Sen. Moore’s bill heads to the House of Representatives

February 8, 2010 ... The Senate recently passed legislation that brings Massachusetts one step further in joining the other 49 states in increasing access and reducing costs for eye care and glaucoma treatment. Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, who is Senate Chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, has offered the legislation that allows optometrists to prescribe medications and treat glaucoma. Currently, optometrists are only allowed to co-manage treatment, and patients must visit an ophthalmologist to actually receive prescriptions and direct treatment.

“By joining every other state in the country in allowing optometrists to prescribe and directly treat glaucoma and other eye conditions, the Commonwealth is continuing its leadership in offering cost-effective, streamlined reforms, thereby increasing access and efficiency in our delivery of health care,” Sen. Moore explained. “Passage of this legislation also represents a victory for consumers, as it reduces the need to see two highly qualified caregivers to just one individual. Our elders will particularly benefit from this legislation in an age where multiple health care providers can become less of a benefit and more of an inconvenience.”

In addition to prescribing medication and treating glaucoma, “An Act Relative to the Modernization of Optometric Care” allows optometrists to keep an epinephrine pen (commonly referred to as an “epi-pen”) on site and utilize it in the emergency treatment of anaphylactic shock, as currently permitted with coaches, nurses, and other professions. The legislation also allows optometrists to write limited prescriptions for medications specifically used in the treatment of eye conditions and disease, which are integral to the practice of optometry, including antibiotics for ocular infections and anti-glaucoma medications. The bill protects against optometrists being able to prescribe Schedule II drugs such as oxycontin, and further prohibits the prescription of hallucinogenic drugs and anabolic steroids.

Under current law, optometrists are required to annually obtain 18 hours of continuing education in such coursework as oral medications and the treatment of glaucoma – despite not being able to actually treat the disease in Massachusetts. The bill would bring the Commonwealth in line with 49 other states, the District of Columbia, the federal VA system and military branches in allowing optometrists to treat glaucoma. Optometrists also have oral prescriptive authority in 45 states, D.C., and the federal VA system and military branches.

Further, the legislation mandates an additional 60 hours of continuing education and passage of a new certifying exam for prescriptive medications. The limited prescriptive authority allowed under the bill limits the use of Schedule III medicines for the relief of eye pain – a level of practice which has now become the national standard of care.

It has been found that graduates of Massachusetts schools—notably the New England College of Optometry, are utilizing our education system, then fleeing to other states where they can fully practice their studies. Sen. Moore recently met a lifelong resident of Dudley who attended the New England College of Optometry, and expressed that it was her intention to practice in Connecticut once she graduated, as she could use her training in its entirety. Sen. Moore’s bill would allow disenchanted students to maintain their residency in Massachusetts after schooling, and increase economic opportunity. 

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for further action.

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