Your financial prep guide for Academy 2026 Anaheim
The American Academy of Optometry's Academy 2026 runs September 30 - October 3 at the Anaheim Convention Center, with over 300 hours of CE. The Academy meeting is more research-driven than the AOA event, but the practice management implications still hit your P&L. Sorso is not an exhibitor, sponsor, or speaker at this event. This is an independent prep guide for OD practice owners.
Why this matters for your bottom line
Specialty optometry services (dry eye, scleral lens, vision therapy, myopia management) often produce significantly higher per-chair-hour revenue than routine exams. Building these services requires financial planning, not just clinical training.
Medical billing in optometry is under-utilized in many practices. ODs that have built medical workflows often see materially higher per-patient revenue than peers who default to vision plans.
Equipment investments in optometry are growing more expensive (OCT, IPL, anterior segment imaging). The ROI math depends on patient volume and case mix that not every practice has.
Research-driven clinical updates often translate into new billable services or improved coding for existing services. Knowing what to bill for new technologies is the difference between a service that pays for itself and one that does not.
What to look for
Specialty service sessions: dry eye, scleral lenses, myopia management, low vision, vision therapy
Medical optometry billing sessions, including documentation requirements for higher-level codes
Imaging and equipment sessions with realistic utilization data, not vendor pitches
Sessions on integrating research into practice workflows and capturing the billable services that result
Practice growth case studies covering specialty service buildout and ROI
APP and tech utilization to leverage doctor time on higher-margin services
Financial prep checklist
Review these before you go.
Run revenue per chair hour by service type: routine exam, medical office visit, specialty service
Map medical optometry revenue as a percentage of total exam revenue
Inventory equipment with utilization rate and per-use revenue contribution on each device
Walk through your specialty service patient panel and the average patient lifetime value for each
Audit your tech-to-doctor ratio and the percentage of doctor time spent on tasks a tech could perform
Compare your specialty service mix against AAO practice data and identify the next service to add
From our CFO
The optometrists who consistently outpace peers on revenue per provider are the ones who layered specialty services on top of a strong general practice base. The Academy meeting is where you learn what specialties to add next. Bring your revenue-per-chair-hour breakdown by service type. That dataset turns clinical sessions into financial decisions: is this service worth the equipment, training, and chair time it would take to add.
Get a financial checkup before Academy 2026 Anaheim
Take the 4-minute financial assessment. Know your numbers before you attend, so you can ask better questions and make better decisions.