Public Act 096-0461
 
HB2396 Enrolled LRB096 07507 ASK 17600 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    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    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2017)
    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 (i) 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 (ii)
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 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.
    (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.
(Source: P.A. 94-787, eff. 5-19-06; 95-689, eff. 10-29-07.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2010