for their members for their advocacy events last month. 

Here are the top issues Academy members are lobbying for:

• Medicare Physician Pay – Stability and Fairness Congressional Action Needed to Preserve Patient Timely Access to Care
• Prior Authorization Requirements Delay Medically Necessary Patient Care  
• Step Therapy Requirements Threaten Patients’ Timely Access to Sight-Saving Treatment
• Maintaining High Quality Eye Care Services in the Department of Veterans Affairs 
• Fund Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Vision Research Program at $30 million for FY2023 and the National Institutes of Health/National Eye Institute: at least $49 billion in funding for the NIH in FY2023, $950 million in funding for the NEI in FY2023