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Eye health can be an indicator of a patient’s overall health, which is why collaboration among doctors of optometry and primary healthcare team members is crucial to optimizing patient care.
This is especially true when it comes to managing eye disease, providing rehabilitative treatment and arranging timely requests to ophthalmologists.
As the profession that provides the majority of the primary eye care in BC, doctors of optometry are acutely aware of how many patients go to emergency rooms or walk-in clinics to have their eyes examined and conditions treated instead of visiting a doctor of optometry. In BC, optometry’s new services agreement and payment schedule with the provincial government provide improved access to eye care by allowing physicians to make a direct request to an optometrist when medically necessary.
Access a full list of diagnostic codes for medically required eye examinations.
With your request, patients will receive medically necessary eye care in a timely manner. Urgent referrals can often be seen on the same day upon request. The fee code has no limit on age or frequency, as long as the medical basis for the request is formally written.
Criteria
In general, the criteria for medically required requests include:
Conditions
Some conditions that qualify for a direct request are:
Refraction or routine eye exams are not available for direct request.
Just write the required note to a specific doctor of optometry or clinic, or to “optometry” in general, stating the medically necessary reason for the request.
After examining the patient, the doctor of optometry will send you a written report. You will also be notified if a specialist referral is required (i.e., ophthalmology, neurology), ensuring continuity of care for your patients.
Please note there may be an additional fee charged to the patient in addition to the MSP benefit.
[1] Deloitte Access Economics. The Cost of Vision Loss in Canada (2012). Report for CNIB. Canberra, 2013. [2] Deloitte Access Economics. The Cost of Vision Loss in Canada (2012). Report for CNIB. Canberra, 2013.
