AOA Claims Its Accrediation Board Is "Under Attack"

Gird your loins, polish those shields, and sharpen those spears. Or head for cover, ODs. War is on. At least that's the tenor of a recent letter from AOA President Dori Carlson, O.D.

"Regulators and other outside groups are now attacking the Accreditation Council for Optometric Education (ACOE), optometry’s only recognized accrediting body for professional degree programs and residency programs. Claiming that the ACOE is not autonomous is an attack on the credibility of the entire profession and your professional degree. This attack may lead legislators and health care policymakers to question the legitimacy of your degree, your license, and your ability to act as an independent health care professional. These attacks falsely assert that the ACOE is not autonomous in the development of accreditation standards and in making accreditation decisions.

"State optometry boards regulate professional licensure; that is a fact of life. However, we don’t have to accept that an association of state licensing boards is the only stakeholder granted exclusive and powerful authority to review and approve continuing professional education. There may be a better way, the way all other independent health care professions review and accredit CE. Optometry is right to examine alternative best-in-class models with more inclusive governance of all key CE stakeholders.

"A profession takes pride in its ability and willingness to regulate itself, and continuing professional education is no exception to that obligation. Learn the facts on this issue at http://www.aoa.org/x22163.xml. False and misleading claims about the independence of the ACOE undermines the entire profession and threatens your professional degree."