AFVCI Letter to Members of the Washington State House Health Care & Wellness Committee
Dear Chair Cody, Vice-Chair Macri, Ranking Member Schmick and the distinguished members of the Washington State House Health and Wellness Committee,
Americans for Vision Care Innovation, a local and national coalition made up of think tanks and consumer groups, taxpayer advocates and pro-technology voices, representing millions of contact lens and glasses wearers from across the state and nation, writes today in support of the compromise that has been reached around ocular telemedicine, SB 5759, which is now pending before your committee. We strongly urge you to pass this bill.
Our Coalition has been working to stop a ban of ocular telemedicine in Washington State for four years and have been very concerned about the possibility of legislation passing that would have prevented patients from getting their contact lens and glasses prescriptions renewed online and from having the ability to get online vision checks.
We are pleased that this session the optometry and ophthalmology associations, the telemedicine industry and technology providers were able to forge compromise language passed by the Senate in SB 5759. The compromise bill being presented by these diverse groups preserves access to online technologies and allows Washington state residents to continue to use these time-saving innovative tools to get their vision checked and their prescriptions renewed online, without limitation just so long as access to and use of meets the defined standard of care.
Washington state is known across the country both for your advancement of innovation in the health arena and for your commitment to sensible cost-saving consumer and taxpayer-friendly legislation. This compromise to continue to allow access to ocular telemedicine that is now before your committee will lower costs, enhance choice and
increase access to vision care for residents across the state. We urge all members of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee to support this compromise and thank you on behalf of all your constituents who wear contact lenses and glasses.
Sincerely,
Americans for Vision Care Innovation