Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 2, February 2024
ARTICLE
V
RENEWALS
Section
3
The license and the current certificate of renewal -of license to
practice optometry issued, will always be displayed in a conspicuous place in
the office of the holder thereof, and whenever requested the license and the
current certificate of renewal will be exhibited or produced before the
Arkansas State Board of Optometry, or to its authorized agents.
Any optometrist who performs any of the acts constituting the
practice of optometry, or any part thereof, as described in the Arkansas
Optometry Law (ann.
17-89-101
) or who employs others to perform any or all of the same, shall specify to the
State Board of Optometry a designation for each location where full or partial
practice takes place. Recognizing that modes of practice vary from location to
location, and such modes of practice may include the utilization of a primary
office only, a rotation between branch offices, or the combination of a primary
office and one or more branch offices, the Board does hereby set forth rules
and regulations governing both the definition of office designations and the
requirements and restrictions pertaining to the same. It is the express intent
of these rules and regulations to ensure that all offices, whether primary
offices or branch offices, are regulated in a like manner. The requirements for
primary offices must be no less than those for branch offices.
(1) A primary office is defined as: the
permanent location at which a licensed optometrist practices full time, or if
practicing in more than one location, the office at which he or she practices
the greatest percentage of. time, or if practicing with a mobile branch office,
that office the licensee utilizes for record storage, equipment maintenance,
and patient availability in conjunction with the mobile operation.
(2) A branch office is defined as any office,
other than the primary office, at which a licensed optometrist or employee or
agent of a licensed optometrist solicits patients either directly or indirectly
and in a premeditated fashion for the purpose of rendering any type of
optometric services, including the measuring, repairing, ordering, dispensing,
verifying, or adjusting of ophthalmic materials or spectacle lens
prescriptions.
(a) A fixed branch office is a
branch office as defined above which is at a permanent location.
(b) A mobile branch office is a mobile
operation utilized for the practice of optometry at multiple
locations.
(3)
Availability is the reasonable ability to ensure provision of optometric care
in a timely manner as warranted by patient needs, including but not limited to
emergencies.
A licensee who practices in more than one (1) office location
shall make application to the Board for a duplicate license for each branch
office for display as required by this section. In issuing a duplicate license,
the address of the branch office location and the original certificate number
shall be included. At the time of the annual renewal of the license, those
optometrists who have been issued a duplicate license for a branch office,
shall make application to the Arkansas State Board of Optometry on a form
provided by the Board for the renewal of the license. The holder of a
certificate for a branch office may cancel it by returning the certificate to
the Secretary of the Board.
The fee for a duplicate license for each branch office shall be
$50.00, to be renewed annually.
A licensed optometrist practicing in more than one (1) office
shall provide information to patients as to how he or she, or another licensed
optometrist may be contacted during regular business hours.
Section 4
Each licensed optometrist must comply with the following: (the
remainder of the section is unchanged)
Section 5
Requirements and restrictions for primary offices:
Each licensed optometrist owning or using a primary office only
shall:
(1) Report to the Board the
street address and telephone number of the office designated as the primary
office.
(2) Maintain reasonable
access to all 'patient records at the primary office location for each patient
examined or treated at that location.
(3) Ensure the provision of appropriate
follow-up care, continuity of care, and availability for his or her patients in
the primary office location.
(4)
Maintain in good working order the equipment necessary to provide a routine eye
examination. This shall include, but not be limited to, the following minimum
visual acuity, a lensometer, a direct ophthalmoscope, a binocular indirect
ophthalmoscope (DPA and/or TPA certified practitioners only), a retinoscope, an
instrument for the measurement of intra-ocular pressure a refracting
instrument, an instrument for measurement of corneal curvature, an instrument
for the measurement of visual fields, and a biomicroscope,
(5) Ensure that a licensed optometrist be in
personal attendance at least twenty per-cent (20%) of the time, per month the
primary office is open seeing patients.
(6) Meet all the requirements of the Arkansas
Optometry Law, Act 397 of the Acts of Arkansas-1991 (ann.
17-89-303
).
Section 6
Requirements and restrictions for fixed branch offices:
Each licensed optometrist owning or using one or more fixed
branch offices shall:
(1) Report to
the Board each fixed branch office location other than a primary office at
which he or she is practicing optometry.
(2) Maintain reasonable access to all patient
records at each fixed branch office location for each patient examined or
treated at that location.
(3)
Ensure the provision of appropriate follow-up care, continuity of care, and
availability for his or her patients in the fixed branch office
location.
