CEO Update, February 2026

“Whimsy is the art of laughing at yourself, and finding joy in the unexpected.” —

I see this little gnome during my staff walk and talks, and he never ceases to make me smile.  He is a nice pause, a nice reality check. This world moves way too fast and tends to make everything urgent. My little gnome friend reminds me there are constants and a deep breath and smile can do wonders for the soul.

While my weekly pause helps, the AAOA is as hectic (in a good way) as ever. Committed to meeting our members where they are to help address their needs, our Board is focused on finding new ways to deliver our content. Augmenting our live CME programming with both clinical and practice snippets and resources to help you in your practice with your practice challenges. The community within the AAOA has taught us that peers are the greatest resource. Our membership exudes collaboration. Seeing members reach out to help each other by sharing their similar experience is heartwarming and seems to be a unique AAOA member value. While this seems small, it is so impactful.  People don’t see to take the time anymore to help each other. AAOA members go above and beyond. This community networking is one of many reasons we continue to keep the Annual “free” as part of your annual dues value. It is your commitment to each other that helps drive the organization to strive to do more too. Watch these eNewsletters for details on some new pilot programs offering practice and clinical insights.

Our collaboration goes beyond our members too. Each year, our opportunities grow to work hand-in-hand with our corporate partners.  Building on the more traditional product theaters showcasing new clinical interventions during our meetings, we are now collaborating around resident education to both build on their training and help give them a step up as they enter practice, how best to integrate in-office procedures with patient care, cost savings through our Affinity program, and advocacy efforts around reimbursement and payment. Anything we can do to help reduce your burden around preauthorization, billing, and payment is a win in our books. Current efforts are focusing on payer coverage for posterior nasal nerve ablation (PNN) and developing educational tools around biologics, patient selection, buy and bill, and the associated practice management hurdles to help improve clinical outcomes.

While Spring seems to be arriving if fits and starts, its approach seems to be mimicking life as of late. So I will continue to look for my little gnome for my daily grounding and whimsical smile, as we continue developing new programs and resources to augment those you know so well.