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- Destination: Scope expansion
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- West Virginia adds optometric surgical procedures
- Florida optometrists quash effort—again—to pass ‘not-a-doctor’ bill
- South Dakota secures scope expansion for injections, optometric laser procedures
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- Doctors of optometry in New Hampshire earn authorization to provide vaccines to public
- New Texas law halts vision plans’ anti-competitive, monopolistic behaviors
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- Doctors of optometry in Texas and Nevada build bulwark against vision plan abuses
- DeSantis decision delivers historic win for Florida optometrists and patients
- AOA and state affiliates rally to decry and defeat discriminatory ‘not-a-doctor’ bills
- Optometry’s scope wins draw new attacks from medical and ophthalmology groups
- Regional Advocacy Meetings prime states’ advocates for 2023 battles and beyond
- Hubble Contacts fined for deceptive trade practices in Texas
- Scope victory for Colorado
- Regional Advocacy Meetings strengthen states advocacy
- Virginia scope advancement
- 1-800 Contacts’ attempt to undermine law thwarted by Georgia doctors yet again
- MOA rebuff insurers reprisals against Mississippi eye care providers
- New York gains oral medication prescribing authority
- California amends optometry’s approved treatments, medications and testing
- Kansas Insurance Department puts vision plans on notice
- State advocates fighting to defend and advance our profession
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- State Advocacy Summit amplifies lessons from year of historic scope victories
- Texas scope expansion gains doctors oral meds, glaucoma authority
- Wyoming expands scope to include contemporary laser-excision procedures
- Mississippi scope progresses, other states seeing early successes
- 7 states authorize doctors of optometry for COVID-19 vaccinations
- Massachusetts scope win adds glaucoma authority
- Going further-expanding advocacy efforts and educational and professional development efforts
- Pennsylvania and Iowa earn big victories to expand scope of practice
- Optometry patients win in Arkansas as ballot challenge to expanded practice law is invalidated
- VSP policy change may violate states patient protection laws
- Court-appointed official deems signatures at heart of Arkansas scope saga invalid
- Arkansas scope saga necessitates urgent action
- Scope expansion to save Americans billions annually
- State Government Relations Center presenting at Republican Attorneys General Association
- Arkansas secures expanded scope of practice
- Maryland expands scope of practice
- AOA state affiliates blaze path for optometry’s future
- Optometry can contribute high-quality health care at affordable prices
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- NJ Vision Plan Bill 2018
- Massachusetts seeks glaucoma care expansion
- Alaska-Georgia legislative victories
- South Carolina legislators override veto safeguard patients vision health
- Georgia Nebraska advance patient centered legislation
- Indiana navigates telehealth bill exempts ophthalmic devices
- Arizona No on contact lens prescription extension
- Kentucky heralds third party triumph in new law
- State association challenges mobile refractive service
- Texas doctor successfully challenges Aetna’s policy on panels
- Proposed state legislation doesnt address patient safety
- AOA steps up fight against 1 800 Contacts anti patient legislation
- Louisiana Governor Jindal signs expanded scope of practice bill
FTC, DOJ weigh in on Massachusetts’ glaucoma care expansion
February 25, 2016
Legislators considering bill to expand scope of practice.
Tag(s): Advocacy, State Advocacy
Federal antitrust authorities encourage legislators in Massachusetts to consider expanding optometry's scope of practice, allowing for treatment of glaucoma.
Introduced by Rep. Patricia Haddad (D-5 th Dist. Bristol), H. 1973, referred to as "an act relative to the modernization of optometric patient care," could do just that in the last remaining state where doctors' of optometry legal scope of practice falls short of glaucoma care.
Currently under consideration, H. 1973 would allow doctors of optometry in Massachusetts to "utilize and prescribe topical and oral therapeutic pharmaceutical agents" to diagnose, prevent, correct, manage or treat the disease. If caught early enough, glaucoma—the second leading cause of blindness worldwide—not only can be managed to mitigate vision loss risk, but also at a lower cost to the patient.
In December 2015, Rep. Bradley Jones Jr. (R-20 th Dist. Middlesex)—who also introduced H. 1983, "an act relative to optometrists" to show bipartisan support for expanding doctors' of optometry scope of practice—requested both the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) Office of Policy Planning, Bureau of Competition and Bureau of Economics, and the Department of Justice's (DOJ's) Antitrust Division to comment on the possible competitive impact from such legislation.
In that joint response, released Feb. 18, 2016, the federal agencies noted how doctors of optometry "serve as a first line of defense" to "facilitate earlier diagnosis and less costly treatment of glaucoma," and excluding doctors of optometry from offering such glaucoma care "may limit price competition to serve these patients."
The response continues: "Under current law, however, Massachusetts prohibits optometrists from treating glaucoma. Unwarranted restrictions may be reducing patient access, raising costs and foreclosing opportunities for early treatment. For these reasons, we encourage the legislature to consider whether patient welfare can be appropriately served by loosening this restriction."
Michael Stokes, AOA general counsel, says it's notable that the federal government has decided to speak out so directly about this legislation.
"The expressed views of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division reflect a great deal of expertise, authoritative research and deliberation, and carry a great deal of weight in policy discussions," Stokes says.