In a posting to another subject, Pete mentioned the strangeness of Florida law that allows non-licensed individuals to work with low vision aids for blind patients but not sighted ones. What other kind of strange anomalies are there sitting on the books in various jurisdictions regarding the optical industry?
I'm sure that Optiboarders know them all! It should make some interesting reading. Let's hear about them.
although I've posted this one before, its still my fave. The B.C. College of Opticians, our regulatory body, requires a prescription from an MD or OD to insure the eyes are healthy for contact lens wear. Any contraindications to contact lens wear must be noted on the prescription, as well as the reason for the contraindication. Problem is, B.C. Optometrists are PROHIBITED from releasing this info to anyone but another OD or MD. When this little anomoly is pointed out to the College, they reply that we are required to do biomicroscopy anyway, so we can detect contraindications ourselves. Hel-looo. The College also lists trial lenses as recommended equipment for RX "verification", but we are not "allowed" to over-refract. We can perform Ortho K, as long as we dont actually check to see if its working... We can fit keratoconus... but no over-refracting. The spectacle rx is all you need... As If... When I asked to address the BOD on these issues, I was told I should address the quality assurance committee instead, a five minute presentation... but a 600 mile round trip. I should spend $300 on a five minute presentation? OOOhhhh now im getting mad...plus my wife keeps calling me to watch a video of "Anna and the King" Oh bliss... Coming dearest...
Actually, someone else must have made the aforementioned observation about Florida law (but it is an interesting one at that...).
My comments pertained to refracting issues... apparently, anyone in an OD's office can refract under their supervision- except for Licensed Dispensing Opticians. This is due to a portion of the Opticianry law which prohibits an Optician to measure or assess the refractive state of the human eye (but if a cat was brought to the office, I suppose...).
On another note, in researching OD and LDO laws here in the Sunshine State, it would appear that an OD must directly supervise the taking of patient records, etc. (i.e., must be in the building). However, the fitting, ordering, and dispensing of eyewear requires only "general" supervision (i.e., the OD need not be physically present). I suppose this indicates that an OD can have unlicensed people fitting and dispensing frames with no real supervision- but if they take a patient HISTORY... good grief.
To my thinking, this highlights the old adage "follow the money." I'm sure when Opticians in Florida finally won licensure the OD lobby was there to ensure that the law only had teeth when applied to independent Opticians.
Pete
Well we all know that fda law that all soft lenses are a drug.
Have you ever noticed that all solutions, have "Under federal law, dispensing without precription, forbidden" on them.
Ok...I have a strange one....I applied for my Dispensing Opticians license in Va through reciprocity with NJ and NC...I let it laps for 2 years so in order to reinstate it now, I must sit for the exam, yet when I first got it all I had to do was send the fee in. Has anyone else ran into this? how did you handle it?...I heard I can ask the board to waiver the exam....I really don't look forward to sitting for the exam after 14 years...:-) Thanks for the help....
Which of your other 2 licenses are still current?
Judy...I hold a current NC license as well as my ABO/NCLE.....
Originally posted by optigirl:
Ok...I have a strange one....I applied for my Dispensing Opticians license in Va through reciprocity with NJ and NC...I let it laps for 2 years so in order to reinstate it now, I must sit for the exam, yet when I first got it all I had to do was send the fee in. Has anyone else ran into this? how did you handle it?...I heard I can ask the board to waiver the exam....I really don't look forward to sitting for the exam after 14 years...:-) Thanks for the help....
If you have let your VA license expire, you will need to follow the same process you did for your first application for reciprocity. That usually means communicating directly to the State Board for Opticians in Richmond. Reciprocal licensing is not something that they take lightly, so be prepared to jump through some hoops. My advice, once you get the license, don't let it expire.
consider yourselves lucky. apx 5 or 6 years ago i applied to virginia with 29 years experience and licenses in 4 other states. Was turned down under the guise that i had never had one year of an accredited optical school. Somehow i smell a little protectionism.
