AB 443: Optometry: scope of practice.

The Optometry Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of optometry by the State Board of Optometry, which is within the Department of Consumer Affairs. That act provides that the practice of optometry includes the prevention and diagnosis of disorders and dysfunctions of the visual system, and the treatment and management of certain disorders and dysfunctions of the visual system, as well as the provision of rehabilitative optometric services, and doing certain things, including, but not limited to, the examination of the human eye or eyes. Existing law makes a violation of the act punishable as a crime.

This bill would revise the scope of the practice of optometry by, among other things, providing that the practice of optometry includes the provision of habilitative optometric services.

Existing law authorizes an optometrist certified to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to diagnose and treat specified conditions and perform certain procedures.

This bill would additionally authorize an optometrist who is certified to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents, among other things, to perform skin testing to diagnose ocular allergies, to perform intravenous injection for the purpose of performing ocular angiography under specified circumstances, and to treat and diagnose hypotrichosis and blepharitis. The bill would authorize an optometrist certified to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to administer immunizations if the optometrist meets certain requirements, including that the optometrist is certified in basic life support.

Existing law requires an optometrist to consult with and refer a patient to an ophthalmologist or a physician and surgeon in certain circumstances, including if a patient has a recurrent case of peripheral corneal inflammatory keratitis within one year of the initial occurrence.

This bill would instead require an optometrist to consult with and, if necessary, refer to a physician and surgeon or other appropriate health care provider when a situation or condition occurs that is beyond the optometrists scope of practice. The bill would require all consultations, referrals, and notifications be documented in the patient record. By changing the definition of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law requires all moneys collected pursuant to the act, except fine and penalty money, to be deposited in the Optometry Fund and continuously appropriated to the board to carry out the act.

This bill would require an applicant for a certificate to administer immunizations to pay a fee not to exceed $50. Because this bill would increase those moneys deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, it would make an appropriation.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 3057 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 1708 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1708 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.