Hi All:
The following correspondence was sent to optometrists in Tennessee from the Tennessee Optometric Association. I thought you might be interested in the reasoning behind efforts to eliminate optician licensing.
Roy R. Ferguson, PhD
TO: TOA Membership
FROM: Gary Odom, Executive Director
RE: General Assembly Review of Optician Licensing Law
DATE: February 3,2003
During the next few months the Tennessee Licensing Board for Opticians will once again undergo a "Sunset" review by the Tennessee General Assembly. The sunset review is a process where each agency of State Government is reviewed periodically in order to determine if the agency has a mission that is important for the general public and further that the agency is completing that mission in an effective manner. Agencies that fail to meet these standards are discontinued under the "Sunset" process. The actual "Sunset" or termination of an agency occurs when the laws creating the agency are not re-authorized by the General Assembly. The Government Operations Committees of the Legislature are responsible for the conducting the review but in order for an agency to be continued there must be legislation enacted by the full House and Senate.
The TOA Board has maintained a position of supporting the legislature's effort to fully review the merits of a licensing process for opticians. The TOA Board has been very concerned about the State Opticians' Association attempting for several years to repeal the apprenticeship route for licensure and mandating a two-year degree as the only route to licensure. Most opticians in the state, including all current members of their Licensing Board, have become licensed through the apprenticeship route. Currently, only Roane State Community College in Harriman offers an associate degree in optician science. Clearly an elimination of the apprenticeship route for licensure would reduce dramatically the number of opticians in this state which would increase the cost of eyewear to consumers. Further, there is no objective evidence that the associate degree in optician science prepares the optician any better to perform the services they are currently licensed to perform. There was even a period when Roane State was teaching refraction to optician science students as opposed to only basic optician skills and the Optician Association of America has supported legislative efforts in other states authorizing opticians to perform refraction. Currently Canadian opticians are seeking authority to perform glaucoma testing and stand-alone refraction without supervision from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. "In reality, they want to produce a prescription to sell more eyewear," said Alberta Association of Optometrists Executive Director Peggy Sloan in a recent AOA News article. In addition, there is no evidence that the Tennessee Opticians Board has done anything to protect the public. In recent years, the only disciplinary action taken against opticians has resulted from opticians failing to complete the Board’s continuing education requirement.
We wanted to once again summarize why the TDO Board believes the legislature should closely examine the merits of licensing opticians in Tennessee.
1. Only 21 states license or regulate opticians. All these laws were passed prior to 1982. Not a single state has passed a licensing law for opticians in the last 18 years. This is evidence that there is no strong public policy reason to license or regulate opticians. Contact with those states that do not license opticians indicates that there is no difference in the quality of optical services nor is there a proliferation of optical shops as the TDOA suggests.
2. For four years the Tennessee Dispensing Optician Association tried, with the help of the Opticians Board, to convince the legislature to pass a bill eliminating the apprenticeship route to licensure and requiring all persons wanting to be licensed as opticians to complete a two-year educational program at Roane State Community College. The legislature thought their proposal was a bad idea and refused to pass the bill. In 1999, the Opticians Board took matters into their own hands and adopted a rule requiring one year of formal education at Roane State Community College to be licensed as an optician, This was done contrary to the advice of the Board's own attorney. The State Attorney General ruled in - February 2001 that this rule is illegal and cannot be enforced. We should all be concerned about a Board which flagrantly ignores the advice of its own legal counsel as well as the intent of the legislature.
3. The persons who work in the commercial labs - filling the prescriptions from eye doctors - are not required to be licensed under the current law. In fact, there are only a couple of licensed opticians working for commercial labs in this state. Persons employed by optometrists and ophthalmologists are not licensed and frequently perform the same functions as opticians. There is no objective evidence that the quality of services provided by these trained but unlicensed personnel is in any way of less quality than those provided by licensed opticians.
4. The public does not benefit from the licensure of opticians. In fact, the argument can be made that the public probably pays higher prices for their glasses because of the licensing law. Allowing the board to sunset would seem to be in the public's best interest.
In order for the optician licensing act to be continued legislation will need to be passed to extend the life of the licensing board If this legislation does not pass the licensing law will expire. I have attached a listing of the House and Senate Government Operations Committee. I will continue to keep the membership informed about this issue during the course of this session.
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