Welcome to the February/March edition of the Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety (HCAPS)’s newsletter and Happy Save Your Vision Month! We’re announcing an exciting new study on myopia, looking for top advocates to participate in a unique opportunity, and more. Happy reading!

HCAPS Advocacy Spotlight: Optometry's Meeting

ICYMI – HCAPS released our inaugural edition of the HCAPS Advocacy Spotlight! Each issue of the Advocacy Spotlight will feature the impactful work of our organization, partners, and community. We hope you enjoy it.

The first edition focuses on a few major accomplishments of our organization at Optometry’s Meeting:

• Sponsoring an AOA+ Rally
• The HCAPS Patient Advocate of the Year Awards
• Receiving AOA's highest honor, the Apollo Award

Read through the latest spotlight and share with your friends!

Hubble Lawsuit Press Release

A new lawsuit filed against Hubble parent Vision Path by a patient who lost her eye highlights the need for FTC enforcement to protect patient safety.

The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety is calling on the FTC and FDA to take immediate action to protect patients and the eye health of all people in the United States. More regulations need to be put in place to ensure patients receive safe and effective products. Contact lenses are a medical device and should be treated as such.

Additionally, the Alliance is calling on Congress to ban robocalls in the prescription verification process and pass the Contact Lens Prescription Verification Modernization Act (H.R. 2748).

Our latest press release highlights the details.

GAO Report on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising

The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety commends several lawmakers, including HCAPS champions Reps. Angie Craig and John Joyce for writing a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office urging the entity to study the federal regulation of Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) advertising practices for prescription medical products like contact lenses. Many issues have arisen due to the increasing marketing of prescription products via television, social media, and online advertising.

In response to the letter, the GAO released a report outlining the need for more involvement from the FDA and FTC to protect patient safety from DTC marketing practices. Read the full report.

HCAPS urges the FDA to better inform the FTC of the importance of protecting patient safety and enhancing the doctor-patient relationship through the regulation of deceptive marketing practices on prescription medical devices.

HCAPS Makes a Splash on Myopia

Myopia was historically thought of as just inconvenient blurry distance vision, but it is now known to impact the visual function of children and increase the risk of multiple eye health complications that may lead to irreversible vision loss later in life – and its prevalence is increasing.

HCAPS is excited to be a sponsor of a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to identify the causes of increasing rates of myopia and determine a scientific path forward that explains its prevalence.

HCAPS Executive Director, Ralph Kohl, recently spoke at an open session committee meeting for the National Academies' new myopia research study. Watch the recording.

Thank you for your continued advocacy.

The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety