Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Fall 2022 - 21

PCSO News and Events
Trustee Report
The Value of Membership:
AAO Advocacy
Dr. Trista Felty
Abbotsford, British Columbia
PCSO Trustee on the
AAO Board of Trustees
The year 2021-2022 was a banner year for American
Association of Orthodontists (AAO) membership, and
we achieved a 98% active member renewal rate for
the first time in a decade combined with significant
growth in active member recruitment. In 2021, the
House of Delegates approved new international
dues structures through a series of resolutions. After
implementation of the new dues structure, international
membership saw considerable growth, with an
11 percentage point increase in renewals. At the conclusion
of fiscal year (FY) 2022, 86.5% of US practicing
orthodontists will be AAO members. This is up from
86.3% in 2021 and 86.0% in 2020. For comparison, the
American Dental Association market share is 58.5% as
of 2021.
When we discuss the value of membership, advocacy
is continually cited as one of the top member
benefits that distinguishes the AAO from other
orthodontic entities that provide offerings to our
members. In addition, our specialty faces significant
threats from competitors and disruptors. As
direct-to-consumer business models evolve and
new teledentistry parameters and regulations are
adopted, the need to advocate on behalf of patient
and public health and safety is becoming increasingly
important. Therefore, it is more important than
ever to ensure that our advocacy program is strong,
well designed, and effective. To that end, during the
past year, a task force was created to evaluate our
political action committee (PAC) and Council on
Governmental Affairs (COGA). This task force extensively
reviewed COGA and PAC, with input from the
AAO advocacy team, outside legal counsel, and our
lobbying firm, and developed recommendations
that we believe will allow both programs to be more
active, responsive, and effective in dealing with the
changing advocacy needs of our members.
A comprehensive AAO PAC relaunch is underway,
including the website www.AAOPAC.org. There is
now a formal Pillars of Giving to strategically guide
the fund distribution process, official fundraising
goals, and leveraging Member of Congress AAO
PAC relationships for influence on AAO regulatory
priorities. Recently, we also secured members of
congress to request the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) to conduct an investigative study on
direct-to-consumer oversight of medical devices
by the Federal Drug Administration and the Federal
Trade Commission, including orthodontic company
products. The GAO study commenced in the
summer of 2022, resulting from AAO advocating the
importance of this probe on mail-order orthodontic
companies and lack of oversight for patient health
and safety.
" Alone we can do so little.
Together we can do so much. "
-Helen Keller
There has also been an increase in media advocacy.
There are more than 25 unique, customized advocacy
resources to better tell our story to decision makers
on AAO policy priorities. These include one-pagers,
a toolkit, social media graphics, and press
releases, and so on. There has also been an increase
in grassroots AAO member engagement. More than
1000 AAO members are engaged on priority federal
and state advocacy campaigns. Our advocacy-focused
website, www.orthofacts.org, and other associated
resources allow us to maximize opportunities
for grassroots outreach on AAO advocacy priorities.
You may have already noticed the new advocacy-focused
publication The Orthodontic Advocate.
The goals of FY2022 include focusing on a range of
issues, such as teledentistry, workforce training and
shortages, small business initiatives, and student
loan debt challenges, and addressing mail-order
orthodontic concerns relating to patient health
and safety. As noted in my previous report, the Staff
Shortage Task Force has developed a multipronged
approach to help address the staffing shortage. One
important component to this is helping to advocate
in states that are highly restrictive with regard to
regulated duties of orthodontic assistants.
Fall 2022 PCSO Bulletin
21
http://www.orthofacts.org http://www.AAOPAC.org
Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Fall 2022

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