SB3607 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB100 21828 XWW 39564 b

100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
SB3607

Introduced 5/3/2018, by Sen. Don Harmon

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

225 ILCS 80/3

from Ch. 111, par. 3903

Amends the Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987. Provides requirements for the rules that the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall adopt concerning educational requirements for advanced optometric procedures. Defines "surgery" and "advanced optometric procedures". Provides that an optometrist may not perform advanced optometric procedures on a patient under 18 years of age.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

WHEREAS, The legislative power in the State of Illinois is vested in a General Assembly consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, elected by the electors from 59 Legislative Districts and 118 Representative Districts; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly's principal activities are to enact, amend, or repeal laws, pass resolutions, adopt appropriation bills, and conduct inquiries on proposed legislation; and

WHEREAS, It is the General Assembly's belief that boundaries between licensed professions in Illinois should be set by the legislature to ensure the best protection for Illinois citizens and professions; therefore

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987 is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:

(225 ILCS 80/3) (from Ch. 111, par. 3903)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)

Sec. 3. Practice of optometry defined; referrals; manufacture of lenses and prisms.

(a) The practice of optometry is defined as the employment of any and all means for the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of the human visual system, the human eye, and its appendages without the use of surgery, including, but not limited to: the appropriate use of ocular pharmaceutical agents; refraction and other determinants of visual function; prescribing corrective lenses or prisms; prescribing, dispensing, or management of contact lenses; vision therapy; visual rehabilitation; or any other procedures taught in schools and colleges of optometry approved by the Department, and not specifically restricted in this Act, subject to demonstrated competency and training as required by the Board, and pursuant to rule or regulation approved by the Board and adopted by the Department.

A person shall be deemed to be practicing optometry within the meaning of this Act who:

(1) In any way presents himself or herself to be qualified to practice optometry.

(2) Performs refractions or employs any other determinants of visual function.

(3) Employs any means for the adaptation of lenses or prisms.

(4) Prescribes corrective lenses, prisms, vision therapy, visual rehabilitation, or ocular pharmaceutical agents.

(5) Prescribes or manages contact lenses for refractive, cosmetic, or therapeutic purposes.

(6) Evaluates the need for, or prescribes, low vision aids to partially sighted persons.

(7) Diagnoses or treats any ocular abnormality, disease, or visual or muscular anomaly of the human eye or visual system.

(8) Practices, or offers or attempts to practice, optometry as defined in this Act either on his or her own behalf or as an employee of a person, firm, or corporation, whether under the supervision of his or her employer or not.

Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted (A) to prevent a person from functioning as an assistant under the direct supervision of a person licensed by the State of Illinois to practice optometry or medicine in all of its branches or (B) to prohibit visual screening programs that are conducted without a fee (other than voluntary donations), by charitable organizations acting in the public welfare under the supervision of a committee composed of persons licensed by the State of Illinois to practice optometry or persons licensed by the State of Illinois to practice medicine in all of its branches.

(b) When, in the course of providing optometric services to any person, an optometrist licensed under this Act finds an indication of a disease or condition of the eye which in his or her professional judgment requires professional service outside the scope of practice as defined in this Act, he or she shall refer such person to a physician licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches, or other appropriate health care practitioner. Nothing in this Act shall preclude an optometrist from rendering appropriate nonsurgical emergency care.

(c) Nothing contained in this Section shall prohibit a person from manufacturing ophthalmic lenses and prisms or the fabrication of contact lenses according to the specifications prescribed by an optometrist or a physician licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches, but shall specifically prohibit (1) the sale or delivery of ophthalmic lenses, prisms, and contact lenses without a prescription signed by an optometrist or a physician licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches and (2) the dispensing of contact lenses by anyone other than a licensed optometrist, licensed pharmacist, or a physician licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches. For the purposes of this Act, "contact lenses" include, but are not limited to, contact lenses with prescriptive power and decorative and plano power contact lenses. Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the sale of contact lenses by an optical firm or corporation primarily engaged in manufacturing or dealing in eyeglasses or contact lenses with an affiliated optometrist who practices and is licensed or has an ancillary registration for the location where the sale occurs.

(d) Nothing in this Act shall restrict the filling of a prescription by a pharmacist licensed under the Pharmacy Practice Act.

(e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict the dispensing and sale by an optometrist of ocular devices, such as contact lenses, that contain and deliver ocular pharmaceutical agents permitted for use or prescription under this Act.

(f) Nothing On and after January 1, 2018, nothing in this Act shall prohibit an optometrist who is certified by a school of optometry approved by the Department from performing advanced optometric procedures, pursuant to educational requirements established by rule, provided that such rule incorporates sufficient didactic and clinical training to develop the technical skills needed to properly perform the advanced optometric procedure, including any complications that may arise, the knowledge to properly diagnose the condition requiring use of an advanced optometric procedure, and the judgment necessary to determine when an advanced optometric procedure should and should not be used that are consistent with the recommendations of the Collaborative Optometric/Ophthalmological Task Force created in Section 15.3 of this Act and that are taught (1) at an accredited, private 4-year school of optometry that is located in a city in Illinois with a population in excess of 1,500,000, or (2) at a school of optometry with a curriculum that is substantially similar to the curriculum taught at the school of optometry described in item (1) of this subsection. Advanced optometric procedures do not include the use of lasers.

(g) As used in this Act, "surgery" means any procedure employed to treat diseases or conditions of the human eye and adjoining tissues or structures, to correct refractive error, or to alter or enhance structures of the eye or adnexa for cosmetic purposes in which human tissue is cut, ablated, vaporized, punctured, burned, frozen, or otherwise permanently altered or penetrated by instruments, laser, ultrasound, ultraviolet light, cryotherapy, electrocautery, chemicals, ionizing radiation, or by other means, including placement and removal of sutures, transplanting or applying human or other tissue, and inserting an instrument into or placement of a device into a natural opening of the body.

"Surgery" does not include the use of a scanning laser for purely diagnostic purposes to create an image.

(h) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (g), "advanced optometric procedures" includes: removal of a superficial foreign body from the surface of the eye or adnexa; removal using a topical anesthetic of non-perforating foreign bodies from the cornea no deeper than the midstroma, the conjunctiva, or eyelid; dilation and irrigation of the lacrimal ducts; insertion and removal of lacrimal plugs; mechanical epilation of eyelashes; removal of dead corneal epithelium by scraping; scraping of the cornea for culture; application of self-retaining amniotic membrane on the cornea; removal of a suture with approval of the surgeon who placed the suture; or other non-surgical procedures approved by the Department by rule.

"Advanced optometric procedures" does not include any procedure: (1) requiring the use of general or injectable anesthesia; (2) in which the globe or orbit of the eye is penetrated by any means; (3) involving use of a laser, except as provided for in subsection (g); (4) involving removal of live epithelial tissue from the cornea; (5) involving the removal of or disturbing any cancerous or neoplastic tissue; (6) involving injections, except as provided for in Section 15.1; and (7) requiring placement or removal of sutures, except as provided for in this subsection.

An optometrist may not perform advanced optometric procedures on a patient under 18 years of age.

(Source: P.A. 98-186, eff. 8-5-13; 99-909, eff. 1-1-17.)