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One of my favorite songs starts with the words, “I can only imagine what it will be like….”   These same words could have been said by optometrists practicing fifty years ago about our practice today and what it will be like if Senate Bill 1406 is passed. When asked about drugs and therapeutics in the ‘50’s, 1954 SCCO graduate Byron Newman, OD said, “We had no idea about drugs in the 50s. In fact, we were struggling to keep dispensing and the MD’s were even against that. We had a slogan: A lens is not a pill." As a 1981 SCCO graduate, I remember knowing how to diagnose conjunctivitis and what treatment was needed, but had to ask the patient to see yet another doctor for a prescription. While we can now write the Rx for eye infections, we still have to ask our patients to see another doctor when we diagnose glaucoma. This bill, if passed, will rectify this double visit.

SB 1406 removes existing statutory restrictions on optometric practice that operate as barriers to efficient, effective primary care, and redefines the regulatory model for optometry in a manner consistent with medicine and dentistry in California, and optometry as practiced in most other states. Senate Bill 1406 as introduced, defines optometric scope of practice generally and delegates responsibility for licensing, setting qualifications, and enforcement to the State Board of Optometry and properly-accredited professional entities. 

As  today’s health care proposals look at expanding care and cutting costs, one aspect that  is underutilized is the idea of allowing providers to practice to the full extent of their training. Because optometrists practice in 54 of California’s 58 counties, this bill will provide better access to quality eye care, especially in rural areas, where there are few ophthalmologists. At Keyperson Day on April 15, an OD stood up and said he practiced in a rural area of northwest California, where there are no ophthalmologists. Our current law is also a hardship in urban areas where many patients are unable to travel across town to an ophthalmologist. Ask COA for a DVD that illustrates this point at Dr. Hilary Hawthorne’s office, an OD in South-Central Los Angeles.

We take more than 100 classroom hours in pharmacology, equal to that of medical practitioners, dentists, and podiatrists. Yet we are limited in what we can prescribe. SB 1406 will allow us to practice as we have been taught, similar to 41 other states that allow OD’s to treat glaucoma without an ophthalmologist consult. 

If you would like to practice as you have been taught and trained, I ask you to visit your local Assemblyman or State Senator and urge them to vote in favor of this bill. If we all do our part, I can only imagine what it will be like… another fifty years from now.