To free up appointments with ophthalmologists, the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) is promoting the prescription of glasses by opticians.
- In France, vision disorders affect 35% of adolescents and 70% of adults.
- The IGAS proposes to expand the role of opticians-spectacle makers and orthoptists in the detection and treatment of simple visual disorders.
A new report from the IGAS (Inspection Générale des Affaires Sociales) promotes the renewal of glasses by opticians, so as to reduce delays “excessive” appointments with ophthalmologists.
Poor vision correction
While vision disorders affect 35% of adolescents and 70% of adults, the delays in accessing ophthalmologists remain particularly long, especially in medical deserts. The average consultation time is 87 days in France. But depending on the region, the figures become dramatic: 156 days in Brittany, 146 days in Normandy, 144 in Centre-Val de Loire or 132 in the Grand-Est.
If appointment times do not drop significantly over the next two years, IGAS recommends “to authorize the first prescription of corrective lenses by opticians-spectacle makers and orthoptists for young adults with poor vision correction, as is done in other European countries”.
Renewal or adaptation of corrective lenses
The aim would also be to expand the role of opticians-spectacle makers and orthoptists in the detection and treatment of simple visual disorders (for the renewal or adaptation of corrective lenses) and, with regard to orthoptists, to increase their role in the management of patients whose pathology is stabilized.
The French visual industry has 6,000 ophthalmologists, 5,000 orthoptists and 40,000 opticians-eyewear manufacturers. “The good visual health of the French will pass, I am deeply convinced, by the redefinition of the role of the optician as “collaborating assistant” of the ophthalmologist. We could thus imagine the establishment of a common core of missions shared between orthoptists and opticians so that the latter, who are superior in number, can carry out screening/prevention procedures in support of the ophthalmologists who will then be consulted for the interpretation of the results and the performance of the prescription or the surgical procedure if applicable”, enthuses Matthieu Gerber, founder & CEO of Les Opticiens Mobiles.
As a reminder, the option of full coverage of optical costs (form “100% health”) entered into force at the beginning of 2020.
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