- 650+ reasons why these powerhouse state sessions are advancing optometry
- Study: ‘Unprecedented’ optometry scope of practice expansion benefits patients
- Major victory for West Virginia patients, optometrists
- North Dakota secures telemedicine provisions, ignites grassroots advocacy
- How to build productive relationships with legislators
- Why you should fight for scope expansion
- Committee spotlight: AOA’s State Government Relations Committee
- How Arkansas’ major VBM law delivers on calls to promote fairness, doctor-patient relationships
- Texas optometrists mount defense in court and legislature of landmark law on vision plan abuses
- The case for expanding scope of optometry
- In rural America, opportunity for optometry amid shortfall of ophthalmologists
- Destination: Scope expansion
- Double duty: Doctors of optometry bring their vision to state legislatures
- 'High value' strategy sessions prep states’ advocacy
- VBM abuses scrutinized by state policy think tank, U.S. Senate opens new investigation
- AOA, affiliates’ foundational advocacy work advancing optometry
- South Carolina judge overrules Visibly challenge to consumer protection law
- Oklahoma secures optometry’s latest win over vision plan abuses
- What kind of impact is optometry making on the nation’s eye health?
- ‘Profits over patients cannot continue’ with VBMs; Texas testifies at health insurance hearing
- Kentucky attorney general holds Warby Parker accountable for its online vision test
- New York assembly bill potentially sows division in health care
- California warily watches ‘not-a-doctor’ wording in Senate bill
- Latest: Texas defends landmark vision plan law
- 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
- Affiliates, AOA preparing for fresh attacks on optometry: 'Not-a-doctor' bills are back
- Texas vision plan law, now in effect, sees favorable development in federal lawsuit
- Proposal in Utah would restrict contact lens patient choice, disrupt doctor-patient relationship
- Affiliates, AOA share forward-thinking strategies for optometry’s advocates
- Texas’ vision plan law takes effect, court challenge continues
- Doctors of optometry in New Hampshire earn authorization to provide vaccines to public
- New Texas law halts vision plans’ anti-competitive, monopolistic behaviors
- Affiliates’ advocacy teams prepare to convene for meeting of the minds
- 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
- The scope of success
- 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
- AOA president Driving change
- 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
- FTC DOJ weigh in on Massachusetts glaucoma care expansion
- 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
YAG procedures by doctors of optometry, after cataract surgery, better for patients’ care and convenience
July 13, 2023
Survey of 10 states, where doctors of optometry are certified to perform the YAG capsulotomy to treat complications from cataract surgery, finds patients are more likely to get in to see their doctors of optometry for the laser eye surgery than their ophthalmologists, and many see cost savings. Survey results provide evidence or grounds for further optometric scope expansion to other states, especially in light of workforce shortages.
Tag(s): Advocacy, State Advocacy
When states authorize doctors of optometry to perform capsulotomies after cataract surgery, patients reap the benefits in convenience, shorter wait times and continuity of care for the fairly common procedure, according to a new survey by the AOA Research & Information Committee (RIC).
The RIC survey looked at states where doctors of optometry can or do currently perform capsulotomies: Alaska (2017), Arkansas (2019), Colorado (the latest, in 2022), Indiana (2015), Kentucky (2011), Louisiana (2014), Mississippi (2021), Oklahoma (the first, in 1998), Virginia (2022) and Wyoming (2021)—half of them in the past four years. The survey found that more than half of doctors of optometry who responded (56%) reported providing YAG laser capsulotomies in their practices and an overwhelming majority (89%) have the availability to perform the procedures within a week.
Among the survey’s results:
- 89% of doctors of optometry report scheduling availability to perform YAG in their offices within one week or less. Comparatively, doctors of optometry reported that only 9% of their patients were able to see their ophthalmologists in a week or less.
- 35% of necessary YAG procedures by doctors of optometry are performed in the office on the same day.
- 97% report patient satisfaction in convenience of having YAG performed in an optometrist’s office.
