A scope-of-practice bill has passed the New Jersey legislature and now waits on the governors desk for his signature.

If enacted into law, privileges would include all oral meds, except schedule I and II controlled substances.

The bill has an unusual method perhaps a first in the countryof providing new therapeutic privileges. The bill actually creates a credentialing and certification process, so that those optometrists who become certified in the administration of certain therapeutic treatments become authorized to use those treatments.

The bill is a variation on similar legislation introduced in the state last year.
This bill, however, excludes any reference to lasers or surgery and excludes the use of injections (except for anaphylaxis).

The latter was a major compromise, but dropping injections prompted ophthalmology to support the bill, says Christopher J. Quinn, O.D., past president of the New Jersey Society of Optometric Physicians.

This is the first time in New Jersey history that ophthalmology has supported an increased scope of practice bill for optometry, Dr. Quinn says, and they have recognized O.D.s as qualified to treat patients with medical eye conditions.