(4) Maintain in good
working order the equipment necessary to provide a routine eye examination.
This shall include, but not be limited to, the following minimum equipment: a
device for the accurate measurement of visual acuity, a lensometer, a direct
ophthalmoscope, a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope (DPA and/or TPA certified
practitioners only), a retinoscope, an instrument for the measurement of
intra-ocular pressure, a refracting instrument, an instrument for measurement
of corneal curvature, an instrument for the measurement of visual fields, and a
biomicroscope.
(5) Ensure that a
licensed optometrist be in personal attendance at least twenty per-cent (20%)
of the time, per month, the fixed branch office is open.
(6) Meet all the requirements of the Arkansas
Optometry Law, Act 397 of the Acts of Arkansas-1991 (ann.
17-89-303
).
Section 7
Requirements and restrictions for mobile branch offices:
Each licensed optometrist owning or using a mobile operation
shall:
(1) Report to the Board the
office at which he or she is keeping all patient records.
(2) Provide every patient with the telephone
number and address of the office used in conjunction with the mobile
operation.
(3) Maintain reasonable
access to all patient records at the office.
(4) Ensure personal availability via the use
of a beeper, mobile telephone, radio, or other modality that is capable of
receiving calls from the office while the licensed practitioner is practicing
at one of the various locations served by the mobile operation.
(5) Ensure the provision of appropriate
follow-up care, continuity of care, and availability for his or her patients in
every location served by the mobile operation.
(6) Maintain and use appropriate facilities
for the storage and transit of all pharmaceutical agents used by the licensed
practitioner or certified optometrist which will ensure the safety and
condition of such agents when they are in transit or being stored.
(7) Maintain in good working order the
equipment necessary to provide a routine eye examination. This shall include,
but not be limited to, the following minimum equipment: A device for the
accurate measurement of visual acuity, a lensometer a direct ophthalmoscope, a
binocular indirect ophthalmoscope ( DPA and/or TPA certified practitioners
only), a retinoscope, an instrument for the measurement of intra-ocular
pressure, a refracting instrument, an instrument for measurement of corneal
curvature, an instrument for the measurement of visual fields, and a
biomicroscope.
(8) Ensure that a
licensed optometrist be in personal attendance at least twenty per-cent (20%)
of the time, per month, the mobile branch office is open.
(9) Meet all the requirements of the Arkansas
Optometry Law, Act 397 of the Acts of Arkansas-1991 (ann.
17-89-303
).
Section 8
(1) Any licensed optometrist who owns,
operates, or leases to or from another person any type of office (practice) or
optical dispensary as dispensary as described in section
3(1) an/or (2)
of the Rules and Regulations of the Arkansas the State Board of Optometry, or
who employs others to do the same, shall include his or her full name,
displayed in a prominent fashion, on, or near, the entrance of the office or
optical dispensary, and in any written advertisement, concerning such
operation, so that the public is properly informed as to the licensed
optometrist responsible for the materials and services offered at such
locations.
(2) In addition, at each
location, the full name of the licensed optometrist physically present and
responsible for the provision of optical goods and/or services on each
particular day shall be displayed in a prominent fashion, on or near, the
entrance of the office or optical dispensary.
Section 9
Failure to comply with any of the requirement contained herein in
ARTICLE V RENEWALS, Rules and Regulations of the Arkansas State Board of
Optometry shall be grounds for suspension or revocation of the practitioner's
license to practice.
ARTICLE
VI
Unprofessional Conduct
Section 1
g. For any optometrist to be convicted of a
felony or to be identified by the Board as impaired. "Impaired" shall means the
presence of active alcoholism, substance (drug) abuse, and/or any other mental
illness resulting in professional incompetence (i.e. the inability or failure
of practitioner to practice optometry with reasonable skill and safety.)
BE IT KNOWN that we, Marc Parnell, O.D., President and Howard F.
Flippin, O.D., Secretary, Arkansas State Board of Optometry, do hereby state
under oath that we have examined the minutes of the meeting of the Board
officially convened on October 1, 1992, and the foregoing amendment to the
rules and regulations was duly adopted by said Board and certified to the
Governor of the State of Arkansas, Secretary of State of the State of Arkansas,
and the Circuit Clerk of each county in the state of Arkansas pursuant to the
powers and duties invested in said Board by Act 94 of 1941, as amended.
Dated this 1st day November, 1992.
Marc Parnell/, O.D. President
Howard F. Flippin, O.D. Sec.
