Clinician type
Optometrists
At a glance
- Practicing in the U.S.
- 64,749
- Per 100,000 residents
- 19.1
- Women
- 50%
- Median years since graduating
- 18
Who they are
- Women 50%
- Graduated 35 or more years ago 17%
- Offer telehealth 0%
- Accept Medicare’s approved amount 91%
Sex and credentials from NPPES. Graduation year, telehealth and Medicare assignment from Medicare Care Compare, which covers clinicians enrolled in Medicare.
Where they practice
What they do most for Medicare patients
- Removal of cataract with insertion of prosthetic lens 4,141,711
- Established patient complete exam of visual system 3,461,066
- Established patient office or other outpatient visit, 20-29 minutes 1,766,346
- Photography of the retina 1,596,359
- Established patient office or other outpatient visit, 30-39 minutes 1,201,330
- Imaging of retina 968,698
- Established patient problem focused exam of visual system 860,392
- New patient complete exam of visual system 837,727
- Imaging of optic nerve 817,518
- Exam of visual field with extended testing 807,088
- Established patient office or other outpatient visit, 10-19 minutes 257,186
- New patient office or other outpatient visit, 45-59 minutes 211,524
Services billed to traditional Medicare in 2023 (Physician and Other Practitioners data); drugs given in the office are left out.
What they prescribe most
- Latanoprost (Xalatan) 37.8%
- Timolol Maleate (Istalol) 8.4%
- Cyclosporine (Restasis, Restasis Multidose, Verkazia) 7.9%
- Dorzolamide Hcl/Timolol Maleat (Dorzolamide-Timolol, Cosopt) 6.0%
- Brimonidine Tartrate (Alphagan P) 5.4%
- Prednisolone Acetate (Pred Forte, Pred Mild) 5.1%
- Bimatoprost (Durysta, Lumigan) 4.1%
- Neomycin/Polymyxin B/Dexametha (Neomycin-Polymyxin-Dexameth) 3.7%
- Erythromycin Base (Ery-Tab, Erythromycin) 2.1%
- Lifitegrast (Xiidra) 1.9%
- Brimonidine Tartrate/Timolol (Brimonidine Tartrate-Timolol, Combigan) 1.9%
- Dorzolamide Hcl 1.8%
- Tobramycin/Dexamethasone (Tobradex, Tobradex St, Tobramycin-Dexamethasone) 1.5%
- Azelastine Hcl 1.2%
- Travoprost (Travatan Z) 1.1%
Share of this specialty’s Medicare Part D prescriptions in 2024, including refills. Select a drug to see which of these clinicians prescribe it most, and where.
Hospitals where the most work
- Cherokee Nation W W Hastings Indian Hospital Tahlequah, OK 44 Optometrists at Cherokee Nation W W Hastings Indian Hospital
- Cleveland Clinic Cleveland, OH 40 Optometrists at Cleveland Clinic
- Boston Medical Center Boston, MA 28 Optometrists at Boston Medical Center
- UCSF Medical Center San Francisco, CA 28 Optometrists at UCSF Medical Center
- Robert PAcker Hospital Sayre, PA 20 Optometrists at Robert PAcker Hospital
- Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center La Crosse, WI 17 Optometrists at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary - Boston, MA 16 Optometrists at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary -
- University of Michigan Health System Ann Arbor, MI 16 Optometrists at University of Michigan Health System
- Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Baltimore, MD 15 Optometrists at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the
- Ochsner Medical Center Acute New Orleans, LA 15 Optometrists at Ochsner Medical Center Acute
Clinicians who list the hospital in Medicare Care Compare. The number opens the list of who works there.
Schools they graduated from most
- Southern College of Optometry 3,648
- Illinois College of Optometry at Chicago 3,375
- Pennsylvania College of Optometry 3,266
- New England College of Optometry 2,490
- University of Houston - College of Optometry 2,397
- Pacific University - College of Optometry 2,028
- Indiana University - School of Optometry 1,953
- Southern California College of Optometry 1,942
- Ohio State University - College of Optometry 1,745
- State University of New York - State College Optometry 1,324
From Medicare Care Compare (Medicare-enrolled clinicians only).
Industry payments
Drug and device makers reported $31.6M in general payments to 36,249 clinicians in Optometrists in 2025. See who received the most
Source: CMS Open Payments, program year 2025. A payment is not evidence of wrongdoing.
Sources: CMS NPPES (counts, sex, credentials), Medicare Care Compare (schools, graduation years, hospitals, telehealth), CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners (2023) and Part D Prescribers (2024), CMS Open Payments (2025), ACGME program requirements (training length), OpenAlex (research), U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2020–2024 (population).