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Phil AmmannMarch 24, 2017

The nation’s largest association of physicians is the latest group to come out against a bill at the center of Florida’s so-called “Eyeball Wars” between ophthalmologists and optometrists. On Thursday, American Medical Association President and CEO James Madara sent a letter to House Health & Human Services Committee chair Travis Cummings, in which he called […]

Phil AmmannMarch 23, 2017

Florida’s “Eyeball Wars” between ophthalmologists and optometrists could soon be spilling onto the House floor. On Monday, Speaker Richard Corcoran removed HB 1037 — a controversial bill to allow optometrists to perform surgery, among other things — off the agenda of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee. A representative for Corcoran told POLITICO Florida that […]

Phil AmmannMarch 15, 2017

Optometrists enjoyed a narrow victory Wednesday in Florida’s renewed Eyeball Wars when a House committee advanced a bill to allow optometrists to perform certain types of eye surgery. After a two-hour hearing, the House Health Quality Subcommittee approved HB 1037, sponsored by Rep. Manny Diaz and opposed by both the Florida Society of Ophthalmology and […]

Peter SchorschMarch 15, 2017

Tallahassee has once again found itself in the thick of a renewed Eyeball Wars between optometrists and ophthalmologists. And no less than patient safety in Florida is on the line. After a four-year truce, optometrists have gone back on their word, drafting legislation to allow them to perform surgery; it is a proposal that ophthalmologists, […]

Peter SchorschMarch 14, 2017

Do you know who is taking care of your eyes? That question is at the heart of “Joanne’s Story” a video about a Vero Beach woman who nearly lost her eyesight after an ophthalmologist caught a rare diagnosis which was missed by her optometrist. Joanne was previously under the care of an optometrist who diagnosed […]

Peter SchorschFebruary 22, 2017

Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Nearly four years have passed since the truce was called in the decades-long “eyeballs war” between Florida optometrists and ophthalmologists. But with the Legislative Session approaching, that fragile peace seems all but finished. Optometrists are seemingly going back on their word, working behind the scenes to file legislation to […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 24, 2017

As Florida’s “Eyeball Wars” start up again, research in the Journal of the American Medical Association gives new insight on what is at stake in the struggle between ophthalmologists and optometrists. In October 2016, a team of medical professionals, mostly from the University of Michigan, issued a report examining the difference in treatment outcomes between […]

Peter SchorschNovember 18, 2016

As Anton Chekhov once said: If it’s not essential, don’t include it in the story. What would the great Russian novelist and playwright make of recent movements in Florida’s seemingly never-neverending Eyeball Wars between ophthalmologists and optometrists? “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the […]

Peter SchorschOctober 25, 2016

For nearly two decades, Tallahassee was the front line of an epic battle — the so-called “Eyeball Wars” — between Florida’s optometrists and ophthalmologists. On one side were optometrists — college educated to provide diagnoses and correct vision problems — fighting to perform surgery and prescribe medications beyond topical ointments and creams. Ophthalmologists, supported by […]

Peter SchorschAugust 26, 2016

It’s been several years since the war ended. Many of the veterans who fought the battles of this war are no longer with us. All that’s left are the headlines declaring the end of hostilities. I am referring, of course, to the “Eyeball Wars” that raged through the last decade and the beginning of this […]

Tag: ophthalmologists

American Medical Association sides against optometrists in Florida Eyeball Wars

Speaker moves Eyeball Wars closer to House floor; docs say optometrist testimony ‘patently false’

Ophthalmologists ‘disheartened’ by House advancing bill for optometrists to practice surgery

American Surgeons warn House against latest salvo in Florida’s resurgent Eyeball Wars

Eyeball Wars: It’s all about knowing who takes care of your eyes

We told you so; Eyeball Wars set to begin anew

JAMA study shows research not on optometrists’ side in Eyeball Wars

Chekhov’s Gun in the Eyeball Wars? Optometrists are lobbied up for 2017

Are optometrists going back on their word in ‘Eyeball War’ truce?

Will Florida’s ‘eyeball wars’ flare up again doing the 2017 Legislative Session?