Optometry: therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification: requirements.

(1) The Optometry Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of optometrists by the State Board of Optometry. The act defines the practice of optometry to include 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 authorizes optometrists to engage in specified acts if certain requirements are met, including, the use of therapeutic pharmaceutical agents. The act authorizes the board to grant a certificate to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to an applicant who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, prior to January 1, 1996, and is licensed as an optometrist in the state if certain requirements are met, including, but not limited to, completing a didactic course of at least 80 classroom hours in the diagnosis, pharmacological, and other treatment and management of ocular disease, as specified. This bill would change all references to a certificate to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to instead refer to a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents (TPA) certification. The bill would delete certain requirements for an applicant for a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, prior to January 1, 1996, and is licensed as an optometrist in the state, including, but not limited to, completing a didactic course of at least 80 classroom hours, as specified. The bill would require such an applicant to complete a preceptorship of at least 65 hours, as specified, with either a TPA-certified optometrist in good standing or a physician and surgeon board-certified in ophthalmology in good standing, and would require such an applicant to complete a minimum of 100 hours of directed and accredited education in ocular and systemic diseases, as specified. The bill would require a preceptor to certify completion of the preceptorship on a form approved by the board. (2) The act exempts an optometrist who graduated from an accredited school of optometry on or after January 1, 1992, and before January 1, 1996, from meeting specified requirements for the issuance of a certificate to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents, including the didactic course of at least 80 classroom hours. This bill would delete those exemptions for an optometrist who graduated from an accredited school of optometry on or after January 1, 1992, and before January 1, 1996, and instead require such an applicant to meet the requirements for the issuance of a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification that apply to an applicant who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, prior to January 1, 1996, as specified. (3) The act also authorizes the board to grant a certificate to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to an applicant who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, on or after January 1, 1996, and is licensed as an optometrist in the state if certain requirements are met, including, but not limited to, completing 10 hours of experience with a board certified ophthalmologist. This bill would delete certain requirements for an applicant for a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, on or after January 1, 1996, and is licensed as an optometrist in the state, and would instead require such an applicant to pass all sections of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry's national board examination or its equivalent, as determined by the board, in order to be granted a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification.