Photo Credit: Dreamstime
Historic change follows years of advocacy by AFOS and AOA leaders
Jan. 9, 2026
Pay rates for doctors of optometry working in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are finally on par with physicians’ rates. An executive order published in late December 2025 sets the base and longevity pay schedule for optometrists—along with their physician, podiatrist and dentist colleagues—at $124,308 minimum to $182,324 maximum.
The new rates became effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period on or after Jan. 1, 2026. This comes after the VA, in October, published new regulations implementing physician-level recognition for VA doctors of optometry, a major win for the profession. The VA notice specifically called attention to optometry’s placement in the annual pay table to “enhance the flexibility of the Department to recruit, develop and retain the most highly qualified optometrists to serve our nation’s veterans and maintain a standard of excellence in the VA health care system.”
AFOS and AOA Advocacy
This achievement is the direct result of persistent advocacy and collaboration by dedicated volunteers and leaders from the Association of Armed Forces and Federal Optometric Services (AFOS) and the American Optometric Association (AOA), says Adam Preston, OD, AFOS president.
“Their continued engagement—including recent in-person meetings with congressional leaders in Washington, D.C.—helped generate the visibility and support necessary to move this long-delayed process forward,” he says.
On Jan. 2, former President Joe Biden signed into law the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act. The reform bill included a sweeping list of VA policies, such as adding optometry to the physician pay scale and giving the department the latitude to offer increased pay awards, bonuses and annual evaluations.
Vision and eye health care is the third-most requested service by veterans—behind only primary care and mental health care—with VA doctors of optometry providing roughly 70% of essential primary and medical eye care services. Often the only licensed independent eye care practitioner available at their site, VA optometrists:
- Practice at 95% of VA sites where eye care is offered.
- Provide 73% of the 2.5 million selected ophthalmic procedures.
- Provide 99% of services in low-vision clinics and blind rehabilitation centers.
Yet despite the key role that optometry plays in the delivery of VA health care nationwide, VA optometrists were included in the general schedule (GS) pay scale, which has gone largely unchanged since 1976.
When 2004 legislation created a new pay scale for allopathic and osteopathic physicians to remain competitive with private-sector opportunities, dentists, podiatrists and optometrists were initially left out.
Over time, dentists and podiatrists were added to the physician pay scale, but optometry remained in the GS pay scale with a pay cap far below that of the private sector in many regions. The unfortunate consequence meant numerous vacant optometry positions at VA facilities went unfilled, a problem magnified by the fact that over 20% of the VA optometry workforce is at or near retirement with many having reached the legislative pay cap.
This latest change marks a significant milestone in the VA’s recognition of the essential role doctors of optometry play in providing critical eye and vision care to veterans, says Lindsay Wright, OD, AFOS executive director.
“It serves as a powerful acknowledgment of the value, expertise and commitment that federal service optometrists bring to the VA and the veterans they are honored to serve,” says Dr. Wright. “While additional work remains to ensure consistent and equitable implementation across all VA facilities, this progress represents a major step forward.”
