A Message From The AAOA President, Douglas Dawson MD, FAAOA

As the incoming president, I want to express my gratitude and excitement for the opportunity to serve the AAOA. I have been involved with this organization for over 15 years, and I’ve come to understand that nothing happens without a very large number of volunteers who give their time and hard work to provide ongoing value for our membership. These efforts are combined with an excellent Executive Director and superb staff. The functions of the AAOA are largely unseen and consist of numerous in person and virtual calls as physician committees and the board of directors go about providing strategic leadership, as well as designing and executing three to four hybrid (virtual and in-person) CME meetings per year. 

What Is the Purpose of the AAOA?

Education and Training: We are an educational resource for otolaryngologists and affiliated providers that seek to understand the role of allergy and inflammatory diseases of the head and neck in their practice and provide allergy care. We are largely a membership of private practice physicians. Our content provides our membership clarity to the central or contributing role that allergy plays in many facets of otolaryngology. Ear, sinus, nasal, sleep, upper airway, pulmonary, and esophageal diagnoses, to name a few, may have an underlying and contributing allergic component. Our AAOA content represents a comprehensive and up-to-date, live and virtual library of allergic and inflammatory diseases of the head and neck. Please access our website (https://aaoallergy.org/about/) to gain value for your membership, if you haven’t already.

Research and Innovation: Our organizations (AAOA and the AAOA Foundation) have stimulated, participated in, and in some cases funded fundamental research, clinical practice guidelines, international consensus statements, and expert commentary that advance our fund of knowledge of the impact of allergy. The AAOA is frequently asked to provide members to act as experts and contributing authors to these types of publications and efforts.

Advocacy and Public Outreach: We actively pursue engagement and collaboration with ENT specialty organizations and societies, including the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head Neck Surgery. These efforts include participation in socioeconomic topics that impact allergy’s delivery in our members’ offices. The AAOA also represents and interfaces with the AAAAI, ACAAI, and other allergy and respiratory disease organizations, as well as governmental, third-party payers/insurance, pharmaceutical entities, and corporations providing nasal, head and neck and various instrumentation for otolaryngology. We anticipate and react to the multiple challenges inherent to the rapidly evolving field of allergy in head and neck medicine. Recently, these have included limits or denials of coverage for Otolaryngologists to provide allergy care despite it being a clear aspect of our board certification. We have advocated for and protected against changes in RVU coverage of several allergy specific codes. Over the last five years, we have been integrally involved in iterative changes to the United States Pharmacopeia General Chapter <797>, which delineates numerous guidelines for care, including the in-office mixing of allergy vials. As a reminder these changes went into effect November 1, 2023, after years of edits and key constituent input. Please check the AAOA website (https://aaoallergy.org/usp-general-chapter-resources/)  for assistance with compliance with these new regulations. We have everything you need to stay compliant with these new regulations.

• Online Sterile Allergen Extract Compounding Module
• Special AAOA member pricing for Valiteq Media Fill Test kits
• Special AAOA member pricing for Valiteq Gloved Finger Test kits
• Practice Resource Tool Kit
• Clinical Care Statement
• USP 797 Workshop Handout 
• Valiteq Order Form 
• Valiteq Kit Instructions

Inclusion and Membership Engagement: At a time of great division and polarity in our country, the AAOA strives to broaden and diversify members engagement in leadership. If you are involved with otolaryngology and ENT allergy, join us, volunteer for committees, pursue topics of your interest, and join leadership in engaging these topics and the AAOA. Our membership will benefit from your engagement with our society, and you will benefit in participation with an excellent group of people.