2006 Kansas Code - 65-1505

      65-1505.   Qualifications of practitioners; examinations; fees; reciprocal licensure; rules and regulations criteria for approval of schools or colleges. (a) Persons entitled to practice optometry in Kansas shall be those persons licensed in accordance with the provisions of the optometry law. A person shall be qualified to be licensed and to receive a license as an optometrist: (1) Who is of good moral character; and in determining the moral character of any such person, the board may take into consideration any felony conviction of such person, but such conviction shall not automatically operate as a bar to licensure; (2) who has graduated from a school or college of optometry approved by the board; and (3) who successfully meets and completes the requirements set by the board and passes an examination given by the board. All licenses issued on and after the effective date of this act, to persons not licensed in this state or in another state prior to July 1, 1996, shall be diagnostic, therapeutic and glaucoma licenses.

      (b)   All applicants for licensure or reciprocal licensure, except as provided in subsection (a) and (f), in addition to successfully completing all other requirements for licensure, shall take and successfully pass an examination required by the board before being certified by the board as a diagnostic and therapeutic licensee.

      (c)   All persons before taking the examination required by the board to be certified as a diagnostic and therapeutic licensee shall submit evidence satisfactory to the board of having successfully completed a course approved by the board in didactic education and clinical training in the examination, diagnosis and treatment of conditions of the human eye and its adnexae, totaling at least 100 hours.

      (d)   All applicants for glaucoma licensure, in addition to successfully completing all other requirements for licensure, shall submit evidence satisfactory to the board of: (1) Professional liability insurance in an amount acceptable to the board, (2) completion of a course of instruction approved by the board after consultation with the interprofessional advisory committee which includes at least 24 hours of training in the treatment and co-management of adult open-angle glaucoma and (3) co-management for a period of at least 24 months and not less than 20 diagnoses of suspected or confirmed glaucoma, except that the board may eliminate or shorten the co-management period, and eliminate or reduce the number of diagnoses of suspected or confirmed glaucoma for applicants for glaucoma licensure who graduate from approved optometric schools or colleges after July 1, 1998.

      (e)   Any person applying for examination by the board shall fill out and swear to an application furnished by the board, accompanied by a fee fixed by the board by rules and regulations in an amount of not to exceed $450, and file the same with the secretary of the board at least 30 days prior to the holding of the examination. At such examinations the board shall examine each applicant in subjects taught in schools or colleges of optometry approved by the board, as may be required by the board. If such person complies with the other qualifications for licensing and passes such examination, such person shall receive from the board, upon the payment of a fee fixed by the board by rules and regulations in an amount of not to exceed $150, a license entitling such person to practice optometry. In the event of the failure on the part of the applicant to pass the first examination, such person may, with the consent of the board, within 18 months, by filing an application accompanied by a fee fixed by the board by rules and regulations in an amount of not to exceed $150, take a second examination; for the third and each subsequent examination a fee fixed by the board by rules and regulations in an amount of not to exceed $150. Any examination fee and license fee fixed by the board under this subsection which is in effect on the day preceding the effective date of this act shall continue in effect until the board adopts rules and regulations under this subsection fixing a different fee therefor.

      (f)   Subject to the requirements of subsection (h), any applicant for reciprocal licensure may in the board's discretion be licensed and issued a license without examination in the category of licensure under the optometry law for which application is made if the applicant has been in the active practice of optometry in another state for at least the three-year period immediately preceding the application for reciprocal licensure and the applicant:

      (1)   Presents a certified copy of a certificate of registration or license which has been issued to the applicant by another state where the requirements for licensure are deemed by the board to be equivalent to the requirements for licensure in the category of licensure under this act for which application is made, if such state accords a like privilege to holders of a license issued by the board;

      (2)   submits a sworn statement of the licensing authority of such other state that the applicant's license has never been limited, suspended or revoked and that the applicant has never been censured or had other disciplinary action taken; and

      (3)   successfully passes an examination of Kansas law administered by the board and such clinical practice examination as the board deems necessary.

      Subject to the requirements of subsection (h), if such applicant was first licensed in another state prior to July 1, 1987, the applicant shall be required to satisfy only the requirements of the category of licensure under the optometry law for which application is made and which existed in this state at the time of the applicant's licensure in such other state; or, if such requirements did not exist in this state at the time of the applicant's licensure in such other state, the applicant shall be required to satisfy only the requirements of the category of licensure under the optometry law for which application is made which originally were required for that category of licensure. If such applicant was first licensed in another state on or after July 1, 1987, the applicant shall apply to initially be issued a diagnostic and therapeutic license and shall be required to satisfy all the requirements of that category of licensure under this act. The fee for licensing such applicants shall be fixed by the board by rules and regulations in an amount of not to exceed $450. The reciprocal license fee fixed by the board under this subsection which is in effect on the day preceding the effective date of this act shall continue in effect until the board adopts rules and regulations under this subsection fixing a different fee therefor.

      (g)   The board shall adopt rules and regulations establishing the criteria which a school or college of optometry shall satisfy in meeting the requirement of approval by the board established under subsection (a). The board may send a questionnaire developed by the board to any school or college of optometry for which the board does not have sufficient information to determine whether the school or college meets the requirements for approval and rules and regulations adopted under this act. The questionnaire providing the necessary information shall be completed and returned to the board in order for the school or college to be considered for approval. The board may contract with investigative agencies, commissions or consultants to assist the board in obtaining information about schools or colleges. In entering such contracts the authority to approve schools or colleges shall remain solely with the board.

      (h)   To be entitled to practice optometry in Kansas after May 31, 2008, an optometrist must have met the requirements of and become a therapeutic licensee. To be entitled to practice optometry in Kansas after May 31, 2010, an optometrist must have met: (1) The requirements of and become a therapeutic licensee and (2) the requirements of and become a glaucoma licensee.

      History:   L. 1923, ch. 220, § 9; R.S. 1923, 65-1505; L. 1939, ch. 240, § 2; L. 1951, ch. 360, § 1; L. 1975, ch. 318, § 3; L. 1979, ch. 192, § 1; L. 1987, ch. 235, § 3; L. 1988, ch. 243, § 6; L. 1990, ch. 223, § 3; L. 1996, ch. 95, § 3; L. 1999, ch. 23, § 3; L. 2003, ch. 46, § 1; L. 2005, ch. 93, § 1; July 1.