Usa: Rhode Island enacts mandatory screening and follow-up exam law
The Vision Council of America (Vca) and leading vision care organizations have praised policymakers and children's vision care advocates in Rhode Island for enacting one of the nation's most progressive laws to protect children's vision.
The law (Act 5182), which goes into effect on January 1, 2006, requires all children in the state receive a vision screening or comprehensive eye exam before starting elementary school. But what makes the law among the best is a provision that requires all children who fail the screening to receive a follow-up exam from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. Further strengthening the law is a provision that requires exams for all children with neurodevelopmental delays.
According to optometrist and child development specialist Joel Zaba, MA, OD, the new law addresses one of the major shortcomings of the vision screening system: poor follow-up after a failed screening. 'Research shows that the majority of kids who fail a screening never see the eye doctor', said Zaba. 'By requiring a follow-up eye exam, and exams for children with developmental delays, Rhode Island will significantly reduce the number of children in the state with undiagnosed vision problems'.
As a result of the law, nearly 60,000 children will receive a vision screening over the next five years; approximately 10,000 children will receive an eye exam over the same period of time. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two out of three children do not receive any vision care before starting elementary school, as recommended. As a result, vision care organizations largely praised the new law.
Rhode Island is the third state to enact a children's vision law in 2005. Yet despite the growing trend, the recent Vca report, Making the Grade?, found that 19 states (now 18) do not require any preventive vision care before school entry and that 29 states that require a screening do not require a follow-up eye exam for children who fail.