- 95% report satisfaction and value in the continuity of care provided when YAG is performed by their doctor of optometry.
- 46% report patient satisfaction with direct cost savings when YAG procedures are performed in their local doctor’s office.
“The AOA RIC survey demonstrates that patients benefit from optometric scope expansion allowing doctors of optometry to provide YAG laser surgery in their offices,” say the survey’s results, recently published in a report by the AOA Health Policy Institute. “Patients’ treatment is typically delayed, often by weeks, when they must be referred to an ophthalmologist for the procedure. Ophthalmologists often require a consultation with the patient prior to scheduling the YAG procedure after a doctor of optometry has already diagnosed and referred the patient for care resulting in multiple copays, visits and costs associated with time and travel.
“Patients value the convenience of having necessary procedures performed by their primary doctor of optometry in their local office with a flexible schedule allowing most procedures to be performed on the same day or within a week,” the report continues. “Patients value continuity of care and trust the quality of care received by their doctor of optometry.”
The survey was in the field from April 5-28, 2023.
Demand for capsulotomies increases
Ninety million Americans over the age of 40 have vision problems, including 25.4 million of them with cataracts.
Meanwhile, the number of ophthalmologists able to meet surgical demand is declining; 50% of ophthalmologists, for instance, are closer to retirement than training. The Health Resources and Services Administration predicts a shortage of more than 6,000 ophthalmologists by 2025. The number of doctors of optometry, meanwhile, will remain steady; the optometric workforce is projected to grow 1.4% annually—that’s a rate greater than the U.S. population, the AOA report says. Read more about the AOA’s letter to two members of Congress on how to address workforce shortages in health care.
The purpose of the survey was to consider the benefits and value patients experience when doctors of optometry are authorized to perform YAG capsulotomies. The RIC’s online survey examined patient experience prior to and after optometric scope expansion authorizing doctors of optometry to perform YAG laser capsulotomies in those 10 states. A total of 5,645 doctors were invited to participate in the survey. The survey received 406 qualified responses from practicing doctors of optometry.
YAG capsulotomies are performed in response to a complication following cataract surgery (called secondary cataract or posterior capsule opacification [PCO]), which can occur in 20% to 50% of cases. Patients with PCO may experience post-surgical blurriness or haziness in their vision, light halos, an inability to perceive contrasts and colors, or decline in visual acuity after cataract surgery.
Doctors of optometry are able to diagnose PCO through comprehensive eye examinations. PCO is treated with YAG laser capsulotomy, which is a noninvasive procedure that can be done in the doctor’s office.
“Patients should not have to delay their eye care procedures or incur unnecessary costs for multiple visits or added travel when doctors of optometry are fully trained to perform these procedures,” the HPI report concludes. “Doctors of optometry are in a unique position to fill the gap for YAG surgery (and other ophthalmic procedures) as they are locally accessible to patients in 78% of all U.S. counties and county equivalents and 82% of counties or county equivalents where most of the population is rural.”
Register for AOA Regional Advocacy Meetings
Have you signed up to attend one of the regional advocacy meetings across the country?
The meetings gather affiliates’ grassroots advocates, leadership and volunteers for best-practices discussions and a workshop-style approach to work on honing states’ advocacy strategies. Building on the overwhelming success of last year’s inaugural meetings, this year’s AOA State Government Relations Center (SGRC) Regional Advocacy Meetings promote a collaborative environment with seasoned statehouse veterans to put affiliates’ advocacy strategies first. The meetings are:
- AOA SGRC Regional Advocacy Meeting Eastern | Atlanta| Aug. 18-19
- AOA SGRC Regional Advocacy Meeting Central | Chicago | Sept. 15-16
- AOA SGRC Regional Advocacy Meeting Western | San Diego | Oct. 13-14
AOA SGRC Regional Advocacy Meetings are supported by Johnson & Johnson Vision, Lumenis, the Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety and SightSciences. Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to try out a laser with a hands-on demonstration by Lumenis.