2009 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 320 OPTOMETRISTS 320.240 Board's meetings, officers, powers, and duties -- Authorization to administer and prescribe pharmaceutical agents and certain oral medications.
320.240 Board's meetings, officers, powers, and duties -- Authorization to
administer and prescribe pharmaceutical agents and certain oral medications.
(1) The board shall meet at least once each year at which time it shall choose from
among its members the president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer. In <br>addition, the board, upon call of its officers, may hold meetings at any time as it <br>deems necessary. A full record of the board's proceedings shall be kept in the office <br>of the board and shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times.
(2) The board shall keep a register containing the name, address, and license number of
every person licensed to practice optometry in this state.
(3) The Attorney General shall render to the board legal services as it may require in
carrying out and enforcing the provisions of this chapter.
(4) Subject to and consistent with the provisions of this chapter, the board shall
promulgate reasonable administrative regulations and do any and all things that it <br>may deem necessary or proper for the effective enforcement of this chapter and for <br>the full and efficient performance of its duties hereunder and the reasonable <br>regulation of the profession of optometry and the practice thereof by licensed <br>optometrists.
(5) The board shall have a common seal. <br>(6) The board may administer oaths and require the attendance of witnesses, the
production of books, records, and papers pertinent to any matters coming before the <br>board by the issuance of process that shall be served and returned in the same <br>manner as in civil actions and for the disobedience of which the board shall have <br>the power to invoke the same rights as are provided for disobedience of a subpoena <br>or subpoena duces tecum in a civil action.
(7) The board shall promulgate administrative regulations necessary to regulate and
control all matters set forth in this chapter.
(8) The board shall have the right to determine what acts on the part of any person
licensed as an optometrist in this state shall constitute unprofessional conduct under <br>this chapter.
(9) The board may assist in the prosecution of any violation of this chapter and in the
enforcement of any of the provisions of this chapter.
(10) The board shall have other powers and duties as may be provided in the provisions
of this chapter.
(11) The board shall report its proceedings to the Governor on or about January 1 of each
year, including an accounting of all moneys received and disbursed.
(12) The board may permit persons engaging in the practice of optometry under the
provisions of this chapter to administer diagnostic pharmaceutical agents limited to <br>miotics for emergency use only, mydriatics, cycloplegics, and anesthetics applied <br>topically only, but excluding any drug classified as a controlled substance pursuant <br>to KRS Chapter 218A. These pharmaceutical agents shall be applied in diagnostic <br>procedures only as part of an eye examination. The application of the diagnostic <br>pharmaceutical agents shall be limited to those persons who have sufficient <br>education and professional competence as determined by the board and who have
earned transcript credits of at least six (6) semester hours in a course or courses in <br>general and ocular pharmacology, with particular emphasis on diagnostic <br>pharmaceutical agents applied topically to the eye, from a college or university <br>accredited by a regional or professional accreditation organization which is <br>recognized or approved by the council on postsecondary accreditation or by the <br>United States Department of Education.
(13) The board may authorize only those persons who have qualified for use of
diagnostic pharmaceutical agents as set out in subsection (12) of this section to <br>utilize and prescribe therapeutic pharmaceutical agents in the examination or <br>treatment of any condition of the eye or its appendages. Any therapeutically <br>certified optometrist licensed under the provisions of this subsection shall be <br>authorized to prescribe oral medications except controlled substances classified in <br>Schedules I and II for any condition which an optometrist is authorized to treat <br>under the provisions of this chapter and to use injections to administer benadryl, <br>epinephrine, or equivalent medication to counteract anaphylaxis or anaphylactic <br>reaction. The authority to prescribe a Schedule III, IV, or V controlled substance <br>shall be limited to prescriptions for a quantity sufficient to provide treatment for up <br>to seventy-two (72) hours. No refills of prescriptions for controlled substances shall <br>be allowed. The utilization or prescribing of therapeutic pharmaceutical agents shall <br>be limited to those persons who have sufficient education and professional <br>competence as determined by the board and who have earned transcript credits of at <br>least six (6) semester hours in a course or courses in general and ocular pathology <br>and therapy, with particular emphasis on utilization of therapeutic pharmaceutical <br>agents from a college or university accredited by a regional or professional <br>accreditation organization which is recognized or approved by the council on <br>postsecondary accreditation or by the United States Department of Education. These <br>six (6) semester hours are in addition to the six (6) semester hours required by <br>subsection (12) of this section, making a total of twelve (12) semester hours.
(14) Any optometrist authorized by the board to utilize diagnostic pharmaceutical agents
shall be permitted to purchase for use in the practice of optometry diagnostic <br>pharmaceutical agents limited to miotics for emergency use only, mydriatics, <br>cycloplegics, and anesthetics to be applied topically only. Any optometrist <br>authorized by the board to utilize therapeutic pharmaceutical agents shall be <br>permitted to prescribe in the practice of optometry therapeutic pharmaceutical <br>agents. Optometrists so authorized by the board to purchase pharmaceutical agents <br>shall obtain them from licensed drug suppliers or pharmacists on written orders <br>placed in the same or similar manner as any physician or other practitioner <br>authorized by KRS Chapter 217. Purchases shall be limited to those pharmaceutical <br>agents specified in this subsection and in subsection (12) of this section, based upon <br>the authority conferred upon the optometrist by the board consistent with the <br>educational qualifications of the optometrist as set out herein.
Effective: July 14, 2000 <br>History: Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 361, sec. 4, effective July 14, 2000. -- Amended
1996 Ky. Acts ch. 376, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1996. -- Amended 1990 Ky. Acts <br>ch. 256, sec. 8, effective July 13, 1990. -- Amended 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 12, sec. 2,
effective July 15, 1986. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 179, sec. 2, effective June 17, <br>1978. -- Created 1954 Ky. Acts ch. 183, sec. 5.
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