Turner and Diegnan: Expanding Access to Eye Care is Smart Move for New Jersey’s Seniors and Families

OPINION

Access to health care should not depend on a patient’s ability to navigate waitlists, secure multiple appointments, or travel far beyond their community. Yet today, many New Jersey residents, particularly seniors and working families, face serious barriers to timely, sight-saving eye care, even in our densely populated state.

As elected officials, we are guided by what best serves our constituents. We regularly hear from older adults worried about losing their independence due to untreated vision problems. We hear from families struggling to balance work, transportation, and care for an aging loved one. People want common sense solutions that allow them to get the care they need, when and where they need it.

Legislation pending in the New Jersey Legislature, S-354, which has an identical bill in the Assembly (A-920), provides solutions by seeking to remove these barriers and modernize the scope of practice for optometrists. S-354 would allow trained optometrists to perform three non-invasive laser eye procedures that are already safely performed by optometrists in many other states. This legislation makes sense, especially for aging adults who deserve timely treatment to preserve their vision and independence.

Today’s optometrists are highly skilled and educated professionals who earn doctorate degrees upon completion of four years of optometry school, which includes extensive classroom, laboratory, and clinical training focused on the eye and its components. The laser procedures included in this legislation are already taught as part of the standard curriculum at U.S. optometry schools and are approved to be performed under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Community Care Program in states that allow full scope practice.

A study released last summer reviewed the safety and effectiveness of laser procedures performed by optometrists in 12 states since 1988. Out of the more than 140,000 procedures, 0.001% had complications. This remarkable safety record can be attributed to the extensive training provided by all U.S. optometry schools, which continually adjust and evolve their curriculum to include the latest procedures and technologies.

Passage of this legislation would allow New Jersey to join a growing number of states that have modernized their laws to reflect current training and safely expand access to care. In addition to these states, nearly a dozen others are currently considering similar legislation.

Opponents of S-354 question the need for this legislation, falsely believing that New Jersey does not have a health care access issue. Yet, if you ask a patient with glaucoma or cataracts who requires one of these procedures, you’ll hear a different story. Can you imagine being told that although your optometrist has the education and training to perform a needed procedure, you must wait to repeat an evaluation with another doctor, wait to schedule the procedure and additional follow up visits, pay extra co-pays, and in most cases, find a friend or family member to drive you to the additional appointments?

There are nearly twice as many optometrists as ophthalmologists in New Jersey. The fact of the matter is there simply aren’t enough ophthalmologists available to perform these procedures, and as New Jersey’s population ages, the demand for laser procedures will only increase. A 2024 workforce study published in the Journal of Ophthalmology anticipates a 24% increase in demand for these procedures while the number of ophthalmologists is expected to decline 12% in the next 10 years in the U.S. This is most definitely an access issue.

The procedures authorized under this bill are in-office treatments and can safely and comfortably be performed using only local or topical anesthesia. They are not performed in hospitals, do not require general anesthesia, and do not involve cutting or injections into the eye, as opponents of this legislation want you to believe.

Optometrists practice in all communities across New Jersey, from urban to rural areas. Allowing them to perform these laser procedures will bring care closer to home, reduce health inequities, and relieve pressure on overburdened specialists. It will also help recruit and retain highly skilled optometrists to live and work in our state.

Our colleagues and municipal leaders across New Jersey understand the challenges their communities face, including supporting their underserved populations. Expanding access to basic, sight saving procedures is a practical, proven way to improve health outcomes and support our seniors, veterans, and working families.

We urge our colleagues to support for S-354. Let’s make New Jersey a leader in health care access and equity.

Shirley Turner and Patrick Diegnan, Democrats, serve in the New Jersey State Senate.