Biden salutes Veteran’s Affairs optometrists by signing pay scale legislation

President Biden signed into law the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, which includes adding optometry to the physician pay scale, according to a press release. To read the legislation, visit Click here .

Specifically, the legislation, which has been advocated for by the American Optometric Association (AOA) and Association of Armed Forces and Federal Optometric Services, enables the department to offer increased pay awards, bonuses, and annual evaluations to optometrists.

“Moving optometrists to the physician pay scale appropriately recognizes the essential role optometrists play as frontline providers of eye and vision care within the VA health care system,” says H. Lindsey Wright, OD, in an AOA press release. “This legislation ensures that we can continue to recruit and retain highly skilled doctors of optometry to deliver the quality care our veterans deserve, while elevating the profession to where it belongs — alongside our physician colleagues.” 

Prior to this legislation, VA optometrists were part of the general schedule pay scale, which had a pay cap and, thus, left many vacant optometry positions at VA facilities unfilled, according to the AOA press release. OM