Serving Communities & Workforce Development

Patients Benefit From Optometric Scope Expansion Authorizing Doctors of Optometry To Perform YAG Laser Capsulotomies

July 2023

According to an American Optometric Association (AOA) Research & Information Committee (RIC) survey of doctors practicing in states with current laser authority, 56% of doctors of optometry report providing YAG laser capsulotomies in their practices and 89% have availability to perform procedures within one week. Nearly all responding doctors who perform YAG procedures (97%) report patient satisfaction with convenience of care.

Doctors of Optometry Increase Primary Eye Care at Health Centers

December 2020

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) have used increased funding to expand primary services to include on-site primary eye care. The expansion includes additional professionals providing—and patients recieving—eye and vision services.

Doctors of Optometry Offer Rural Hospitals Timely Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity and Other Causes of Childhood Vision Loss

December 2019

Rural hospitals represent more than half of all hospitals in the U.S.; optometry's presence in these areas can be activated to provide needed access to eye examinations for high-risk infants.

County Data Demonstrates Eye Care Access Nationwide

April 2018
Doctors of optometry are uniquely positioned to serve as frontline providers in primary eye care as they currently practice in U.S. counties and county equivalents that comprise 99% of the total population in both urban and rural areas.

Doctors of Optometry in Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery

October 2017

The medical education of doctors of optometry prepare them to prescribe tailored solutions to a variety of health hazards and problems that arise because of a natural disaster.