Creating High Engagement Through Valuable Member Benefits

Academy members are highly engaged and find excellent value in the Academy’s reputation and brand, benefits for dues paid and the annual meeting. U.S. members also score advocacy efforts and the IRIS Registry highly. International members greatly appreciate the ONE Network and EyeNet Magazine.

Members of the Academy are a community of 32,000 ophthalmologists from around the world who are passionate about protecting vision and fighting preventable blindness. The Academy provides our members with the highest quality ophthalmic education, offering the resources you need to stay current on the latest research and techniques; manage an efficient, profitable practice; and provide the best care for patients.

2015 member survey results. The Academy conducts a membership survey every two years to determine general attitudes and satisfaction with ophthalmology as a career. The survey also collects information on practice demographics and patient services. This year a second survey was conducted to measure member engagement. Key takeaways include:

U.S. members showed considerably stronger satisfaction than their medical association cohorts. 83 percent of members are likely to recommend membership, and 94 percent are likely to renew membership. The membership renewal scores are high compared with the Loyalty Research Center’s typical response of 90 percent from medical associations.

International members’ responses also showed high engagement. 84 percent are likely to recommend membership; 91 percent are likely to renew membership.

Member benefits. The Academy expands member benefit offerings each year. In 2015, we added extra value via our signature publications and AAO.org:

Award-winning EyeNet^® Magazine published a supplement on electronic health records, covering topics such as the IRIS^® Registry’s transformative impact, attesting to meaningful use and how to implement and promote a patient portal. In addition, a young ophthalmologist supplement offered advice on choosing the right practice, how to get paid correctly and how to deal with online reviews.

The Academy’s flagship journal, Ophthalmology, now publishes Ophthalmic Technology Assessments and Preferred Practice Patterns. The journal website now offers these practice guidelines for free, which allows clinicians and researchers to directly access the materials and share them with colleagues. These documents are also available on the ONE Network.

Materials from the Resident Hub, formerly available to programs for a fee, are now available for free in the ONE Network’s Residents pages. Resources are also available to program directors.