News in brief - April 4, 2005

Okla. optometrists OK'd for surgery - CMA has new president - Prescription-monitoring bills offered

Okla. optometrists OK'd for surgery

In March, the Oklahoma Board of Examiners in Optometry made permanent a rule permitting optometrists to do surgical procedures using scalpels, including the insertion of needles directly into the eye.

Unless the state's governor or Legislature move to stop the implementation of this rule within 45 days of the recent decision, the change in scope-of-practice regulations will become permanent, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. If this happens, the AAO is prepared to submit a bill asking for the rule to be repealed, an AAO spokeswoman said.

The optometry board says the rule only clarifies the minor surgical procedures they are already doing.

But Oklahoma's ophthalmologists, backed by the AAO, the AMA, the Oklahoma State Medical Assn. and the Oklahoma Osteopathic Assn., contend that the wording of the regulation is so broad that it could cover more than 100 surgical procedures.

Oklahoma's optometrists have had the authority to perform certain laser surgical procedures since the 1980s, according to the optometric board.

CMA has new president

Emergency physician Michael J. Sexton, MD, recently was installed as president of the California Medical Assn. during the CMA annual house of delegates meeting.

A member of the Permanente Medical Group for 30 years, Dr. Sexton is the first Permanente physician elected to head CMA. He is on the medical staff at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Rafael, where he headed the emergency department from 1977 to 1983 and was president of the medical staff from 1979 to 1981.

Dr. Sexton has been active in local, state and national medical societies for 31 years, serving as chair and vice chair of the CMA board of trustees and as president of the Marin Medical Society. He has been a member of the CMA board of trustees for 11 years.

"Crushing economic pressures, confusion surrounding quality and the crippling numbers of the uninsured demand that the physicians of the CMA lead California to a better place for our patients," Dr. Sexton said in a statement. "At CMA we have an aggressive agenda to address and fix these challenging problems."

Prescription-monitoring bills offered

A bill designed to prevent interstate "doctor shopping" for narcotic prescriptions by creating a national network of state prescription-monitoring programs has been introduced in both the U.S. House and the Senate.

The National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act would authorize $95 million through 2011 to establish or improve state programs.

Opponents of prescription monitoring argue that such programs result in inappropriate law-enforcement scrutiny of physician prescribing histories.

Supporters say that wouldn't happen, and co-sponsor, Rep. Charles Norwood, DDS, (R, Ga.) counters that "if we don't move aggressively now to control the nationwide abuse of prescription medications, the end result will be tougher restrictions that hamper the ability of patients to access medications legitimately."

The AMA has not taken a position on this bill, which as of mid-March had not yet been heard in House and Senate committees.

The House of Representatives approved a similar bill last year, but a Senate companion bill was introduced too late to be acted upon.