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Bobby Jindal Signs Bill Authorizing Optometrists to Perform Eye Surgery
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Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law a bill to allow optometrists perform certain eye surgeries that were previously limited to ophthalmologists.
Supporters of the bill, which Jindal’s office announced Thursday (June 5) had been signed into law, say the move expands access to eye care, especially for residents in rural areas. Its opponents call it an effort by optometrists to obtain approval to perform lucrative eye surgery though legislation rather than education.
Optometrists do not attend medical school. Upon receiving an undergraduate degree, they attend four years of optometry school.
Ophthalmologists, upon receiving an undergraduate degree, attend four years of medical school followed by four years of residences training in which they learn and perform surgery.
House Bill 1065, sponsored by Rep. Rogers Pope, R-Denham Springs, requires that any optometrist who wants authorization must undergo a training period, the timing of which will be set after adoption in the law. Bill supporters have indicated the training period would likely last 32 hours — 16 for laser surgery and 16 for lid surgery.
The short training period prompted a Baton Rouge ophthalmologist Dr. Pamela Williams to warn a Senate Health and Welfare Committee panel in May that “surgery cannot and should not be learned in a weekend course.”
Similar legislation failed to pass the Louisiana Legislature in the past, but a more tightly tailored version of it helped dissuade concerns of some lawmakers. The bill Jindal signed bans optometrists from performing any procedures requiring stitches or general anesthesia. It also specifies optometrists cannot perform vision correction surgery, such as LASIK.
“There is no sticking needles into the eyeball. No cutting into the eye with a scalpel,” said Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, in support of the bill on the Senate floor May 21.
With Jindal’s signature, Louisiana joins two other states that allow optometrists to perform eye surgery. Oklahoma has allowed it for years. Up to 30 states have mulled similar legislation in recent years, but Kentucky — and now Louisiana — are the only ones to have adopted it into law.
Note:
OMIC does not insure optometrists who perform surgery, whether laser or incisional. We based this decision on the lack of data available on this liability risk and on our assessment that the company does not have the expertise to properly underwrite, rate, and administer claims arising from surgical procedures performed by optometrists. Due to the related vicarious liability risks, OMIC is not willing to extend coverage to any policyholder that employs optometrists who perform surgery or to any outpatient surgical facility at which optometrists operate. Coverage of optometrists who perform intraocular injections (if permitted by scope of practice laws) requires physician review.
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