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Louisiana gains oral controlled substances privileges
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Legislation was recently passed in Louisiana that would allow optometrists to prescribe oral controlled substances and Schedule III, IV and V drugs.
Senate Bill 265, now Act #6, expanded the optometric scope of practice, which had previously included only topical medications, oral antibiotics and oral antihistamines.
“The bill passed without a dissenting vote in either house,” said James D. Sandefur, OD, executive director of the Optometry Association of Louisiana. “The reason for this was that we had meetings with optometry and ophthalmology prior to introducing the legislation.”
Meeting of the minds
These meetings with ophthalmology prior to the introduction of the legislation were instrumental to the passing of the bill. “The ophthalmologists wanted a definition of ophthalmic surgery, which is prohibited to optometrists,” Dr. Sandefur told Primary Care Optometry News. “So a definition was crafted, and we agreed to that.”
Under this definition, certain procedures were specified as within the scope of optometric practice. These procedures included dilation and irrigation of lacrimal ducts, insertion and removal of lacrimal plugs, foreign body removal from superficial ocular tissue, suture removal, removal of eyelashes, incision and draining of superficial lesions of the eye and corneal shaping with external ophthalmic devices, such as contact lenses.
“So, we reached an agreement on those things, and part of the agreement was that we could prescribe those three schedules of controlled substances,” he said.
The meetings were attended by the chairman of the Health and Welfare Committee and the president of the Senate, Dr. Sandefur said. “Once we had an agreement, both sides agreed that there would be no opposition, so the bill passed both sides of the legislature,” he said.
Dr. Sandefur said such a smooth passage is unusual in the area of optometric legislation. “Normally, there is plenty of opposition,” he said.
Benefits of the legislation
Dr. Sandefur said the legislation will have many benefits to practitioners and patients alike. Among the most significant is the fact that Louisiana optometrists will now have DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] numbers, he said.
“We currently do not have DEA numbers, because we can’t prescribe these substances,” he said. “And because we don’t have DEA numbers, many third-party carriers will not fill our prescriptions for anything, because they need DEA numbers to file the claim.”
This has had a negative impact on quality of patient care, Dr. Sandefur said. “It’s unfair to our patients that they can’t get their claims reimbursed when they go to an optometrist, just because we don’t have DEA numbers,” he said. “This will fix that.”
For Your Information:
- James D. Sandefur, OD, is executive director of the Louisiana Optometric Association. He can be reached at 115 B North 13th St., Oakdale, LA 71463; (318) 335-0675; fax: (318) 335-0677.