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Florida continues to push for oral medications
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ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — Optometrists here are lobbying to have oral medications added to their nearly complete list of topicals, according to Christopher King, OD, president of the Florida Optometric Association (FOA). Therapeutic pharmaceutical agent (TPA) legislation was initially passed here in 1986, but no amplifications have yet been made to the current law.
“We are working on legislation that would expand our ocular medications to include orals and injectables,” Dr. King told Primary Care Optometry News. “We have introduced legislation in each of the past 2 years. We plan to do so again this year and every year until that legislation is adopted.”
Florida optometrists may prescribe topical medications, which fall under any one of six categories: anesthetics, mydriatics and cycloplegics, anti-allergy, anti-inflammatory, anti-infectives and anti-glaucoma medications.
“We have available to us any and all topical medications that fall under those categories,” said Dr. King. “If a new drug becomes available, we will automatically request it be placed in the formulary. If anybody wants to challenge its placement, they have to do so within 60 days; if it isn’t challenged, it automatically becomes added after 60 days.”
The FOA does not anticipate making any changes to the topical end of the legislation, he added. “We feel we have in place a law in which the rules work for us,” he said.
Direct access, hospital access issues
A coalition of health care providers, including both ophthalmologists and optometrists, were involved in a push to pass a direct access bill some years ago, said Dr. King, but failed. “That was defeated soundly by the insurance interests in our state,” he said. “I don’t see that going anywhere in the near future.”
The passage of a hospital access bill has not been successful either, Dr. King noted, but optometrists are seeking to change that. “The two bills — the ocular medication bill and the hospital access bill – are probably on the same timeline,” he said. “We have optometrists on hospital staffs, but we do not have an optometric hospital access rule on the books. We look for those to be enacted about the same time.”
Push for TPA amplification in forefront
Of the approximately 1,600 licensed practicing optometrists in Florida, Dr. King said that very few — 23 or 24 — are not certified in TPA. “You can no longer obtain a noncertified optometry license in Florida,” he said. “So with time, there will be no noncertified optometrists. And I believe that those who are certified are using topicals, at least to some extent.”
While years ago the association spent much of its time dealing with discriminatory practices that exist with optometrists in the insurance industry — where vision services may have been limited to ophthalmologists alone — Dr. King said that TPA legislation is once again the FOA’s main focus.
“We spent at least 4 years in the insurance arena, and our TPA legislation took a back seat, so now we’re changing that,” he said. “I’d like to say that we have a lot to report, but we’ve just started our push for this. This will be our third session, which would be considered a relatively short period of time.”
For Your Information:
- Christopher King, OD, is president of the Florida Optometric Association and is in private group practice. He may be reached at 1800 Placida Rd., Englewood, FL 34223; (941) 475-7991; fax: (941) 475-2066.