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OPINIONS
Ratcliff: Optometry bill is good for West Virginia's citizens
Thanks to the dedication of many in our state Legislature, you may soon enjoy better access to quality eye care.
The legislation would change an antiquated law as to how doctors of optometry are regulated. It would allow the Board of Optometry, as other health-based boards do, to oversee that new education, training and treatments are appropriately available to the citizens of West Virginia.
The change would allow doctors of optometry, who get the training and certification, to do some in-office minor surgical procedures, injections of medications around the eye to best treat certain conditions, and to do some minimally invasive laser procedures.
As legislators have learned, much of the basic education that dentists, medical doctors and doctors of optometry receive is very comparable. Dentists, of course, learn more specifics about the care to the oral cavity, while medical doctors learn more about the whole body, and doctors of optometry learn more about treating the eyes.
After completing their respective doctoral training, dentists and medical practitioners every day give injections, do minor surgical procedures in their offices, and now, in many instances, use lasers to provide the latest care for their patients. This legislation would allow doctors of optometry to provide similar services to the patients of West Virginia for the latest eye care.
Just as a dentist providing medical care or general practitioner does in medicine, if a more involved concern arises, the dental patient is sent to an oral surgeon, the patient with significant medical concerns is sent to a specialist or surgeon, and a patient having more involved problems with their eyes will still be sent to an ophthalmologist who specialize in the care they need. But for a patient to be forced to see a surgeon or specialist for more minor concerns is unnecessary!
This type of additional care has been available to patients in other areas of the United States for many years with no reported adverse outcomes or complaints to the overseeing boards.
This bill has built into it many restrictions and safeguards to assure patient safety. Add to this the fact that doctors of optometry or optometric physicians have an excellent record of being committed to quality eye care.
Passage of this bill, allowing them to practice in the full extent of their training, will result in patients in West Virginia having access at less cost for the latest care. This is what they expect and deserve.
So support for this bill and our elected officials in favor of this change is good for each community and all of West Virginia. We can show that we are progressive in West Virginia.
Dr. William L. Ratcliff, whose practice is in Huntington, is president of the West Virginia Optometric Association.
