MMA Voices Concerns with Senate Scope of Practice Legislation

April 4, 2024

Both the House and Senate are currently creating omnibus bills that deal with scope of practice issues.  

The House bill, HF 4247 (Liebling, DFL – Rochester), passed the Health Finance and Policy Committee on March 20 and was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. It will be the last committee stop before the bill goes to the House floor for a vote. The House bill does not currently contain any items of concern to the MMA. 

The Senate companion bill, SF 4570 (Wiklund, DFL – Bloomington), was heard by the Health and Human Services Committee on April 3. It contains two items to which the MMA has shared concerns. 

The first concern would lift existing statutory caps on optometric prescribing of oral antiviral drugs, steroids, and oral carbonic anhydrase inhibitors and expands optometrists’ authority to provide intravitreal injections.  

The MMA has strongly opposed this section, arguing that current limits on optometric prescribing serve an important purpose in protecting the public. The MMA specifically noted in a letter to the committee that the proposed expansion includes extremely powerful drugs that can have significant side effects if improperly administered. The MMA letter argued that there should be safeguards in the bill limiting the scope optometrists could have on surgical procedures involving the eye. 

 The MMA has maintained that optometrists are a critical part of the healthcare team and are well-trained to provide many health services related to eyes and eyesight, but they do not have the same level of training as physicians, and specifically of ophthalmologists, to safely protect patients. 

A second area of concern is a provision to create a separate pathway for international medical graduates (IMGs) who do not qualify for licensure in Minnesota. The MMA agrees that there is a need to find ways to allow well-qualified physicians to achieve licensure to address physician workforce shortages in the state. However, the MMA contends that the current language needs additional guardrails to ensure a minimum standard of care. The MMA shared a letter on this issue earlier in March. 

SF 4570 was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, where it will be heard before going to the Senate floor for a vote. Once both bills pass their respective floors, a conference committee will be appointed to work out the differences in a final bill.