DeSantis vetoes bill that would limit health care provider designations
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis today vetoed Senate Bill 230, which would have prohibited a doctor of optometry from using the term “optometric physician” and made it a felony to do so.
“Governor DeSantis’s decisive action today is a powerful message of support for and recognition of optometry’s essential and expanding role in health care,” American Optometric Association President Ronald L. Benner, OD, told Healio.
The bill, “An Act Relating to Health Care Practitioner Titles and Designations,” would have subjected optometrists to felony prosecution if they used the term optometric physician, which would have been “an egregious and abusive overreach of governmental enforcement for a civil offense,” the Florida Optometric Association (FOA) stated earlier.
After the veto, the FOA provided a statement to Healio: “It is with sincere gratitude that the governor was able to see that SB 230 discriminated against the honorable profession of optometry, and that the role optometrists play in the delivery of quality eye care for all Floridians will not be diminished or tarnished in any way.”
“The Florida Optometric Association fought and prevailed in a challenging battle and did so by remaining confident in the knowledge that truth, fairness and the needs of patients across the Sunshine State would prevail,” Benner said. “I’m proud to say thank you to Governor DeSantis, the FOA and colleagues from across the country who helped ensure that our profession was heard loud and clear.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated June 7, 2023, to include a statement from the FOA.
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