In 2021, the VA launched a project to establish national standards of practice for more than 50 categories of health professionals, including optometrists, nurses, and physician assistants. The VA has stated that these standards could override state laws governing scope of practice and health professional licensure. It could also override the VA’s policy that restricts the performance of laser eye surgery to ophthalmologists.
In fact, on September 19, 2023, the VA testified before the House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee that it is considering allowing optometrists “to practice and operate within the full scope of their license in VA facilities.”
We know that the American Optometric Association and other national optometry organization are pressing Congress to support a national standard of practice that expands the scope of practice for VHA-employed optometrists. Therefore, it is imperative that legislators hear from ophthalmologists about the importance of protecting veterans’ eyesight.
Please take a moment to urge your lawmakers to urge the VA to not adopt an optometry scope of practice standard that would have a detrimental impact on your state’s veterans. Let them know that veterans deserve the highest quality standards of surgical eye care.
If you are an ophthalmologist practicing in a state that has expanded optometrists’ scope of practice, you can provide your lawmakers with unique insight on how this expansion has impacted patients. You can customize the Academy’s template email to share examples of the problems you have seen since passage of the optometric scope of practice laws/rules in your state.