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Committee reviews S.64 to create advanced therapeutic specialty for optometrists
Summary
A legislative committee heard extensive testimony on S.64, a bill to create an advanced therapeutic procedure specialty for optometrists that would expand the procedures some optometrists may perform, set education and preceptorship requirements, require national exams and adverse-event reporting, and take effect Jan. 1, 2027 if enacted.
Thursday, Feb. 20 — The Science Committee of Government Operations held an informational hearing on S.64, an act to amend the scope of practice for optometrists to allow a narrowly defined set of additional procedures under a new “advanced therapeutic procedure specialty.”
The bill would add a specialty designation permitting certain optometrists to perform a limited list of surgical and laser procedures to the front of the eye, specified injections and removal of small noncancerous lesions, subject to education, supervised clinical preceptorship, passage of national examinations and reporting requirements. Sen. Reca White, sponsor of the measure, said the expansion is intended to improve access to care for communities near the Vermont–New Hampshire border and elsewhere in the state.
Supporters told the committee the change would increase access to lower-cost, office-based care and free ophthalmologists to focus on more complex surgical cases. Optometrist Dr. Dean Barcelo described the procedures now proposed as “chairside,” short in duration and low risk when performed by credentialed…
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