House HHS chair addresses flawed eye care bills on ‘Top Docs’ show
Georgia Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) – the chair of the Georgia House of Representatives Health and Human Services Committee – discussed several bills that she believes would place thousands of Georgians at risk of blindness and other serious eye complications when she appeared on a special edition of the Medical Association of Georgia’s (MAG) ‘Top Docs Radio’ program on the Business Radio-X Network on February 23. Click here to listen to a recording of the show.
Rep. Cooper addressed her concerns surrounding H.B. 416 and S.B. 221, measures that would allow optometrists to perform a variety of extraocular injections.
MAG President Steven M. Walsh, M.D., shares Rep. Cooper’s concerns, stressing that, “MAG is opposing these measures because they would inappropriately expand optometrists’ scope of practice and they would undermine patient care.”
Rep. Cooper also notes that, “Medicine is effectively under attack these days, so it is imperative for doctors to get involved in the legislative process.”
She is encouraging physicians and patients to (to what action…contact who?) to encourage lawmakers to oppose H.B. 416 and S.B. 221.
Rep. Cooper has sponsored key legislation that has been enacted in Georgia, including an HIV screening bill for pregnant women, the Georgia’s Smoke Free Air Act, and the Health Share Volunteers in Medicine Act.
MAG sponsors the ‘Top Docs’ program at 12 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. Between downloads and live listeners, MAG’s ‘Top Docs’ show has reached more than 9,000 listeners – which includes people in all 50 states and 84 countries.
MAG’s ‘Top Docs Radio’ show is supported with a grant from Health Care Research, a subsidiary of Alliant Health Solutions.
Contact MAG Government Relations Director Derek Norton at dnorton@mag.org or 404.274.4210 with questions related to H.B. 416 and S.B. 221.
