Trusted Eye Care

Doctors of Optometry are the primary eye care providers in Montana, providing more eye health and vision examinations than any other profession. Montanans look to Doctors of Optometry for their eye care treatment and advice.

Trusted
Eye Care

Every day…

Doctors of Optometry use a microscope to diagnose over 270 systemic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, auto-immune diseases, cancers and more.

Optometrists are trusted and more accessible. Ophthalmologists are only in about half of the counties in Montana.

Adapting to Needs

Optometrists practicing in Montana take more than 36 hours of continuing education courses every two years.

4 years

Undergraduate university

1000s

of patients with eye diseases receiving care and individual treatment plans while the optometrist was in school

4 years

Doctor of Optometry school

~10,000

hours of optometry education and patient care before independently seeing patients

Proven Success: Optometrists Deliver Trusted Eye Care

For over 30 years, Doctors of Optometry in 12 states

have successfully performed in-office laser procedures to treat glaucoma and provide post-cataract surgery care. Optometrists are trusted professionals who deliver the majority of eye care in the United States. While ophthalmologists (eye surgeons) perform procedures like cataract surgery, LASIK, and retina surgeries, optometrists play a critical role in managing many essential aspects of eye health.

Every optometry school in the United States trains Doctors of Optometry to perform in-office laser procedures. Since the 1990s, optometrists in many states have been certified to use lasers for after-cataract treatments, ensuring patients receive efficient, high-quality care close to home.

States where optometrists are authorized to practice as they are trained include Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. These states lead the way in supporting access to comprehensive and effective eye care from highly skilled optometrists.

Why do optometrists need states to legislate their profession?

Legislated Profession

Why do optometrists need states to modernize their practice act?

Montana hasn’t modernized its optometric practice act for 25 years. For example, every optometry school trains its students for in-office eye laser procedures and in-office surgical care but every state regulates the procedures that its doctors performs. Since the 1930’s, MDs have attempted to limit how other health care practitioners treat their patients. These other practitioners include: optometrists, dentists, podiatrists, nurses, physician assistants, chiropractors and others.

Ophthalmologists have commonly tried to reduce patients’ access to care by saying that only they can perform in-office eye laser procedures − even though Optometrists have been performing these procedures for decades.

Ophthalmologists claim that their training is superior to Doctors of Optometry and trying to limit them doing even basic procedures such as:

Dilating pupils during an eye exam
Recommending artificial tear drops for dry eye
Prescribing eye drops for pink eye or glaucoma
Eye and eyelid infections with tropical or oral medications

Imagine your Doctor of Optometry not being permitted to dilate pupils or treat pink eye? Over the last 50 years, MDs have relentlessly fought to stifle advancements in patient care by Doctors of Optometry.

A 2025 bill before the Montana Legislature will allow Doctors of Optometry to practice to the scope of their education and training by allowing them to perform in-office surgical and laser procedures.

Doctors of Optometry have been trained for and performed these surgical and laser procedures in other states for decades. It’s time for Montana to modernize, especially since more than half of the counties in Montana do not even have ophthalmologists, making it difficult to access timely care.

In-office eye laser procedure certification requires:

4 years of Doctor of Optometry school
Evaluation and management of thousands of patients
Years of training in ocular disease and treatment
Three national board examinations
Board-approved proficiency prerequisites

Optometrists Performing In‑Office Eye Laser FACTS

have performed in‑office eye laser procedures for more than 30 years
are trained to perform in-office eye laser procedures in school
have been managing and treating complications that could come from in-office eye laser procedures for decades

Doctors of Optometry in other states have been performing in-office eye laser procedures for glaucoma and after-cataract care since the 1990s.

By modernizing the surgical and laser procedures in Montana within an optometrist’s scope of training and education, Montanans will have better access to the timely and accessible care they need.

The Truth

Ophthalmologists (eye surgeons) that oppose the 2025 ‘Optometry Bill’ will say:

Click each statement below to learn more

OPHTHALMOLOGISTS WILL ARGUE THAT ONLY MDS HAVE THE TRAINING TO PERFORM IN-OFFICE EYE LASER PROCEDURES

The Truth

Doctors of Optometry have been performing in‑office eye laser procedures since the 1990s.

