Committee recommends expanding optometry scope to increase access; ophthalmologists warn of safety gaps

At a committee hearing, the House Health Finance and Policy Committee recommended House File 10‑11 to be placed on the general register after extended debate over expanding the licensed scope of practice for doctors of optometry in Minnesota.

Proponents including the bill sponsor, Chair Representative Bierman, board members and practicing optometrists told the committee the measure modernizes a scope of practice that was last substantially updated more than 20 years ago and will increase patient access to care, especially in rural and underserved areas. “Follow the data, not the anecdotes,” Representative Bierman told the committee as he introduced the bill.

The bill removes some existing restrictions on oral medications and allows a limited set of injections and procedures that supporters said are taught in U.S. optometry programs and already practiced in many states. Tina McCarty, public policy and planning committee chair for the Minnesota Board of Optometry, told the committee the board “has no…