policy research
States Evaluate Safe Eye Care Policies
The studies highlighted below show the findings of independent bodies looking at the risks and costs associated with allowing non-medical doctors to perform surgeries and advanced procedures on the eye. The studies overwhelmingly find similar results: It is in the public’s best interest to keep eye surgery as the responsibility of highly-trained medical eye doctors—ophthalmologists.
vermont study
Vermont determines optometrists can’t safely perform surgery
Following a legislative battle over a bill advocated by the Vermont Optometric Association in 2019 in the Vermont House, the House Government Operations Committee directed the Vermont Secretary of State Office of Professional Regulations to conduct a Study of Optometric Advanced Procedures (Surgery). The study recommended AGAINST expanding the optometric scope of practice to include the proposed “advanced procedures” (surgery).
— Study by Vermont Secretary of State Office of Professional Regulations
“After consulting with stakeholders and conducting extensive and thorough research, the Vermont OPR determined that optometrists were not properly trained in, nor could safely perform, the proposed advanced procedures.”
“...there is little need for, and minimal cost savings associated with, expanding the optometric scope of practice to include advanced procedures.”
“The proposed advanced procedures, if performed by untrained individuals, pose risks to the health and well-being of the public.”
oklahoma study
Report reveals double the risk for laser surgery performed by optometrists in Oklahoma
Oklahoma is one of the few states where optometrists have surgical privileges to perform Laser Trabeculoplasty (LTP), a surgery for certain types of glaucoma. Optometrists in other states are lobbying to obtain the same surgery privileges. But is it safe? In 2016, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examined the difference in LTP treatment outcomes between optometrists and ophthalmologists in Oklahoma. The report determined patients who received LTPs by optometrists had more than double the risk for a follow-up procedure in the same eye, as opposed to those who were treated by an ophthalmologist.
— Study by Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
“[Patients] undergoing LTP [Laser Trabeculoplasty] by optometrists had a 189% increased hazard of requiring additional LTPs in the same eye compared with those receiving LTP by ophthalmologists.”
“Considerable differences exist among the proportions of patients requiring additional LTPs, comparing those who were initially treated by ophthalmologists with those initially treated by optometrists.”
“Health policymakers should be cautious about approving laser privileges for optometrists practicing in other states until the reasons for these differences are better understood.”