Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 17, September 10, 2024
This Rule is promulgated pursuant to sections
12-20-204,
12-275-108(1)(b),
12-275-110, and
12-275-112, C.R.S.
A. Colorado requires the national exam and
any other area of contemporary optometry the Board believes appropriate to
ensure public protection.
B.
Colorado requires expanded scope of practice certification by all optometrists
seeking licensure. This includes all of the following:
1. Diagnostic certification;
2. Therapeutic certification; and
3. Advanced ocular training for the treatment
of glaucoma and anterior uveitis.
These certifications must be gained either through completing
a course of study in a graduate degree program in optometry, or by additional
educational training to meet advanced therapeutic certification
standards.
C.
Applicants with optometry degrees granted in 1993, or more recently, are
considered to have satisfied the education requirements for expanded scope of
practice certification in the course of their optometric degree
programs.
D. The education for such
certification shall be completed through or by an institution which is
accredited by a regional or professional accreditation organization recognized
or approved by the Council on Postsecondary Education or by the United States
Department of Education for the Diagnostic Certification Requirements and are
as follows:
1. Fifty-five classroom hours of
study in general ocular and clinical pharmacology.
2. 120 hours:
a. Sixty classroom hours of study in ocular
pharmacology, clinical pharmacology, therapeutics and anterior segment disease;
and
b. Sixty hours of approved
supervised clinical training in the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of
conditions of the human eye and its appendages.
3. Sixty hours of Board approved glaucoma and
anterior uveitis education, which shall include forty-four didactic and sixteen
clinical hours consisting of the treatment of glaucoma and anterior uveitis,
including pharmacological, systemic and laser management of these
conditions.*
4. If requirement
(C)(2) is completed within the twenty-four months immediately preceding
application for licensure, only an additional sixteen hours of Board-approved
glaucoma and anterior uveitis education is required.
5. In addition, the applicant for licensure
must have successfully completed a course in cardiopulmonary resuscitation
preceding the date of submitting their application for licensure.
6. The applicant must meet all other
requirements of section
12-275-110,
C.R.S.
E. Therapeutic
Certification
1. Colorado optometrists who
currently hold therapeutic certification must provide the Board with proof of
the coursework as set forth in subsection (C)(3) in order to receive the
advanced therapeutic certification. Successful completion of the advanced
ocular treatment course offered in April of 1994 by the Colorado Optometric
Association satisfies forty-four hours of the requirement; an additional
sixteen hours of glaucoma and anterior uveitis course curriculum is still
required to meet the requirements.
2. Colorado optometrists who do not hold
therapeutic certification must meet the requirements in subsections (C)(1) and
(2) above, and must provide evidence of successful completion of sixteen
additional hours of glaucoma and anterior uveitis course curriculum to the
Board prior to certification.
