New Wyoming law expands scope of optometric care, adds laser procedures
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Wyoming becomes the second state in 2021 to pass a bill expanding the scope of optometry to include laser procedures.
On April 2, Governor Mark Gordon signed into law Wyoming HB 39, which permits optometrists to perform YAG laser capsulotomy, selective laser trabeculoplasty and laser iridotomy and deliver anesthesia or intra-lesion steroid treatment to the ocular adnexa by injection. The law, which will go into effect July 1, 2021, also expands drug prescription authority.
“House Enrolled Act 39 allows for Wyoming doctors of optometry to practice full scope contemporary optometry,” Dana L. Day, OD, a practitioner with the Eye Institute of Wyoming and past president of the Wyoming Optometric Association, told Primary Care Optometry News. “It amended and redefined the practice of optometry in Wyoming by allowing full prescriptive drug authority excluding Schedule I and II narcotics except for hydrocodone. This restored the ability to provide proper pain management for patients when hydrocodone-containing medications were reclassified by the FDA from a Schedule III to a Schedule II narcotic.”
Day said that prior to this reclassification, Wyoming optometrists had been responsibly prescribing hydrocodone-containing narcotics to their patients without incident. However, certain classes of medications such as steroids, immunosuppressives and antifungals had been previously restricted, and the new law has removed these restrictions.
He also noted that, as the bill was just signed, the Wyoming Board of Examiners in Optometry has not yet established the full criteria and that additional credentialing may be necessary.
“Ultimately, Wyoming residents will have additional treatment options available to them for certain ocular conditions,” Day said. “Thus, they will no longer be required to be referred to a tertiary provider, which resulted in additional indirect costs such as repeat examination, travel time and expense, additional time away from work, and delay in the initiation of treatment.”
Day said that Wyoming saw similar opposition that other states have faced from both the local ophthalmological society, the medical society and certain national interest groups such as Safe Surgery, but with the “successful grassroots efforts of the members of the Wyoming Optometric Association and executive director Kari Cline, we were able to see that opposition decrease in 2021.”
Day noted that their efforts were greatly aided by the American Optometric Association’s State Government Relations Committee.
In addition, he said, “The success of Wyoming’s legislative efforts resides squarely on the incredible involvement of the members of the Wyoming Optometric Association. Wyoming has always boasted a high membership percentage, which resulted in a more unified approach to scope expansion. Many of our doctors provided financial support, but it was the volunteer time and personal relationships with the legislators that were the key to this legislative win. The ability to communicate with a personal text to our legislators during committee hearings or floor debate was paramount.”
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts