The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society Med Journal Aug 2019 Final 2

WHAT HAVE WE DONE FOR YOU LATELY? The Eyes Have It – The Fight is On DAVID WROTEN EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT I t makes me proud to see a group of physicians stand up for what’s right. I’ll be even more proud if you stand with them! Many would argue that eyesight, of all the senses, may be the most precious. No offense if you believe otherwise. One thing we should all agree on is that eye surgery should be performed by the most well-trained and experienced professional. That would be, of course, an ophthalmologist, right? Not if Act 579 of 2019 goes into effect. Act 579, pushed forward by the state’s optometrists, would legislate that optometrists – without attend- ing medical school or a surgical residency – could use lasers, needles, and scalpels. Thankfully, our state’s ophthalmologists, through the Arkansas Ophthalmological Society (AOS), are standing up and saying enough is enough. Hopefully, by the time you read this, a signature-gathering campaign will have gathered enough signatures (approximately 54,000) to put Act 579 on the ballot for the 2020 election. If polling done during the 2019 legislative session is any indication, the voters of Arkansas will, in effect, veto Act 579. A rarely used provision in the Arkansas Constitution allows the public to submit a referendum on enacted legislation if you can gather enough signatures prior to the effective date of the Act (July 23rd). If successful in gathering the signatures, the Act cannot go into effect unless approved by the people of Arkansas. The last time the referendum process was used was 1994, and the soft drink bottling industry used it in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn legislation creating the “soft drink tax.” This tax, to this day, provides critical funding for Arkansas’s Medicaid program. I won’t use this space (at least not this month) to give you the details and background on just how this bad legislation (Act 579) became law. Suffice it to say that our Legislature was overwhelmed by optometrists who outnumber ophthalmologists four to one and are involved in every local election. The General Assembly passed Act 579 in spite of overwhelming public opposition. That’s a very important point. The public strongly believes that only physicians who have been residency-trained in eye surgery should be allowed to operate on our eyes. Only three states – Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Louisiana – allow op- tometrists to do these procedures, and in each of those cases, the battle was won through the leg- islative process and not because the public want- ed it. And for the record, no one should downplay the important role that optometrists play in vision health. But … and this is a big but, they are not eye surgeons. During every legislative session, AMS faces a barrage of scope-of-practice bills. Most of those involve APRNs and/or CRNAs. They all argue, with sketchy evidence or proof, that their bills will increase access to care and that they are well- trained to do what they want to do. But never has the issue been more clear-cut than who can per- form surgery! This is an issue for your profession, not just for ophthalmologists. This will be expensive. The signature-gather- ing campaign must be completed in less than five weeks. The AOS, its individual members, and its national organization have stepped up strong and raised enough to cover the $700,000 price tag. Once they gather the signatures and get the refer- endum on the ballot, “Katy bar the door” because you are now looking at a financial cost with seven digits to the left of the decimal sign. The optom- etrists aren’t going to just sit back. They can be expected to put up a monumental fight. The implications of winning this battle are monumental and far-reaching. Most importantly, it is the right thing to do. Standing up to protect the safety of medical practice, and in this case surgical procedures, is an obligation of the pro- fession that each of you hold so dear. When the time comes, I hope you will stand with our state’s ophthalmologists and help over- turn this unwise legislation. 28 • THE JOURNAL OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAL SOCIETY David Wroten Executive Vice President Penny Henderson Executive Assistant Journal Advertising Nicole Richards Managing Editor Jeremy Henderson Art Director EDITORIAL BOARD Appathurai Balamurugan, MD, DrPH, MPH Family & Preventative Medicine/Public Health Tim Paden, MD Family Medicine Sandra Johnson, MD Dermatology Issam Makhoul, MD Oncology Naveen Patil, MD, MHSA, MA, FIDSA Internal Medicine/Infectious Disease Benjamin Tharian, MD, MRCP, FACP, FRACP Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist Robert Zimmerman, MD Urology Tobias Vancil, MD Internal Medicine Darrell Over, MD Family Medicine EDITOR EMERITUS Alfred Kahn Jr., MD (1916-2013) ARKANSAS MEDICAL SOCIETY 2019-2020 OFFICERS Dennis Yelvington, MD, Stuttgart President Lee Archer, MD, Little Rock Immediate Past President Chad Rodgers, MD, Little Rock President Elect Seth Barnes, MD, Hot Springs Vice President George Conner, MD, Forrest City Secretary Bradley Bibb, MD, Jonesboro Treasurer Danny Wilkerson, MD, Little Rock Chairman of the Board of Trustees VOLUME 116

The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society Med Journal Aug 2019 Final 2 | Page 4