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Senate bill calls for increase in vision safety
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The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety applauded the passage of a bill in the U.S. Senate that instructs the CDC to examine eye health research findings to increase patients’ vision safety and to update its reports on the burdens of keratitis and contact lens-related infection.
“The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety has worked diligently with lawmakers to ensure patients have a more complete understanding of vision health facts and potential dangers from using contact lenses sold by online retailers that may not have been prescribed, verified and properly fit by an eye doctor,” alliance chairwoman, Deanna Alexander, OD, said in a press release from the group.
The bill, HR 6157, the third Fiscal Year 2019 minibus appropriations bill, passed the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support with a vote of 85-7.
“This package is extremely important to the security and prosperity of this nation,” Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said in a separate press release. “The legislation also provides a significant increase in funding to advance medical research, improve rural health care and fight the opioid crisis.”