West Virginia law could expand optometrist scope of practice, bar laser surgery

The West Virginia State Legislature passed a bill Saturday night that could expand the scope of optometric practice in that state. Provisions allowing optometrists to perform laser surgery were eliminated from the measure.

The House approved the bill by a vote of 84 to 10, and the Senate approved it by a margin of 28 to 5. A conference committee reconciled the two versions. According to state law, Gov. Joe Manchin must sign or veto the bill within 15 days of the bill’s formal presentation to his office.

An original draft of the bill passed by the Senate on Feb. 22 included provisions allowing optometrists to perform certain laser surgery procedures for glaucoma. The House Health Committee removed the two provisions on March 10.

"We were successful in getting the two major issues out of the bill on the last day, [one of] which was allowing optometrists to perform laser surgery,” Nancy Tonkin, executive director of the West Virginia Academy of Ophthalmology, said in an interview with OCULAR SURGERY NEWS. "There’s a prohibition now in our law for them to use therapeutic lasers."

The bill allows the state Board of Optometry to propose any procedure that is taught at 50% of schools of optometry in the country, Chad Robinson, executive director of the West Virginia Optometric Association, told OSN.

"That's a great part of the bill," Mr. Robinson said. "This gives the board more authority. It allows the board to regulate optometry in the state and not by statute. That's the biggest win in the whole legislation. Our state board, which regulates the profession, is now allowed to regulate the profession more by rules than by legislative statute."

The bill allows optometrists to inject therapeutic agents near the eye, order diagnostic lab tests and prescribe more medications. In addition, it allows the use of EpiPens and prohibits injections into the globe of the eye.

The measure allows the prescription and distribution of contact lenses that contain and deliver pharmaceutical agents approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It also allows the Board of Optometry to add new drugs to its formulary of prescription of drugs that have new drug indications without having to negotiate the legislative rule-making process.

The law also allows optometrists to use non-invasive methods to remove a foreign body from the ocular surface; remove a foreign body from the superficial exterior using topical anesthesia; remove embedded foreign bodies or concretions from the conjunctiva using topical anesthesia; use forceps to perform epilation of the eye lashes; perform closure of the punctum by use of a plug; and dilate the lacrimal puncta with or without irrigation.

Follow OSNSuperSite.com on Twitter.