Committee votes to expand privileges in La.

Issue: May 2013

The Louisiana House Committee on Health and Welfare approved legislation April 17 that would allow optometrists in the state to administer injections, perform certain laser procedures and grant the state’s optometry board the authority to dictate the scope of optometry.

HB 527, introduced by Rep. Frank Hoffmann, would allow optometrists to “administer medication by any appropriate means, which means primarily injection; give us certain laser procedures, such as Nd:YAG, peripheral iridotomy and selective laser trabeculoplasty; and allows the optometry board to be the exclusive entity to control the practice of optometry,” James Sandefur, OD, executive director of the Optometry Association of Louisiana, told Primary Care Optometry News in an interview.

“The point of the bill is increased access to improved eye care,” he continued. “Ophthalmologists are in about half of the parishes in Louisiana, and optometrists are in almost all the parishes. This would bring much easier access to these procedures.”

The legislation was scheduled for the house floor April 24, Sandefur said. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS

The Optometry Association of Louisiana can be reached at www.optla.org.