Membership numbers of the Optometrists Association Australia (OAA) could possibly drop in this financial year as some optometrists are opting to take out their own professional indemnity insurance. In the 2011-2012 financial year, the OAA reported that more than 4,250, or 93% of the optometrists in Australia were members of the OAA. It is too early to tell how many optometrists will continue their membership in the 2013-2014 financial year, as at the time of publishing the OAA was chasing up overdue membership fees.

So what does professional indemnity insurance have to do with OAA membership?
The membership fee of the OAA, which, for the current financial year is $1245 for part-time (practice more than 4 hours but less than 16 hours per week) and approximately $1900 for full-time members, includes professional indemnity insurance. In late July, Insight News reported that Specsavers joint-venture partners wanted to have their choice of insurer rather than being forced to have their professional indemnity insurance cover with Avant Insurance under the OAA’s policy. There are approximately 280 Specsavers stores throughout Australia, and although some Specsavers joint-venture optometrists have the franchise rights for multiple stores, it is possible that the OAA membership loss could be in the hundreds.

The OAA has not chosen not to provide optometrists with a breakdown of the membership fee, so optometrists are therefore unaware of the proportion of their membership fees being paid to Avant for professional indemnity insurance and that covering the cost of the OAA’s services. The OAA has chosen not to offer an option of membership excluding professional indemnity insurance.