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Posts Tagged ‘Government’

What Should be the Line between Optometry and Ophthalmology?

David Langford, O.D. on May 10th, 2011 under Optoblog •  Comments Off on What Should be the Line between Optometry and Ophthalmology?

Kentucky now joins Oklahoma as the only states that explicitly allow optometrists to perform laser surgery on/around the eyes and even lumps and bumps removal.  (Read the article here.  H/T to kevinmd.  Also see a news article here.)

When people ask me what’s the difference between an ophthalmologist and an optometrist, I always like to say, “Optometrists do everything an ophthalmologist does except surgeries.”  (By the way, I don’t consider foreign body removal a surgery. Chalazion removal- yes, definitely a surgery.)  Even one of the ophthalmologists in the feature story seems to agree with that statement:

“We draw the philosophical line in the sand with surgery,” says Dr. David Parke, chief executive officer of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Of course, proponents of the bill think that allowing ODs to perform laser surgeries is good for people because, as Governor Beshear explains:

“I signed Senate Bill 110 to give Kentuckians greater access to necessary eye care.”

Now, I would probably refute that it gives people, particularly rural people, greater access to eye care. For a doctor to buy all the necessary equipment to perform a YAG capsulotomy, he would need to invest in a pretty expensive piece of equipment. To keep up payments, he would have to do a lot of procedures. How many YAGs does a rural optometrist usually see a month? Probably not a lot. How far away is the surgeon who did the patient’s cataract surgery in the first place? Probably not that far.

subtenon injection

subtenon injection


subtenon injection materials

subtenon injection materials

Optometrists are already trained in school to do periocular injections, but can an optometrist be trained to do YAGs? Absolutely. It’s an easily learned skill that is widely studied for potential complications and side effects. This stuff is not magic- it just needs training. But it’s also a skill that, if not done regularly, can get lost. If I had a patient tomorrow that needed a subtenon’s injection, I would have to refer them out because I haven’t had to do one since leaving optometry school. No way would I feel comfortable. I also think that it’s in the patient’s best interest to have a procedure done by someone who does that particular procedure regularly.

Anyway, I kind of like my definition of optometrist. What do you all think?

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Shriners to Take Insurance Money but Not Patient Cash

David Langford, O.D. on October 19th, 2010 under Optoblog •  Comments Off on Shriners to Take Insurance Money but Not Patient Cash

Apparently it’s possible to take insurance without having to collect any copays or deductibles from patients. That’s news to me. Apparently Medicare and Medicaid have a waiver you can get to allow this scenario, but the article leads me to believe that with “private” insurances you can just drop the copay. Huh.

The libertarian in me thinks that ideally I should be able to collect or not collect with impunity, but I was sure current contractual agreements with “private” insurers required that I always collect.

(Note: I put quotes around “private” insurance since Obamacare effectively takes the free out of free enterprise.)

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Congressmen, VOTE NO on Healthcare Takeover

David Langford, O.D. on March 18th, 2010 under Optoblog •  1 Comment

What Obama and Pelosi and Reid and the democrats are doing with the “Healthcare Bill” is not reform, it is a full speed statist takeover. It is so far removed from our U.S. Constitution that it should have gone through the constitutional amendment process instead of an “up or down vote,” let alone exploring to “deem and pass.”

We have a bunch of leftists running our country and Americans won’t tolerate the erroding of their rights any longer. Congressmen, for those of you who vote Yes on this monstrosity there will be consequences. There is cause and effect. You are free to choose, but you are not free to pick the consequence of your choices. God rewards good for good and bad for evil. You will be held accountable.

Citizens, vote out of office any congressmen who votes for the healthcare takeover. Refuse to employ any ousted congressmen who voted yes. Refuse to support any group or organization that pays those ousted congressmen to speak or write books. May their names be a hiss and a byword for generations. May God forgive you because we won’t. Anyone who seeks to take away the liberty of our entire nation deserves no respect from Americans.

America, you are beginning to wake up from a hundred year sleep. While you were sleeping, progressive thought has entrenched itself in every fabric of our government and society. Our children are being trained to be liberal-by-default in our schools, by our media, and even by ourselves-because we were trained liberal-by-default also. Today we are a world away from what the Founders implemented and what made our country the greatest in the world.

Pride cometh before the fall. Please, America. We must humble ourselves. We must retrain in correct principles. We the people must have faith, hope, and charity.

I invite everyone to read: the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The 5000 Year Leap, The Making of America, Liberty and Tyranny, and the Scriptures.

I invite everyone to listen to Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and other liberty-loving commentators.

Next week I am participating in a caucus to choose a candidate who will appear in the primary. Probably very few readers have ever gone to a caucus. It will be my first time also. We can no longer afford to let others choose our candidates. We the people need to seek out those that will adhere to the principles of liberty and the Constitution. I invite everyone to find out their state’s election/caucus process (Utahns click here). We can’t wait to get involved in the November elections or even during the primary elections. Now is the time!

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