ABO Exam Fee Waiver now Available to all ASCO Faculty

ASCO has negotiated a special waiver from exam fees with the American Board of Optometry (ABO) for all ASCO faculty and administrators. This new long-term arrangement between ABO and ASCO provides ASCO members a significant cost savings, as the $950 exam fee will be waived for any faculty/staff member from any of ASCO’s 23 member institutions as well as ASCO’s two associate member institutions in Canada.

Board certification is a voluntary process establishing standards that demonstrate that a doctor of optometry has exceeded basic requirements. The ABO board certification process allows doctors of optometry to demonstrate that they exceed entry level requirements and are maintaining the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to deliver quality eye care. By studying for and passing a rigorous examination, ODs demonstrate that they have reviewed what they learned in school, kept up with new developments and used these bodies of knowledge to provide high quality patient care.

The ABO’s computer-based Board Certification Examination assesses the needed knowledge and skills beyond entry level and confirms ongoing competence. The multiple-choice certification exam, which emphasizes patient assessment and management, is administered at Prometric Test Centers worldwide annually in January and July. For more information about the board certification exam, visit ABO’s website at americanboardofoptometry.org. Future exam dates can be found here.

To take advantage of this ASCO member discount, call the ABO offices at (314) 983-4234 to request the waiver of the $950 exam fee when you are ready to sign up to take the examination. Other fees associated with the board certification process include the $300 application fee (which covers administrative expenses and the cost of validating the test-taker’s background information) and the $225 annual maintenance fee; these fees are not waived and must be paid. According to April R. Wilhelm, ABO’s executive director, on occasion there are opportunities to have the annual maintenance fee waived if a board-certified OD becomes a school or state ambassador. The ABO typically recruits for those roles every two years.

ASCO would like to publicly thank Dr. Raymond Chu of SCCOMBKU and the members of ASCO’s Academic Affairs Committee for working with ABO to develop this new benefit for ASCO member faculty and administrators.