I am not a spokesperson for the VA State Board for Opticians, so what I have to say could be terribly flawed and I will always advise anyone with questions to direct them to the Board. That being said, the issue here seems to be that of reciprocity and the idea that because an Optician is licensed in one state, that automatically grants them licensure in another. Reciprocal agreeements are reciprocal, meaning that each state recoginzes the others licensing requirements as adequate and will issue a license on that basis. Currently, very few, if any, states have reciprocal agreements and to my knowledge, none of them are with Virginia. Until those kinds of agreements are reached, be prepared to jump through the same hoops I would have to in order to earn a license in your states.
Reciprocity is now a reality in Canada. Upto this year, it wasn't.
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and I think even the Maritimes have reciprocal licneses for opticians and contact fitters.
B.C. is still out of the loop (but they are pretty loopy out there).
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Shwing;-}
Shwing:Originally posted by Shwing:
Reciprocity is now a reality in Canada. Upto this year, it wasn't.
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and I think even the Maritimes have reciprocal licneses for opticians and contact fitters.
B.C. is still out of the loop (but they are pretty loopy out there).
Well, that might be good for Canadians, but it's not good enough for us. You see, taking a p.d., a seg heigth, or sticking a contact lens in somebody's eye is entirely different in Virginia than it is in North Carolina, or for that matter Maryland, which is completely unlicenced. This is because Virginians eyes, ears, and noses are different than anybody else's. The glasses that you buy at Wal-Mart in Virginia are of a much higher quality than the ones that you get from the Wal-Mart in North Carolina. And the contact lenses in Virginia come in two better sizes than the two sizes they come in in North Carolina. Poor North Carolina:"That valley of humility between two mountains of conceit (Virginia and South Carolina)."
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"Come see me now, heah?"
That's a new one on me, Bob. I'll check with my friends who are licensed in NC and VA...maybe we need to be more specific with the fitting portion of the State Board Exam.
Hiya, Bob. We have a province like that too, only we don't call it a valley between...
We call it the Void. Oh those poor Void people. It is so bad, that there are less than 800,000 of them left.
Oh yeah, it is named Saskatchewan on the maps;-}
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Shwing;-}
Judy, let me elaborate a little more on that situation i had with virginia. After they turned me down with there flimsy excuse, i then said ok, let me take your board and i,ll prove to you that i do know my optics. they refused. I then spoke to this sorry head of the board at that time, who wound up telling me that they would rather license someone fresh out of school with no experience. All i can say is i have taken 4 boards, in 4 states and passed, and abo and ncle twice and passed. If i could not pass the virginia board i would get out of the business, but then again y,all in virginia are not a state, are you
Shwing:Originally posted by Shwing:
Hiya, Bob. We have a province like that too, only we don't call it a valley between...
We call it the Void. Oh those poor Void people. It is so bad, that there are less than 800,000 of them left.
Oh yeah, it is named Saskatchewan on the maps;-}
I'm glad I wasn't born in that province. I would have been in college before I could have learned how to spell it.
I just thought of a weird law we have in Georgia. The Optometrists cooked one up where an Optometrist MAY put an expiration date on an RX. So now, most of them are telling people that they HAVE to put an expiration date on an RX. MDs MAY do it too.
But I have NEVER seen an expiration date on an MD RX, even the ones who dispense, but what few OD RXs I see ALWAYS have expiration dates on them. I guess ODs are more "caring" than MDs. But here's the weird part. We could take the guy's old glasses who has the "expired" RX, and duplicate his old glasses on the lensometer.Perfectly legal. I wouldn't do it. I would just tell the customer the story and then direct him to a starving new MD, who could see him rigt awy, and make brownie points with both. I can sort of understand a doc wanting to see his contact lens patients back every year or two, but why eyeglasses? They're just a pair of optical lenses in a frame. Sort of like binoculars, or over the counter readers, except a little more exact. So whats the big deal? It's better to have a two year old RX on tan to walk around half blind, or to wear a patched up, scratched, old broken pair.
