|
OPTOMETRY LAWS OF OKLAHOMA
Title 505:10-5-1 Minimum standard of sanitation, hygiene and professional surroundingsSUBCHAPTER 5. RULEMAKING AND DECLARATORY RULINGS PART 2 (Top of Page) In order to establish a minimum standard of sanitation, hygiene and professional surroundings of and for optometric offices in this State, the Board of Optometry of Oklahoma, acting under authority of Subdivision "E", Section 3, House Bill No. 307 of the Sixteenth Legislature of Oklahoma, does hereby prescribe the following rules and regulations, to-wit: 1) All optometric offices, including instruments and equipment, contained therein, in this State must at all times be kept clean and free from any condition or surroundings that will make or tend to make same unsanitary or unhygienic. 2) The Patient's entrance to each optometric office in this state shall open on a public street, hall, lobby or corridor. 3) Every optometrist practicing his profession in this state must have available in his office for examination of the human eye the following minimum equipment, to-wit: an Ophthalmoscope, a Retinoscope, a Keratometer, a Refractor, or their equivalent and an instrument for recording visual fields. Every such examination must be made in an optometric office, such as is referred to in (1) exclusively for the practice of optometry. Provided, that if a person desiring optometric services informed an Optometrist that by reason of sickness, or other cause, he or she is confined to his or her place of abode, said optometrist may make an examination at the place of abode of said person. Provided, further, that said optometrist must have available at said place of abode for said examination, the following minimum equipment, to-wit: An Opthalmoscope, a Retinoscope, or their equivalent, a reliable astigmatic test and a reliable trial frame suitable for muscular test. 4) No Optometrist shall practice Optometry in a room or part of a room occupied in whole or in part by a wholesale or retail mercantile establishment, or maintain an optometric office therein, or in connection therewith. Title 505:10-5-2 Prohibition against practicing in proximity to retail optical outlet (Top of Page) a) No optometrist shall, with intent or purpose to induce patronage for himself, practice optometry in such proximity to a retail optical outlet as to induce the public to associate his practice with such retail optical outlet. b) It shall be considered unprofessional and unethical to practice adjacent to a retail optical outlet without a solid wall between the two. There shall be no windows, doors or openings in the wall and there shall be no access from one side of the wall to the other and there shall be no referral of patients or persons from one side of the wall to the other. Title 505:10-5-3 Prohibition against solicitation (Top of Page) No optometrist shall knowingly allow or permit any person engaged in or interested in the sale of optical goods, appliances or materials to solicit business for him. Title 505:10-5-4 Prohibition against practicing in connection with commercial business (Top of Page) Practices may not be established within the premises of any commercial business nor in conjunction with any commercial business, and no optometrist shall use a commercial business as a "feeder" to his practice of optometry, nor shall any optometrist be employed in practicing optometry by one other than an optometrist registered by the Oklahoma Board of Examiners in Optometry. Title 505:10-5-5 Prohibition against practicing under name other than proper name (Top of Page) No person or persons shall practice optometry under any trade name, franchise name, corporate name, fictitious name or any name other than his or her own proper name as the name appears on the certificate of license issued by the Board of Examiners in Optometry. Neither shall any optometrist be listed in any telephone book, city directory, other directory or on any list of any type whatever except by his or her own proper name as it appears on that person's license certificate. Title 505:10-5-6 Requirement of registering intent to dispense dangerous drugs and controlled dangerous substances (Top of Page) Any certified licensed practitioner of Optometry desiring to dispense dangerous drugs, pursuant to 59 OS Supp. 1987 Section 355.1 shall register such intent with the Oklahoma Board of Examiners in Optometry and meet annual continuing education requirements as set by the Board. Any certified licensed professional Optometrist desiring to dispense controlled dangerous substances shall first obtain a registration number from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency. Title 505: 10-5-7 Practice in two locations (Top of Page) Any licensed optometrist in Oklahoma may practice in two, but not more than two, office locations; either one principal and one branch or two principal offices. Practice in a government institution shall not be counted as one of these locations. Practice in another doctor's office shall be considered as one of the optometrist's two locations. 1) Registration of each office. Each office must be registered with the Board and such registration shall be renewed annually along with the Optometrist's license renewal. No less than a $100.00 late renewal fee shall be charged after June 30th of each year. The fee for initial and renewal registration for a secondary office will be determined by the Board. Each optometrist is responsible for notifying the Board and registering each office with the Executive Director of the Board on a form provided by the Board. 2) Displaying license certificate. A license certificate must be displayed in each office location and duplicate licenses shall be furnished by the Board at a fee to be determined by the Board. 