Advocacy & Practice Updates — Advocacy & Practice
VA Responds to ASRS Letter on Scope of Practice
Late last week, ASRS received a letter from the U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration (VA) in response to a letter we sent expressing concerns about a potential effort to expand optometrists’ scope of practice in VA facilities.
The ongoing VA “Supremacy” project seeks to develop standard practice guidelines for dozens of health professions providing care in the VA system, including optometrists. These standards would be in effect in all VA facilities and supersede any state licensing regulations.
While the optometry standard has yet to be proposed, ASRS and others in the ophthalmic community are concerned that the opaque development process that precludes any outside input on the draft standards will allow optometrists to expand their current scope of practice.
The VA’s letter acknowledged the concern ASRS expressed for patient safety in our letter and reiterated its commitment to providing high-quality care. The VA also noted the project seeks to develop standards within the existing licensing framework for various professions, but did not commit to seeking retina specialists’ input before the proposed guidance is released publicly. ASRS is monitoring this issue closely and will provide comments when the draft practice guidelines are released.
Published June 8, 2023