Senate Bill No. 277
(By Senators Sharpe, Bailey, Buckalew, Anderson, Ross, Helmick,
McKenzie, Love, Schoonover, Dugan, Sprouse, Dittmar, Kimble,
Deem, Snyder, Bowman, Ball and Minear)
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[Introduced March 10, 1997; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article eight, chapter
thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to expanding the
scope of the practice of optometry.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article eight, chapter thirty of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. OPTOMETRISTS.
§30-8-2. Practice of optometry defined.
Any one or any combination of the following practices shall
constitute
(a) Any one of the following constitutes the practice of
optometry:
(a) (1) The examination of the human eye, with or without
the use of drugs,
prescribable for the human eye, which drugs may
be used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes for
topical
application to the anterior segment of the human eye only, and,
by any method other than surgery, the human eye, and, by any
method, to diagnose, to treat or to refer for consultation or
treatment any abnormal condition of the human eye or its
appendages;
(b) (2) The employment
without the use of surgery of any
instrument, device, method or diagnostic or therapeutic drug
for
topical application to the anterior segment of the human eye
intended for the purpose of investigating, examining, treating,
diagnosing, improving or correcting any visual defect or abnormal
condition of the human eye or its appendages;
(c) (3) The prescribing and application or the replacement
or duplication of lenses, prisms, contact lenses, orthoptics,
vision training, vision rehabilitation
or diagnostic or
therapeutic drugs,
for topical application to the anterior
segment of the human eye or the furnishing or providing of any
prosthetic device, or any other method
other than surgery
necessary to correct or relieve any defects or abnormal conditions of the human eye or its appendages.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit an
optometrist to perform surgery, use drugs by injection or to use
or prescribe any drug for other than the specific purposes
authorized by this section.
(b) Any person who is engaged in the practice of optometry
as a profession, as herein defined, and who has sufficient
education and professional competence, as determined by the West
Virginia board of optometry, is authorized to manage and treat
conditions of the human eye and its appendages including:
(1) The administration, prescribing, or both, of any
pharmaceutical agent rational to the diagnosis and treatment of
conditions or diseases of the human eye or its appendages;
(2) The performance of procedures rational to the treatment
of conditions or diseases of the human eye or its appendages that
include the equivalent of the following procedure codes from the
1996 American Medical Associations Physicians Current Procedural
Terminology:
(A) Procedure Codes:
(i) Removal of Foreign Body 65205 through 65222, both
inclusive;
(ii) Cornea 65270, 65272, 65275, 65280, 65285, 65286, 65420
and 65600;
(iii) Eyelids 11400 through 11406, both inclusive, 17000,
17002, 67700, 67800, 67801, 67805, 67810, 67820, 67825, 67830,
67840, 67850, 67930, 67938, 67999, 68110, 68115 and 68420;
(iv) Lacrimal System 68530, 68761, 68800, 68820 and 68840;
(v) Repair Lacerations 12011, 12013, 12014 through 12018,
both inclusive, 12051 through 12057, both inclusive, 13150
through 13300, both inclusive, and 65275;
(vi) Anterior Chamber 65855, 65860, 66170, 66761 and 66821;
(vii) Conjunctiva 68020, 68040, 68100, 68110, 68115 and
68760; and
(viii) Unlisted Procedures as approved by the board of
optometry 66999, 67599, 67999, 68399 and 68899;
(B) Any procedure brought on by advances in technology that
is not listed in paragraph (A) of this subdivision may be
approved by the board of optometry only at such time that it is
specifically taught for use by optometrists at an accredited
school or college of optometry in the United states of America.
(c) Nothing in this section may be construed to permit an
optometrist to perform laser surgery or any invasive procedure
involving puncture or incision of the globe or insertion of an
instrument or foreign material into the globe. Nor may it be
construed to permit an optometrist to perform any procedure, or
to use or prescribe any drug, for other than the specific purposes authorized by this section or the West Virginia board of
optometry.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is expand the scope of
optometric practice pursuant to the level of education and
training that optometrists receive from accredited schools or
colleges of optometry.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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