Look around me. I can see my life before me. Running rings around the way. It used to be. I am older now. I have more than what I wanted. But I wish that I had started. Long before I did.
No. A prescribing provider needs to be an MD or DO. In some states, a nurse practitioner or physicianâs assistant can also prescribe, but never a pharmacist.
Optometrists already have been able to prescribe âtopicalâ drugs, such as drops and creams, but proposals to expand those powers to oral medications ran into years of opposition from ophthalmologists. Optometrists had to refer patients to ophthalmologists for conditions requiring drugs taken by mouth. Optometrists are not medical doctors and generally do not have the same authority to write prescriptions like ophthalmologists who are medical or osteopathic physicians. The Florida Optometric Association reported that 47 other states allow optometrists to prescribe oral medication to treat eye diseases. In a news release Friday, Ken Lawson, legislative chairman of the Florida Optometric Association, said the bill will help expand access to eye care.