ARLINGTON, Va.—The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety, a newly formed policy advancement and information organization that includes executives from the eye health community, will hold a congressional briefing at noon on Tuesday, April 24, in Washington, D.C. The one-hour session, which will be held in room 2247 of The Rayburn House Office Building, will address “the importance of protecting the safety of patients who use contact lenses, which are regulated medical devices,” according to an announcement.

The briefing includes a panel that will focus on four key areas: maintaining a strong doctor-patient relationship when it comes to contact lens prescriptions; the importance of safe and effective use of medical devices, including contact lenses; recognition of the inviolability of a patient’s prescription; and regulatory enforcement, the announcement noted.

The briefing follows by about three weeks the April 6 closing of the comment period around the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed changes to the Contact Lens rule. The comments can be reviewed here. The FTC also held a public hearing March 7 as a way to gather input and to review the state of the contact lens marketplace, as VMAIL reported. 

A spokesman at the FTC told VMAIL on Wednesday that the agency continues to review “the material and information presented at the Contact Lens workshop…In addition, we are reviewing the comments that we received in response to the topics raised at the workshop. The comment period closed on April 6. After our review of data and comments, we will be determining next steps. [There is] no particular timing information right now.”

At next week’s alliance briefing, the panel will include representatives from the Food and Drug Administration, Johnson & Johnson Vision, CooperVision and American Optometric Association (AOA). The expected attendees are optometrists from across the U.S., congressional staff and alliance supporters, among others.

Alliance chair Deanna Alexander, OD, will moderate the panel, which includes Michele L. Andrews, OD, CooperVision’s senior director, North America Professional and Academic Affairs; Carol L. Alexander, OD, Johnson & Johnson Vision’s director of Professional Communication and Vision Care; Dr. Malvina Eydelman, director, Division of Ophthalmic, and Ear, Nose and Throat Devices at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health; and Jeff Sonsino, OD, a past president of the AOA’s Contact Lens & Cornea Section, and a private practice ECP in Nashville, Tenn.

The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety, founded in 2018, advocates for eye health and safety and for an effective doctor-patient relationship, according to the association. AOA and J&J Vision joined the alliance as leadership and charter members earlier this year, while CooperVision is an associate and charter member. VSP Global joined as a leadership member.