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Legislative split over expanding optometrists’ scope of practice
Summary
Legislative staff outlined S.64 to create an 'advanced therapeutic procedure' specialty for Vermont optometrists; supporters said it would improve rural access, while physicians and some lawmakers warned about invasiveness, patient volume and supervision requirements.
Legislative Council attorney Janet Harvey told the Health & Welfare Committee that S.64 would expand the statutory definition of optometry to include ‘‘therapeutic pharmaceutical agents’’ and create an "advanced therapeutic procedure specialty" that licensed optometrists could seek after meeting new education, preceptorship and examination requirements. "There is a definition of adverse event, definition of therapeutic pharmaceutical agent," Harvey said as she reviewed the bill's sections.
The bill would require additional continuing education for licensees holding the specialty, a supervised preceptorship with clinical hours on live patients, and written and clinical exams administered by the National…
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