Legislature passed by US House and Senate to include optometrists to physician pay scale

Image credit: AdobeStock/photobyphotoboy

A reform bill that will add optometry to the physician pay scale and giving Veteran Affairs (VA) latitude to offer increased pay awards, bonuses, and annual evaluations passed in the US House of Representatives on December 16.¹ The bipartisan Senator Elizabeth Dole 21^st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act includes a vast array of VA policies and was passed in the House 4 days after it was passed in the US Senate, according to an American Optometric Association (AOA) news release.

The AOA and Association of Armed Forces and Federal Optometric Services (AFOS) have advocated for the legislature’s passage, noting that it provides physician level recognition for VA doctors of optometry.¹

“Including the over 1,000 optometrists within the physician pay administration system with Monday’s passage of the Elizabeth Dole Act will support VA’s efforts to hire the most qualified providers faster,” said Jeanette Carbone Varanelli, OD, who served 13 years as chief of optometry at John D. Dingell VA Medical Center prior to joining the Veterans Integrated Service Network 10 Clinical Resource Hub, in the release. “Raising the entry level salary and earning potential as a career VA optometrist provides the opportunity to offer a more competitive compensation package to retain providers that understand how to support and care for the unique needs of our nation’s veterans.”

Meeting the need

According to the AOA, vision and eye care is the third most requested service by veterans, behind primary and mental health care. VA doctors of optometry provides about 70% of essential primary and medical eye care services, in addition to providing 73% of the 2.5 million selected ophthalmic procedures and 99% of services in low vision clinical and blind rehabilitation centers.¹ However, the general schedule pay scale has gone nearly unchanged since 1976 and were initially left out of 2004 legislation that created a new pay scale for allopathic and osteopathic physicians, according to the release.

“Moving optometrists to the physician pay scale appropriately recognizes the essential role optometrists play as frontline providers of eye and vision care within the VA health care system,” H. Lindsay Wright, OD, AFOS executive director, said in the release. “This legislation ensures that we can continue to recruit and retain highly skilled doctors of optometry to deliver the quality care our veterans deserve, while elevating the profession to where it belongs—alongside our physician colleagues.”

According to the AOA, the VA acknowledged the pay discrepancy back in August 2022, stating that many of its optometry departments have been unable to hire VA optometrists. The AOA stated in the release that since the VA has the largest clinical education program for optometrists in the US, it is the hope that the new legislature passage will help incentivize optometrists to pursue careers at the VA.¹

Reference:

1. US House, Senate approve VA OD physician-level recognition legislation. News release. American Optometric Association. December 19. Accessed December 19, 2024.