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Arkansas ODs fail to gain laser procedures
The Arkansas House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor failed to pass proposed legislation that would have expanded the types of ophthalmic surgery performed by optometrists, to permit certain prescriptions and administration of certain pharmaceuticals, and to modernize the practice of optometry in the state.
HB 1251, which failed by a vote of 9-11, would have allowed surgical and nonsurgical treatment and management of conditions of the human eye, lid, adnexa and visual system, including the removal of foreign bodies from the cornea.
Specifically, the bill, which was sponsored by Representative Jon S. Eubanks (R-Paris), would have added vision therapy, low vision rehabilitation, ophthalmic surgery and certain surgical procedures and laser surgery privileges excluding retinal surgery, LASIK and PRK, according to the bill text.