Patients living in Texas’ rural areas have access to ophthalmologists just as they do to other medical specialists such as cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons or oncologists.
SPECIAL INTERESTS MAKING FALSE CLAIMS TO JUSTIFY LOWERING STANDARDS
Under the false claims that rural Texas needs more access to eye doctors, special interests are calling on Texas to allow optometrists, who lack medical degrees or years of residency training, to:
- Conduct eye laser surgeries and scalpel procedures;
- Prescribe medicines; and
- Manage glaucoma patients without the oversight of physician.
RURAL PATIENTS SHOULD NOT SETTLE FOR LOWER QUALITY CARE
Texans living in rural areas should not have to settle for a different, lower tier of medical care than Texans living in larger cities. All citizens deserve safe, quality eye care.
LOWERING STANDARDS FOR ALL TEXANS WILL NOT CAUSE OPTOMETRISTS TO LEAVE METRO AREAS
There is absolutely no evidence — in Texas or elsewhere — to support the notion that allowing optometrists to expand their scope of services beyond their training would cause them to rush to rural communities to treat patients.
Some might, but more likely than not, they would continue to cluster in metropolitan communities where they can see more patients.