Also, another weird part about the Virginia board, and I'm not trying to downgrade the 'Commonwealth" of my birth and ancestors, but they have MDs and ODs on their OPTICIANS' board. At least they used to. Old friend Kingsley Traylor from Norfolk told me years ago that's the only way they could get a licensing bill up there. Well, it's selling your soul to the devil.
An OD might know a LITTLE bit about Opticianry, because they fit glasses too, but what the heck would an MD know about it? It would be like putting Chiropractors and Pharmacists and Nurses on the MD licensing board. Slightly related fields, but different disciplines. And the MDs would have a fit. So should the VA LDOs. But maybe that's changed. Lord, I'm talkng 35 years ago! Seems like last year. Tempus fugit. We only have Opticians, and one "public interest citizen" on the Georgia board. Don't know why she's on there either, but te state is run by Democrats, and they like stuff like that.
Old Disgusted Bob
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"Come see me now, heah?"
Excerpts from the Code of Virginia governing the Board for Opticians:
"54.1-1702. Board for Opticians; members; terms.- The Board for Opticians shall consist of five members as follows: Three licensed opticians of at least 5 years' experience prior to appointment, one ophthalmologist who has practiced ophthalmology for at least five years prior to appointment, and one citizen member. Terms shall be for four years.
There shall be a chairman and a vice-chairman, each on whom shall be elected annually by the Board from its membership.
54.1-1703. Nominations for Board appointments.- Appointments may be made from a list of at least three names for each vacancy submitted to the Governor by the Virginia Society of Prescription Opticians (now the Opticians Association of Virginia) for each appointee who is an optician, and by the Medical Society of Virginia for each appointee who is a physician. Nominations for appointments to regular terms shall be submitted to the Governor on or before June 1 of each year. The Governor may notify the above societies for any vacancy other than by expiration and like nominations may be made for the filling of the vacancy. In no case shall the Governor be bound to make any appointment from among the nominees."
Judy:Originally posted by Judy Canty:
Excerpts from the Code of Virginia governing the Board for Opticians:
"54.1-1702. Board for Opticians; members; terms.- The Board for Opticians shall consist of five members as follows: Three licensed opticians of at least 5 years' experience prior to appointment, one ophthalmologist who has practiced ophthalmology for at least five years prior to appointment, and one citizen member. Terms shall be for four years.
There shall be a chairman and a vice-chairman, each on whom shall be elected annually by the Board from its membership.
54.1-1703. Nominations for Board appointments.- Appointments may be made from a list of at least three names for each vacancy submitted to the Governor by the Virginia Society of Prescription Opticians (now the Opticians Association of Virginia) for each appointee who is an optician, and by the Medical Society of Virginia for each appointee who is a physician. Nominations for appointments to regular terms shall be submitted to the Governor on or before June 1 of each year. The Governor may notify the above societies for any vacancy other than by expiration and like nominations may be made for the filling of the vacancy. In no case shall the Governor be bound to make any appointment from among the nominees."
The Old Dominion has redeemed itself in my heart. It has, sometime in the dusty pat, eliminated the Optometrist who used to sit on the board. Now if y'all could only get rid of the MD and private citizen...................
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"Come see me now, heah?"
The Opticians Board in Ohio is required by law to have one member who has no connection to the optical industry (not a bad idea). The only other requirement is that the individual must be at least 65 years of age! I guess we really have to protect all those folks on "fixed incomes" by giving them a seat on the Board.
Mikeh - "I wish someone would fix my income"
Here's a good one-- here in British Columbia, our College bylaws prohibit us from filling a prescription which originates from outside the province ! Yes, that's correct! Any other jurisdictions with the same or similar reg?
Indeed, most licensed states have a "public member" requirement on their respective boards. This is to insure the public is represented.After all is said and done, the reason these boards were created in the first place was for consumer protection.So I woould agree that it is a very good idea. In Massachusetts, the most difficult positions to fill are those of public members.The job is purely voluntary and time consuming.Our board has been without a public member for over 2 years and that is sometimes frustrating.Best wishes from Cape Cod. Harry J.
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