2017 – Greater ROI on COA-AOA Dues Investment

The California Optometric Association will soon be mailing your 2017 membership packet, including your annual dues statement and overview of member benefits and services. With the enhanced money-saving membership benefits described below and strong legislative efforts, there has never been a more exciting time to be a COA member! We need your continued support to move the optometric profession forward in 2017.

This will be your only mailed statement for the upcoming year. COA will continue to email your 2017 monthly statements until which time your annual dues investment is paid in full.

Dues investment ROI – expanded benefits and services

Our goal has been, and will always be, to provide you – our valued members – with a robust variety of benefits and services, and a greater return on your dues investment. Some highlights of new, additional membership benefits and services include:

• FREE Legal Services Resource Program: COA members have a new, free, and exclusive member benefit - a legal resource program that allows you up to one-half hour (30 minutes) of telephone and research work per month with an attorney at no cost. The COA Legal Services Resource Program offers services that will assist members in areas of the law related the practice of optometry.  Learn more about how to take advantage of this program HERE.
• CE OnDemand and CE OnLine: CE OnDemand offers 25+ classes and 40 hours of online continuing education to members at a discounted rate January 28 - May 1, 2017.  Through CE OnLine, 12 CE articles are published annually, and are included in your membership - that’s 12 hours FREE CE each year!
• Coding Expert available 24/7: Not sure how to code a medical diagnosis using ICD-10?  Want to be sure you are PAID for your services? If you have any questions regarding medical records and coding, submit them to Coding Experts Submission Form and one of the AOA coding experts will contact you to answer your question.
• AOA MORE: Measures and Outcomes Registry for Eyecare: Included with COA-AOA membership, AOA MORE is a registry that pairs with your EHR system to capture data and provide feedback to all registry users on patient outcomes for specific treatments, which spurs cost-effective improvements and innovation in health care delivery, and can lead to reimbursement bonuses of up to 27 percent (non-members pay $1,800 a year). ENROLL NOW – even if your EHR vendor is not yet included as AOA is prioritizing new vendors based on enrollment.

Manage your dues investment

COA has put resources in place so that you can easily manage your dues account online. You may now log in at coavision.org/Dues. Here, you can:

• View your detailed dues statement
• Enroll in automatic payments
• Update your credit card information
• Pay your dues online
• Add an additional contact to receive your monthly dues statement - this allows statements to be emailed directly to your office manager or billing/bookkeeping department

Member classification update

Do you plan to retire soon?  Do you work less than 16 hours per week?  Have you been an AOA-COA member for 45 years?

Request a change in membership type classification before April 30, 2017,  which will be retroactive to the beginning of the calendar year.  Requests submitted between May 1, 2017, and December 31, 2017, will be effective January 1, 2018.

Please let our membership department know if you are requesting a change in classification as soon as possible.  Call COA at (916) 441-3990 or email membership@coavision.org to request a classification change.

Please be sure to review all your member benefits frequently to get the best return on your dues investment. Your support of COA helps ensure the protection and expansion of optometry for you and your patients in California!