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The 2022 Legislative Session is well underway. The IOP is laying a strong foundation for the 2023 Legislative Session, where we plan to introduce legislation to expand your scope of practice to include therapeutic laser procedures.
As part of that effort, IOP held its annual luncheon with legislators on February 7, 2022. The
luncheon was an excellent opportunity to educate and inform legislators about important issues to us. Dr. Daniel Schrempp began the luncheon with an informative presentation on
therapeutic laser procedures. Sharing this knowledge with legislators will help next year as the
IOP seeks to eliminate the statutory barrier that prevents Idaho optometrists from performing
therapeutic laser procedures. The luncheon also allowed IOP members to build and strengthen their personal relationships with Idaho legislators.
The 2022 Legislative session is unusual in many ways. Not only is it an election year, but it is the first year that legislators will be running in the newly drawn legislative districts that were reshaped as a result of the U.S. Decennial Census and the redistricting process that follows the Census. There will be many changes in the makeup of the Idaho Legislature, including leadership and committee chairs. Already, we have several key retirements and/or legislators seeking office in the Senate or Executive Branch. The most notable example is the Speaker of the House, Scott Bedke, who is running for the office of Lieutenant Governor.
The biggest issue facing the legislature this year has been how to spend Idaho’s nearly $2 billion surpluses. So far, the legislature has chosen to spend the majority of that money on tax cuts, teacher salaries, and many different one-time investments like roads and bridges. In addition, legislators are spending significant time (because it is an election year) introducing and considering some bills that address polarizing culture war issues like abortion, critical race theory, common core, mask mandates, vaccine mandates, etc.
Besides legislation dealing with vaccines and mask mandates, it has been relatively quiet on the healthcare front. There has been some talk about introducing one or more bills to make it easier for out-of-state healthcare providers to treat Idahoans via telehealth. So far, nothing significant has been introduced.
Finally, the Idaho Board of Optometry is beginning the Zero-Based Regulation (ZBR) review of
the administrative rules for the profession of Optometry. The ZBR review process will occur over the next year, where the Board will engage with key stakeholders, including IOP. The
Board’s goal is to review the administrative rules from top to bottom and eliminate anything redundant or obsolete with an overall text reduction goal of 20 percent. However, new administrative rule language can also be added during the ZBR process. IOP has already put together a committee to review the administrative rules, and we will be ready to engage with the Board throughout this process.
As always, it is my pleasure and privilege to represent you at the Idaho State Capitol. If you
have any questions or need additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Respectfully,
Lance Giles
lance.giles@thegilesgroup.net
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Rewrite of our Optometric Act Update: Winter 2022
Where did we leave off?
The IOP Legislative committee and the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses (DOPL) amicably parted ways on DOPL carrying the update of our Optometric Act due to anticipating more of a fight from ophthalmology than DOPL wanted to take on. The IOP also obtained a legal opinion from an attorney with a background in medical law to determine how optometric scope would be impacted with and without the word “surgery” in its definition. The opinion was very well written and gave lots of information on how to best accomplish optometric scope clarity without putting any of our current practice abilities in jeopardy, and also keeping future scope opportunities available.
What has happened since then?
Optometry has been selected for a rules review by DOPL under the zero-based regulation executive order. This means that the rules that clarify our statute are being reviewed to get rid of “costly, ineffective and outdated regulations.” Dr. Rod White and I have been working on going through the language and submitting our recommendations to DOPL.
The IOP also reached out to the attorney general via Senator Grow to get an opinion and clarity on a few points of our current scope, and the response was favorable.
There have been many discussions in the Legislative Committee about whether to address the bulk of the law that needs to be updated, modernized, and cleaned up vs. focusing only on expanding scope, leaving the rest of the law in place. The consensus that we have come to is that we are going to move forward with removing the line excluding optometrists from performing “therapeutic lasers” in our optometric scope and addressing the remaining statute issues at another time.
What’s next?
