Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 1797 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to expand the scope of the practice of optometry by allowing optometrists to use and prescribe, under certain restrictions, pharmaceuticals approved by the Board of Optometry.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Board of Examiners in Optometry, the Hawaii Optometric Association, and seventy-three optometrists. Testimony in opposition was received from the Board of Medical Examiners, Hawaii Ophthalmological Society, the Hawaii Medical Association, and thirty-one ophthalmologists.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii is only one of three states where optometrists are not allowed to treat glaucoma. Testimony indicates that there are only nine states where optometrists cannot use oral medications to treat eye disease. As a result, optometrists in Hawaii practice with some of the most limited prescriptive authority in the nation, ranking Hawaii forty-seventh out of fifty-two, including Guam and the District of Columbia.

Your Committee further finds that insurance companies that insure most optometrists across the nation and in Hawaii have indicated that professional liability insurance is not expected to increase with increased prescriptive authority that this measure would provide.

While your Committee recognizes the differing opinions between optometrists and ophthalmologists, your Committee finds that Hawaii should be more progressive in order to keep up with the rest of the nation regarding the practice of optometry.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1797, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing.