Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
REGULAR SESSION
         Committee Substitute for House Bill 3278
         By Delegates Summers and Tully [Originating in the Committee on Health and Human Resources; Reported on February 7, 2023]
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  A BILL to amend and reenact §30-8-3, §30-8-6 and §30-8-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
          amended, all relating to the practice of optometry; defining terms; removing obsolete areas
          of the code; and permitting a licensee to perform certain procedures trained by an
          approved by an accredited body.
     Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
     ARTICLE                                        8.                                 OPTOMETRISTS.
     §30-8-3. Definitions.
          As used in this article:
          (a) "Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE)" is the accrediting body for
  professional optometric degree (O.D.) programs, optometric residency programs, and optometric
  technician programs in the United States and Canada and is recognized as an accrediting body by
  the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation
  (CHEA).
          "Appendages" means the eyelids, the eyebrows, the conjunctiva and the lacrimal
  apparatus.
          (b) "Applicant" means any person making application for a license, certificate or temporary
 permit under the provisions of this article.
         (c) "Board" means the West Virginia Board of Optometry.
         (d) "Business entity" means any firm, partnership, association, company, corporation,
 limited partnership, limited liability company or other entity owned by licensees that practices
 optometry.
         (e) "Certificate" means a prescription certificate issued under section fifteen of this article.
         (f) "Certificate holder" means a person authorized to prescribe certain drugs under section
 fifteen of this article.
         (g) "Examination, diagnosis and treatment" means a method compatible with accredited
 optometric education and professional competence pursuant to this article.
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           (h) "License" means a license to practice optometry.
           (i) "Licensee" means an optometrist licensed under the provisions of this article.
           (j) "Ophthalmologist" means a physician specializing in ophthalmology licenced licensed in
 West Virginia to practice medicine and surgery under article thereof this chapter or osteopathy
 under article fourteen of this chapter.
           (k) "Permittee" means a person holding a temporary permit.
           (l) "Practice of optometry" means the examining, diagnosing, and treating of any visual
 defect or abnormal condition of the human eye or its appendages within the scope established in
 this article or associated rules.
           (m) "Temporary permit" or "permit" means a permit issued to a person who has graduated
 from an approved school, has taken the examination prescribed by the board, and is awaiting the
 results of                      the examination.
     §30-8-6. Rulemaking.
            (a) The board shall propose rules for legislative approval, in accordance with the
  provisions of §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code, to implement the provisions of this article, including:
            (1) Standards and requirements for licenses, certificates, and permits;
            (2) Procedures for examinations and reexaminations;
            (3) Requirements for third parties to prepare and/or administer examinations and
  reexaminations;
            (4) Educational and experience requirements;
            (5) The passing grade on the examinations;
            (6) Standards for approval of courses and curriculum;
           (7) Procedures for the issuance and renewal of licenses, certificates and permits;
           (8) A fee schedule;
           (9) A prescription drug formulary classifying those categories of oral drugs rational to the
 diagnosis and treatment of visual defects or abnormal conditions of the human eye and its
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 appendages, which may be prescribed by licensees from Schedules III, IV, and V of the Uniform
 Controlled Substances Act. The drug formulary may also include oral antibiotics, oral nonsteroidal
 anti-inflammatory drugs, and oral carbonic anhydrase inhibitors;
           (10) Requirements for prescribing and dispensing contact lenses that contain and deliver
 pharmaceutical agents that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a drug;
           (11) Continuing education requirements for licensees;
           (12) The procedures for denying, suspending, revoking, reinstating, or limiting the practice
 of licensees, certificate holders, and permittees;
           (13) Requirements for inactive or revoked licenses, certificates, or permits;
           (14) Requirements for an expanded scope of practice for those procedures that are taught
 at fifty percent of all accredited optometry schools and
           (15) (14) Any other rules necessary to effectuate the provisions of this article.
           (b) All of the board’s rules in effect on July 1, 2010, shall remain in effect until they are
 amended or repealed, and references to provisions of former enactments of this article are
 interpreted to mean provisions of this article.
           (c) The board shall promulgate procedural and interpretive rules in accordance with
 section eight,     article three,        chapter twenty-nine-a of      this code
     §30-8-9.                            Scope of                            practice.
            (a) A licensee may:
            (1) Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases and conditions of the human eye and its
  appendage within the scope established in this article or associated rules;
            (2) Administer or prescribe any drug for topical application to the anterior segment of the
  human eye for use in the examination, diagnosis, or treatment of diseases and conditions of the
  human eye and its appendages: Provided, That the licensee has first obtained a certificate;
            (3)(A) Administer or prescribe any drug from the drug formulary, as established by the
  board pursuant to section six of this article, for use in the examination, diagnosis or treatment of
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  diseases and conditions of the human eye and its appendages: Provided, That the licensee has
 first obtained a certificate;
         (B) New drugs and new drug indications may be added to the drug formulary by approval of
 the board;
         (4) Administer epinephrine by injection to treat emergency cases of anaphylaxis or
 anaphylactic shock;
         (5) Prescribe and dispense contact lenses that contain and deliver pharmaceutical agents
 and that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a drug;
         (6) Prescribe, fit, apply, replace, duplicate or alter lenses, prisms, contact lenses,
 orthoptics, vision training, vision rehabilitation;
         (7) Perform the following procedures:
         (A) Remove a foreign body from the ocular surface and adnexa utilizing a nonintrusive
 method;
         (B) Remove a foreign body, external eye, conjunctival, superficial, using topical
 anesthesia;
         (C) Remove embedded foreign bodies or concretions from conjunctiva, using topical
 anesthesia, not involving sclera;
         (D) Remove corneal foreign body not through to the second layer of the cornea using
 topical anesthesia;
         (E) Epilation of lashes by forceps;
         (F) Closure of punctum by plug; and
         (G) Dilation of the lacrimal puncta with or without irrigation;
         (8) Furnish or provide any prosthetic device to correct or relieve any defects or abnormal
 conditions of the human eye and its appendages;
         (9) Order laboratory tests rational to the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of a
 disease or condition of the human eye and its appendages;
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        (10) Use a diagnostic or therapeutic laser; and
        (11) A licensee is also permitted to may perform those procedures authorized by the board
 prior to January 1, 2010 all procedures taught within the education and training at or through
 schools or colleges of optometry accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric
 Education, or its successors or equivalents.
        (b) A licensee may not:
        (1) Perform surgery except as provided in this article; or by legislative rule
        (2) Use a therapeutic laser;
        (3)(2) Use Schedule II controlled substances. However, an oral pharmaceutical certified
 licensee may prescribe hydrocodone and hydrocodone containing drugs for a duration of no more
 than three days;
        (4)(3) Treat systemic disease; or
        (5)(4) Present to the public that he or she is a specialist in surgery of the eye.
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Statutes affected: 
Introduced Version: 30-8-3, 30-8-6, 30-8-9
Committee Substitute: 30-8-3, 30-8-6, 30-8-9