Dr Hom and I are pleased to announce this collaborative effort. After exchanging a series of tweets, it became clear that Optometrists and Ophthalmologists work together in caring for patients with eye diseases but these patterns can differ depending on our communities. We hope that by contributing articles to this space with comments by other Optometrists and Ophthalmologists, that we can better care for our patients. Please add your comments to the articles as they appear below. (Your comments will be reviewed before they appear.) -- Dr Robert Schertzer
This is meant to represent the collective opinion of what Ophthalmologists believe are in the best interest of caring for patients with glaucoma. So, rush over to visit the guidelines in full text that are now in press, then hurry back here to add your comments and lets get talking!
On December 9, 2010, the Office of Administrative Law approved California Code of Regulation (CCR) Section 1571, Requirements for Glaucoma Certification. In surmmary, by Jan 8, 2011 the Board of Optometry will have new avenues to certify optometrists across the state of California for glaucoma care.
Ever since AB 949 was approved in 1997 or so, glaucoma care has been constrained by an complex set of requirements and processes that led only 250 of the state’s optometrists to being certified, less than 10% of the state’s number of optometrists. The new SB 1406 law that is the basis of the new regulations will vastly streamline this process and thus will expand the number of optometrists who can become certified to manage glaucoma.
There is a strong foundation for optometry and ophthalmology collaboration in the California and it is unlikely that this will change dramatically with the new regulations.
Updated on Friday, July 22, 2011 at 11:56AM by
Robert M Schertzer, MD, MEd, FRCSC
What is best for our patients needs to be our guide with respect to managing patients with glaucoma. What should this model look like? Is it a collaborative model between Optometrists and Ophthalmologists or adversarial? The challenge now is to remember to keep care focused on the patient and not on turf wars as we begin Optometry/Ophthalmology discussions on how to achieve these goals. Please read this article and post comments that could be helpful in my collaborating with my colleagues.
Updated on Friday, July 22, 2011 at 12:04PM by
Robert M Schertzer, MD, MEd, FRCSC
On May 1, 2010 the BC Government is going to blind-side the people of our province by making it no longer necessary to get a proper eye examination in order to buy glasses or contact lenses. The cost-benefit analysis of the HST is something the government of BC may indeed be correct about, but the concept that both Health Services Minister Kevin Falcon and the right honourable Premier Gordon Campbell have stated that there is no such thing as an asymptomatic eye condition has no basis on reality and is blatant ignorance of how the eye gets ravaged by diseases that can sneak up on us all.
