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Legislative Committee
Hello IOP Members,
This is the first legislative session in multiple years in which the IOP has not introduced some form of scope expansion legislation. We will, however, continue the talks with legislators for future introduction. There have been two meetings with Speaker Moyle this session to continue to hopefully build on that relationship.
We were lucky to have great speakers for CE lectures at Day at the Capitol (DATC) in early February. Due
to the amount of attendance from ODs, or lack thereof, the IOP is looking to make changes to the event.
The goal for DATC is to keep communication open with legislators so we may look at different ways to do that. We understand even having the event on a Monday is difficult to manage work schedules, so please be on the lookout for changes.
The main topic at DATC was surrounding Vision Benefit Managers (VBM) abuse. VBMs are organizations
that administer vision care plans and benefits. Everyone knows about the issues with reimbursements,
but it goes much deeper than that. From limiting patient choice to being forced to use specific labs, VBMs continue to dictate too much. This is an area of discussion for the IOP and possible future legislative efforts. Arkansas recently passed VBM legislation, click here for more details:
https://www.optometrytimes.com/view/new-arkansas-bill-to-instate-vbm-regulations-prioritize-fair-
reimbursement-and-patient-choice
The legislative committee is excited to announce the launch of “Bites and Insights.” These short, 30-minute Zoom meetings are open to any IOP member and they will take place on the second Thursday of every month from 12:30-1:00 pm MST starting Thursday, March 13th. The goal of these is to get all IOP members engaged and involved, so please tune in! Look out for emails with the invites to those
meetings, if you haven’t seen them already.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns.
Kind Regards,
Doug Adams, OD
Legislative Committee Chair
dradams@familyeyes.com
2025 Mid-Session Report
Unless something drastic happens, I see the session ending by the end of March. Of course, things can always happen to delay or blow-up a Legislative Session. Everything seems to be moving smoothly, including the big picture issues like the water deal, tax cuts, and education funding.
So far there have been no bills introduced that would directly impact the profession of Optometry. There have been several bills that I have been following that would indirectly affect healthcare in general or how administrative rules are used and applied that I have been following. Click here to review.
On February 7, 2025, IOP met with Speaker Mike Moyle (R-Star), and we had a positive meeting with him regarding the latest version of our Laser legislation. We will follow up with him later in the Session and see if he is willing to give us the “Green-Light’ to introduce a bill in the 2026 Legislative Session.
It is my pleasure to help you educate and advocate at the State Capitol. If you have any questions
or need additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Lance Giles
IOP Lobbyist
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