The Bottom Line
MOA has maintained the same position all along with respect to scope of practice areas that must change to modernize Maryland Optometry. They include the following:
*Prescriptive Authority (all FDA approved oral and topical drugs, devices and treatments...excluding opiates and derivatives)
*Independent Management of all ocular diseases
*Foreign Body Removal (lifting restrictions on location and instruments used)
*Authority to Order/Perform Tests for ocular related disease
Our 2018 scope expansion legislation will seek to expand each of the above-listed areas and will also address optometry's growing role in telehealth medicine. For more information on our legislative efforts, please contact me directly via email or by phone at MOA Headquarters at (410) 486-9662.
How Our Story Ends & What To Expect
In Conclusion, and if all goes according to plan (which again, is never a guarantee in politics), our story will end with the passage of legislation next year that will vastly improve the scope of practice of optometry in Maryland. For a long time coming, Maryland optometry will finally be on par with the rest of the country, and you will finally be able to treat your patients to the extent of your training and education!
As I tell my ten year old daughter all the time, "Nothing is life is free!" Unfortunately, this statement is especially true when it comes to any substantive scope of practice change. Though the finish line is in site, and we are closer than ever to realizing a real victory, we need every OD's help to get there.
Expect emails from MOA asking for your help over the next six months. Please support our efforts both financially and on the grassroots level. If we ask for money, please donate. If we ask for you to send correspondence to your legislators, please do so in a timely fashion. Collectively, we are a force to be reckoned with -- and we will succeed. The equation is simple...You choose!
Involvement = VICTORY
Apathy = FAILURE
The sad truth of politics...
"If you want to be treated like a doctor, you have to give like a doctor..."
DONATE NOW!