Every Doctor of Optometry school in the USA teaches and trains optometrists for in‑office surgical and laser procedures. In addition, every Optometrist that qualifies to perform in‑office eye laser procedures has been certified by experts including by ophthalmology. It’s time to update Montana Code to the 21st century.

OPHTHALMOLOGISTS WILL ARGUE THERE IS NO NEED TO EXPAND ACCESS FOR OPTOMETRISTS TO PERFORM IN-OFFICE EYE LASER PROCEDURES

The Truth

Currently Montana patients typically have to wait months or travel out of state for timely access to care.

Doctors of Optometry have been performing in-office eye laser procedures for decades. Montana is late in adopting such a law. Eye MDs published an article in 2018 that proved patients would have to drive nearly 2x further by limiting in-office eye laser procedures to only ophthalmologists.*

JAMA Ophthalmology 2018

Over the next 10 years, Ophthalmology supply and demand will show a 71% inadequacy in nonmetro geographies. The Academy of Ophthalmology predicts a 12% in full-time equivalent (FTE) ophthalmologists while also predicting a 24% increase in demand. *

Original Article Volume 131, Issue 2 p133-139February 2024
*https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2023.09.018

OPHTHALMOLOGY WILL ARGUE THAT THIS NEW BILL OPENS THE DOOR TO HIDDEN SURGICAL PROCEDURES BEING PERFORMED BY OPTOMETRISTS

The Truth

The ‘Optometry Bill’ before the Montana legislature only allows three in‑office eye laser procedures called: selective laser trabeculoplasty, peripheral iridotomy, and posterior capsulotomy. These three in‑office procedures do not include major surgeries like cataract surgery, retina surgery, LASIK and more.

OPHTHALMOLOGISTS WILL ARGUE THAT OPTOMETRISTS ONLY TAKE A WEEKEND COURSE TO GET CERTIFIED FOR IN-OFFICE EYE LASER PROCEDURES

The Truth

Optometry training, including in-office surgical and laser procedures, is a major endeavor. It requires:

4 years of Doctor of Optometry school
Evaluation and management of thousands of patients
Years of training in ocular disease and treatment
Three board examinations
Performance proficiency examination

Optometrists are educated and trained with a foundational knowledge of anatomy and physiology.

AMA (American Medical Association) FIGHT ALL SCOPE OF PRACTICE CHANGES AGAINST OPTOMETRISTS

The Truth

MDs in Montana have fought against the ability of Doctors of Optometry to care for their patients since the 1980s. In that time, MDs have tried to stop Optometrists from:

Dilating patient’s pupils.
Prescribing eye drops for pink eye and glaucoma.
Prescribing oral medication for eye infections and inflammation.
Performing in-office procedures to treat eye infections, inflammation and other conditions.

MDs try to convince the public and legislators that only they have the training. The Optometric profession has been built upon personal eye health and vision care for the betterment of society.

146,000 and counting…

Optometrists in 12 other states have performed over 146,000 in-office eye laser procedures* since 1998:

Proven track record with optometry education, training and certification

Your local optometrist is educated, trained to perform safe, effective and efficient care!

Montana Optometrists have changed their scope of practice a few times over the past 50 years to keep their patient care up to the standards of the doctor’s education, ability and training. During those times, the procedures to adapt optometry laws have not been requested lightly. The experience of Montana Doctors of Optometry over the past 50 years shows their incredible track record of neighborhood patient care and trust within the legislative community.

Optometry and Ophthalmology play a vital, coordinated role in modern eye care

Doctors of Optometry respect and work closely alongside Ophthalmologists to provide their patients the best primary and surgical eye care in Montana.

Ophthalmologists provide a critical surgical role in cataract, incisional glaucoma surgery, retinal surgery, eye muscle surgery, corneal transplants, and much much more. Patients are much better served when each discipline is able to practice to the fullest extent of their education and training.

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