Missouri has an eye health care crisis. Let optometrists do what they’re trained for | Opinion
Eye cancer robbed my grandmother of her sight. It was 1945 in La Monte, Missouri, a time of few resources for the visually impaired — yet Marjorie Curtis persevered and became a schoolteacher. Inspired by her story and determined to improve access to essential eye health services in rural parts of Pettis, Ray and Lafayette counties, I became an optometrist nearly 30 years ago.
Yet today, Missouri law needlessly blocks patients from receiving the full range of optometric care and services. This limitation must be corrected because in Missouri, 7 in 10 counties have no practicing ophthalmologist. However, nearly every county has at least one optometrist. Missouri’s rules are out of date, and patients are paying the price.
Still, in 2024, Missouri bans optometrists from performing selective laser trabeculoplasty, YAG posterior capsulotomy and YAG peripheral iridotomy to treat glaucoma and provide after-cataract surgery care, even though we are expertly trained to perform these procedures through undergraduate and graduate medical training and years of continuing education.
With an aging population, demand for these procedures is increasing. This is why the Missouri Optometric Association supports Senate Bill 956 and House Bill 1963, measures that would modernize the state’s optometric scope of practice — something that’s already been done successfully in nearly a dozen other states.
Unfortunately, the current lack of access to care impacts Missourians in underserved and rural areas the most through the added expense of referrals to specialists whose offices are often significant distances away. This results in unnecessary duplication of care and lost time from work.
Luckily, many of these complications could be solved by expanding access to affordable, quality eye and vision care delivered by doctors of optometry.
More than 8 in 10 Americans already trust their primary eye health care to an optometrist. At a time when half of ophthalmologists are closer to retirement than training, the optometric workforce is projected to grow 1.4% annually. Here in the Midwest, the federal Health Resources and Services Administration projects a shortage of 1,710 ophthalmologists by next year.
Misinformation on this topic can be rampant, so it’s crucial to understand that becoming a licensed doctor of optometry isn’t easy. Overall, the professional education includes general medicine with a concentration on the study of eye health and vision care. Doctors of optometry are trained in the diagnosis and treatment of ocular disease conditions, including performing laser procedures and minor surgical procedures of the eyelids and nearby parts of the face. In addition to completing years of extensive classroom study, hands-on clinical experience and concentrated disease exposure, optometry school graduates must pass a comprehensive examination to prove competence and skill before a license to practice is granted.
Doctors of optometry are highly educated, skilled and licensed professionals who play a critical role in protecting eye and vision health care. The bottom line: With more doctors of optometry geographically accessible, particularly in underserved areas, expanding their scope of practice makes good sense.
I urge our elected officials to make the right choice by increasing patients’ access to doctors of optometry. To learn more about how you can make a difference, please visit the Missouri Optometric Association’s website about this legislation at TrustedEyeCareMissouri.com