Our lobbyist has supplied us with a legislative strategy plan for the 2022-2023 legislative session. We have just completed our first task: hosting a legislative luncheon during our Day at the Capitol. There was a good turnout and the reports we received from our optometrists who attended noted that the legislators in attendance were overwhelmingly in favor. We have created a “one-pager” for legislators on YAG and optometry in Idaho, which were placed on the tables at our legislative luncheon. We plan to hold a “Laser Road Show” in the summer of 2022.
What do I need to do now?
It’s official that we’re going for scope expansion in 2022-2023. Ophthalmology has already been contacting legislators and spreading misinformation about the “dangers of this procedure” in the hands of ODs in the last few months. We need to have every legislator be assigned an optometrist they can reach out to - a key person - for the facts. All key people will be receiving a key person packet in the mail with all the documents we have collected and created that will be helpful in your discussions with legislators. These documents will all also be available in the KP dashboard. Please reach out to us if you need any help getting access.
We also need to keep track of the actions that have been taken with legislators. We plan on doing that either through the KP dashboard, or by the membership emailing Lisa, myself, or their regional director with updates that we can collect in a centralized area. We want to make sure no legislator is left behind - keep in mind, we only lost by one vote in 2020. If you have a relationship with a legislator that you have not made the IOP aware of, please let us know! If you would like to sign up to be a key person, please contact your regional director to find out which legislator would be best for you. Thank you for all that are already signed up as key people and working diligently to build those grassroots. We wouldn’t be able to do this without your help!
Dr. Lauren Huber
IOP Legislative Committee Chair
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Insurance Advisory Committee |
There is no new news to report. Should you have any insurance issues, comments or problems, please do not hesitate to contact me at insuranceadvisory.iop@gmail.com.
Best Regards,
Dr. Terri L. Haley
IAC Chair
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The communications committee is picking up where we left off at the end of 2021. We plan to bring our “Laser Roadshow” to an area near you. This will likely happen in September and October, depending on what part of the state you practice in. These events will bring us together with local political leaders. It will give us an opportunity to develop better relationships and show “hands on” what lasers are all about. This summer, you will hear more details about locations, dates, and times.
The committee will also be developing various public relations media assets to promote our profession throughout the state. We will be utilizing the video footage we have gathered over the last couple of years to help in this effort. We appreciate those who have willingly donated time and office space to acquire these videos. We hope to deploy these assets over social media and potentially other avenues like radio to promote our profession and create awareness about what we do.
As we get further into these projects this year, we may need additional help from you, our members. If any of you have talents, resources, or ideas that could help develop promotional media or if you would just like to be involved, please reach out to me or your local regional IOP representative and let us know. We welcome your participation!
Respectfully,
Dr. Cody Jones
IOP President Elect
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Meet your new Membership Committee Chair! Dr. Jeff Ness currently practices in Caldwell and
is a 2020 graduate of Pacific University College of Optometry. Outside of work, he enjoys
spending as much time as possible with his bride-to-be, Chascity, and their black lab, Avian.
Whether it is helping out at church, game night with friends, perfecting a new home-cooked
meal, camping, fishing, or exploring Idaho, count him in!
We would like to welcome our newest IOP members, Drs Danielle Kolschefski and Matt Kent!
We look forward to working with you more soon.
Continue to look for text messages, emails, and social media posts regarding legislative
updates, meeting announcements, and other IOP news. We thank you for your membership and the value it brings to your career and your patients. With so many big steps coming for
optometry in our state, there is no better time to make your voice heard through your
involvement!
Please contact Dr. Jeff Ness with any membership questions or contact information updates at
Dr. Jeff Ness
IOP Membership Committee Chair
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Greetings Paras!
It’s 2022!? I hope it’s not just me who keeps forgetting what year it is - wasn’t the last year 2019? Planning for Congress is well underway - we’ll be in Sun Valley this year, splitting the classes between Thursday, September 29th and Friday, September 30th. We have 11 hours of CPC/ABO classes planned, so we hope you plan to attend! Watch for registration to come out in the Spring - we still have limited space, so you’ll want to sign up early, as we maxed out last year.
