130th Ohio General Assembly
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As Introduced

122nd General Assembly
Regular Session
1997-1998
H. B. No. 553

REPRESENTATIVE COUGHLIN


A BILL
To amend sections 4725.08 and 4725.091 of the Revised Code to eliminate a provision that prohibits a person seeking a license to practice optometry from taking the licensing examination more than four times.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:


Section 1. That sections 4725.08 and 4725.09l of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 4725.08. (A) Each person who desires to commence the practice of optometry shall file with the secretary of the state board of optometry a written application for the licensing examination.

Each application for the licensing examination shall be accompanied by the fee required under section 4725.10 of the Revised Code and shall be filed with the secretary not more than sixty nor less than thirty days prior to the day of any meeting at which the applicable examination is to be held.

Each application for the licensing examination shall be upon the form prescribed by the board and shall be verified by the oath of the applicant. In addition, it shall contain information and evidence satisfactory to the board showing the eligibility of the applicant to take the examination.

(B) No person is eligible to take the licensing examination unless he THE PERSON is at least eighteen years of age, of good moral character, has satisfactorily completed a course of study of at least six college years, and has graduated from a school of optometry accredited by the board; provided that the school of optometry requires at least two academic years of study with credits of at least sixty semester hours or ninety quarter hours in a college of arts and sciences accredited by the association of American universities or the north central association of colleges and secondary schools or a similar regional accrediting agency as a prerequisite to admission to the courses in optometry; and additionally provided that the school of optometry requires a course of study of at least four academic years with credits of at least one hundred thirty-four semester hours or two hundred quarter hours. No school of optometry shall be accredited unless it is accredited by the established professional optometric accrediting agency, and no school of optometry shall be accredited except by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the board. The board may require higher standards for the accrediting of the schools of optometry.

The licensing examination shall consist of two parts. Part one of the examinination shall consist of tests in practical, theoretical, and physiological optics, in theoretical and practical optometry, in the anatomy and physiology of the eye, in pathology, and in the optometric aspects of whatever additional related social, physical, and biological sciences are determined by the board to be appropriate subject matters for examination, provided that the schools and colleges approved by the board include such subject matters in the prescribed curriculum. Part two of the examination shall be a pharmacology examination and shall test the applicant's knowledge derived from the course of study prescribed under division (C) of this section.

The licensing examination shall be prepared, administered, and graded by the national board of examiners in optometry or a professionally qualified testing organization recognized by the state board of optometry.

(C) The state board of optometry shall prescribe by rule an eighty-seven clock-hour course of study and training to be completed at an institution accredited by a regional or professional accreditation organization that is recognized or approved by the council on post-secondary accreditation or the United States department of education or its successor. The course of study and training shall include, but is not limited to, instruction in general and ocular pharmacology, including the nature of adverse reactions caused by pharmaceutical agents and emergency steps to be taken in such cases; signs, symptoms, and treatment of ocular disease, injury, or abnormality; ocular signs and symptoms of systemic disease; appropriate criteria for referrals to physicians; and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

(D) No person shall be permitted by the board to take more than four licensing examinations.

Sec. 4725.091. (A) A person who, on the effective date of this section MAY 19, 1992, holds a valid certificate of licensure or topical ocular pharmaceutical agents certificate issued by the state board of optometry may continue to engage in the practice of optometry as provided by the certificate of licensure or topical ocular pharmaceutical agents certificate provided he THE PERSON continues to comply with sections 4725.01 to 4725.21 of the Revised Code as required by his THE PERSON'S certificate of licensure or topical ocular pharmaceutical agents certificate.

(B) The board shall issue a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certificate under division (A)(3) of section 4725.09 of the Revised Code to any optometrist who holds a certificate of licensure issued by the board and meets the requirements of divisions (C) and (E) of this section not later than five years after the effective date of this section MAY 19, 1992.

(C)(1) A licensed optometrist seeking a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certificate under division (A)(3) of section 4725.09 of the Revised Code who does not hold a valid topical ocular pharmaceutical agents certificate shall complete the course of study in general and ocular pharmacology prescribed by the board under division (C) of section 4725.08 of the Revised Code and pass part two of the optometry licensing examination administered by the board under section 4725.08 of the Revised Code.

(2) A licensed optometrist seeking a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certificate issued under division (A)(3) of section 4725.09 of the Revised Code who holds a valid topical ocular pharmaceutical agents certificate shall complete a thirty clock-hour course of study in general and ocular pharmacology in accordance with division (D) of this section and pass part two of the optometry licensing examination administered by the board under section 4725.08 of the Revised Code.

(D) The board shall prescribe by rule the course of study provided for by division (C)(2) of this section. The course of study shall emphasize the treatment of ocular disease and shall be completed at an institution accredited by a regional or professional accreditation organization that is recognized or approved by the council on post-secondary accreditation or the United States department of education or its successor.

(E) An optometrist who has completed the appropriate course of study under divisions (C) and (D) of this section may apply to the board to take part two of the licensing examination. Each application shall be on the form prescribed by the board and shall be verified by the oath of the applicant. It shall contain information and evidence satisfactory to the board showing the eligibility of the applicant to take part two of the examination and shall be accompanied by the fee required by section 4725.10 of the Revised Code. In addition to the examination dates the board sets for applicants under division (A)(4) of section 4725.09 of the Revised Code, the board shall set dates on which part two of the examination may be taken by applicants under division (A)(3) of that section. No optometrist shall be permitted by the board to take part two of the examination more than four times.


Section 2. That existing sections 4725.08 and 4725.091 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
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