3) Minimum equipment in second office. A second office is defined and construed by the Board as a secondary practice, at a fixed location and must be registered with the Board. The following minimum equipment is required in each office: (A) Phoroptor (B) Projector (C) Auto Keratometer or Keratometer or Ophthalmometer (D) Slit Lamp or Biomicroscope (E) Tonometer (F) Ophthalmoscope (G) Retinoscope (H) Lensometer (I) Perimeter or other visual fields testing instrument (J) Color Vision Testing Device 4) Required personnel. Each office must have such personnel present at all times the office is open which is necessary to assist the optometrist to make appointments for patients. Title 505:10-5-8 Penalties for practicing without renewal certificate (Top of Page) Practicing optometry without an annual renewal certificate for the current year, as required by statutes, shall have the same force and effect and be subject to all penalties of practicing optometry without a license. Title 505:10-5-9 Required findings on examination of patient (Top of Page) (a) In order to insure an adequate examination of a patient for whom an optometrist signs a prescription for an ophthalmic lens, at least the following findings must be made and recorded, if possible, in the examination of the patient: 1) Case history (ocular, physical, occupational and other pertinent health information) 2) Far point acuity, O.D., O.S., O.U., unaided: with old glasses; if available, and with new glasses, if any. 3) External examination (lids, cornea, sclera, etc.) 4) Internal ophthalmoscopic examination (media, fundus, etc.) 5) Static retinoscopy, O.D., O.S. 6) Subjective findings, far point and near point. 7) Phorias or ductions, far and near, lateral and vertical. 8) Amplitude or range of accommodation. 9) Amplitude or range of convergence. 10) Angle of vision, to right and to left. 11) Other tests must be made and recorded as necessary for the visual health and welfare of the patient. (b) Diagnosis and treatment plan endorsed should follow the American Optometric Association's clinical guidelines. (c) When a licensed practitioner or certified optometrist performs public service visual screenings for governmental agencies, each recipient of such screening should be clearly informed in writing of the following: 1) The limitations of the screening; 2) That the screening is not representative of or a substitute for a comprehensive vision analysis; and 3) That the screening will not result in a prescription for visual correction. Title 505:10-5-10 Prohibition against false advertising (Top of Page) An optometrist may not publish or display or cause or permit to be published or displayed in any newspaper or by radio, television, billboard, window display, or any other means or medium any statement or advertisement concerning ophthalmic services or materials, including but not limited to eye examinations, lenses, frames, spectacles, contact lenses, or parts thereof, which is false, deceptive, misleading or in any manner whatsoever tends to create a misleading impression or is likely to mislead or deceive because in context said statement or advertisement makes only a partial disclosure of relevant facts. Title 505: 10-5-11. Authorized post-graduate educational work. (Top of Page) a) Every Optometrist must cause to be filed with the Board not later than June 30th of beginning 2017 proof showing that during the preceding year he/she attended not less than twenty-five (25) hours of continuing medical education (CME) or an affidavit showing that he/she was unavoidably prevented, because of sickness or for some other reason satisfactory to the Board, from attending any such education. Of the twenty-five (25) hours required annually, up to six (6) hours of remote learning, up to six (6) hours of practice management, and a minimum of one (1) hour shall be judicious prescribing of dangerous drugs and controlled dangerous substances provided by the Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians or the Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry. b) The Board approves the following vendors providing continuing medical education (CME) provided the faculty or staff of each vendor substantially develops and presents the program and the program is free from any appearance of commercialism: 1) Any Optometry college accredited by the American Optometric Council on Education 2) American Optometric Association, or an affiliate of the American Optometric Association 3) College of Optometrists in Vision Development 4) Southeast Council of Optometry (SECO) 5) Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians 6) Great Western Council of Optometry (GWCO) 7) Heart of America Contact Lens Society 8) American Academy of Optometry (AAO), or any affiliate of the AAO 9) State Optometric Associations of the United States c) Any Optometrist desiring approval of any other continuing medical education (CME) must make a written request for approval to the Office of the Board of Examiners in Optometry at least fifteen (15) days before he/she attends such CME. d) Simultaneously with the requirement of this rule, every Optometrist shall not later than June 30, 2017 and each year thereafter file with the Board evidence that he or she has a current cardiopulmonary resuscitation card issued by the American Red Cross, or equivalent training. Title 505:10-5-12 Code of Ethics (Top of Page) It Shall Be The Ideal, The Reserve, And The Duty of Each Optometrist in Oklahoma: 1) TO KEEP the visual welfare of the patient uppermost at all times 2) TO PROMOTE in every possible way, in collaboration with this Board, better care of the visual needs of mankind; 3) TO ENHANCE continuously their educational and technical proficiency to the end that their patients shall receive the benefits of all acknowledged improvements in visual care; 4) TO SEE THAT no person shall lack for visual care, regardless of his financial status; 5) TO ADVISE the patient whenever consultation with an optometric colleague or reference for other professional care seems advisable; 6) TO HOLD professional confidence all information concerning a patient and to use such data only for the benefit of the patient; 7) TO CONDUCT themselves as exemplary citizens; 8) TO MAINTAIN their offices and their practices in keeping with professional standards; 9) TO PROMOTE and maintain cordial and unselfish relationships with members of their own profession and of their professions for the exchange of information to the advantage of mankind; 10) TO BE ACCOUNTABLE to and to refrain from any appearance of negligence of a patient; 11) TO BE AVAILABLE and responsive to a patient for consultation on his or her visual care; 12) TO CONDUCT their practices in total independence from any corporation, firm, company, entity, or non-licensed lay person; except that an optometrist may incorporate a practice under the Professional Corporation Act as provided by law; 13) TO PRACTICE in his or her own name and to avoid any appearance of affiliation which might confuse or mislead members of the public, in any manner, with any retail optical concern or outlet. |