We have three speakers this year - Dr. Daniel Schrempp’s class will be two hours and will be jam-packed with information about different anterior segment treatments and surgeries. Our second speaker is Tami Arnett - that’s me. I will be presenting a class on basic pathology and billing basics class. Our main speaker is Valerie Manso, ABOC - if you have liked our speakers from the past two years, she runs in the same speaking circles. She will speak about a variety of optical-based topics, including information on lens materials and troubleshooting PALs.
I am a proponent for education and becoming a pro-para, whether certification with the American Board of Opticianry (ABO) or Commission on Paraoptometric Certification (CPC) through the AOA. If you aren’t certified, maybe this could be a new goal for 2022; testing occurs every quarter and there are a lot of resources to help you pass successfully. If you ever have any questions about testing, I would be happy to help you.
What goals do you have for 2022? I have a goal to learn Japanese - it’s already been quite an undertaking, but it’s been a great challenge, too.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for September and watch for registration opportunities in the Spring!
Tami Arnett, CPOA
IOP Para Committee Chair
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Final Comments...
As you have already read, we will need all hands on deck this year to prepare for our legislative campaign.
We need volunteers for the following:
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Communication Committee to assist with the marketing and PR
- Social media management
- Laser roadshow attendance & participation in speaking one on one with your legislators
- Laser roadshow host sites
- Key Person(s)
- North A Region: Senator Jim Woodward
- North B Region: Rep. Lori McCann, Rep. Priscilla Giddings, Rep. Charlie Shepherd, Senator Carl Crabtree
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Southwest B Region: Rep. Steve Berch, Rep. Codi Galloway, Rep John McCrostie, Rep. Colin Nash, Rep John Gannon, Rep. Chris Mathias, Rep. Joe Palmer, Rep. James Holtzclaw, Rep. Steven Harris, Rep. Jason Monks, Sen. Grant Burgoyne, Sen. Ali Rabe, Sen. Chuck Winder
- Southcentral Region: Rep. Laurie Lickley. Rep. Clark Kauffman, Rep Sally Toone, Rep. Scott Bedke, Sen. Jim Patrick
- Southeast Region: Rep. Dustin Manwaring, Rep. James Ruchti, Rep. Wendy Horman, Rep. David Cannon, Sen. Rod Furniss, Sen. Mark Nye, Sen. Kevin Cook, Sen. Dave Lent
- If any of these jump out at you, we welcome your assistance!
The KP Dashboard is up-to-date for the new session. All KP's will be notified when new tasks have been added to the dashboard. Most of you are familiar with the KP Dashboard, but if you have any issues logging in or navigating the site, contact me through email or text at 208-890-3556.
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Dr. Ness has been working behind the scenes to ramp up the IOP social media platforms.
Our goal is weekly posts with the primary audience being the public and subject matter including fun facts (human eyes, animal eyes, optical tricks in nature), eye health information (use of cosmetics, first aid), and more.
If you haven't already, like and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Be sure to share these entertaining & educational posts on your pages! Do you have a fun fact or other tidbits to share? Please send it to Dr. Ness at drness@familyeyes.com.
We've created eye-catching cards to promote our social media networks. Let me know if you would like some for your office.
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As always, contact me with your comments, questions, or concerns.
Happy Spring!
Lisa White
IOP Executive Director
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No Surprises Act Update
Preparing for the End of the Student Loan Payment Holiday
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Updated CDC Mask Requirements: What Doctors of Optometry Need to Know
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their guidance regarding the use of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html ) CDC has clarified that these new guidelines “do not apply in healthcare settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Instead, healthcare settings should continue to use community transmission rates and continue to follow CDC’s infection prevention and control recommendations for healthcare settings.” The CDC’s standing recommendations regarding the use of masks in health care settings suggest that everyone in the health care setting wear a mask. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/infection-control-recommendations.html However, CDC has also outlined allowances to consider when developing safety plans and operation plans for health care facilities. CDC indicates that whether an individual is vaccinated or if the health care facility is located in a county with low to moderate community transmission should be factors to consider in developing masking requirements. As this guidance from CDC is not state or federal law, doctors of optometry should consider these recommendations as well any state level requirements or mandates when developing masking policies.
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