President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill adding optometry to the physician pay scale as part of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act.
The American Optometric Association and the Association of Armed Forces and Federal Optometric Services have both long advocated for the reforms, according to a Jan. 6 press release.
The law also made sweeping changes to Department of Veterans Affairs policy, giving the department the latitude to offer increased pay awards, bonuses and annual evaluations.
"Including the over 1,000 optometrists within the physician pay administration system with passage of the Elizabeth Dole Act will support VA's efforts to hire the most qualified providers faster," Jeanette Carbone Varanelli, OD, who served 13 years as chief of optometry at Detroit-based John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, said 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."
Vision and eye health care is the third-most requested service by veterans, with VA physicians providing roughly 70% of essential primary and medical eye care services, according to the release.
VA optometrists were previously included in the general schedule pay scale, which has gone unchanged since 1976.