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Colorado legislation clarifies practice, empowers optometry board
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed Senate Bill 11-094, specifically defining the practice of optometry and allowing the Colorado Board of Optometry to decide on new procedures and medications without legislative approval.
“This legislation was about having a practice act that allows the public to understand what optometry is and allows optometrists to provide care to the fullest extent of their education and training,” Gwenne Hume, EdD, executive director of Colorado Optometric Association (COA) told Primary Care Optometry News.
The COA focused on this “Sunset Bill” for 18 months before it was passed, Dr. Hume said.
“Colorado statute requires optometry to go through a sunset process once every 10 years,” Zoey Loomis, OD, CAO immediate past president, explained. “The Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) is tasked with analyzing our profession and introducing a bill to the legislature to continue the licensing process for optometrists.
“The original bill that DORA introduced in January did not include any of the recommendations the COA had worked for, so we made a substantial amendment that included the changes we felt were necessary,” Dr. Loomis said in an interview.
According to Dr. Hume, “There were only two ‘no’ votes throughout the committee hearings and Senate and House floor discussions. Clearly, our bill proposed the correct public policy.”
The new law, in effect since April, clarifies optometry’s scope of practice and provides a clear explanation to the public of the differences between an optometrist and an ophthalmologist, Dr. Hume said.
“The definition of optometry was restated to more directly parallel the definitions of podiatry and dentistry,” she said. “Practice exclusions include surgery as defined in the law, injections other than in the case of anaphylaxis, posterior uveitis and Schedule I and II narcotics.”
The bill specifies 11 items included in the practice of optometry and five items not included. It specifies in which situations postoperative care can be delivered and defines surgery as “any procedure in which human tissue is cut, altered or otherwise infiltrated by mechanical or laser means.”
The bill also allocates the right to rule on new drugs and procedures to the Colorado Board of Optometry.
“This will be a great advantage for the future of Colorado optometry as we will not need to go to the legislature and run a bill each time something new comes onto the optometry scene,” Dr. Loomis said.
It will enable speedy treatment of patients and, “result in an enormous savings in time and money for the COA and ultimately benefit our patient's access to quality eye care” Dr. Loomis added. “State board autonomy will ultimately improve the optometrist’s ability to treat patients more efficiently and effectively. Whether it applies to general practice, clinical trials or research, practicing to the full extent of our education and ability saves our patients time and money in the long run.”
Ophthalmology provided no resistance to the legislation, according to Dr. Hume. “They agreed to the changes that were made and sent a letter of support to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee,” she said. – Caitlin Langley
- Gwenne Hume can be reached at the Colorado Optometric Association, ghume@visioncare.org.
- Zoey K. Loomis, OD, can be reached at the Kiowa Eye Care Center, drloomis.kiowaeyecare@bresnan.net.