100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
HB5870

 

Introduced , by Rep. Keith R. Wheeler

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
225 ILCS 80/3  from Ch. 111, par. 3903

    Amends the Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987. Provides requirements for the rules that the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall adopt concerning educational requirements for advanced optometric procedures. Defines "surgery" and "advanced optometric procedures". Provides that an optometrist may not perform advanced optometric procedures on a patient under 18 years of age.


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A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    WHEREAS, The legislative power in the State of Illinois is
3vested in a General Assembly consisting of a Senate and a House
4of Representatives, elected by the electors from 59 Legislative
5Districts and 118 Representative Districts; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly's principal
7activities are to enact, amend, or repeal laws, pass
8resolutions, adopt appropriation bills, and conduct inquiries
9on proposed legislation; and
 
10    WHEREAS, It is the General Assembly's belief that
11boundaries between licensed professions in Illinois should be
12set by the legislature to ensure the best protection for
13Illinois citizens and professions; therefore
 
14    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
15represented in the General Assembly:
 
16    Section 5. The Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987 is
17amended by changing Section 3 as follows:
 
18    (225 ILCS 80/3)  (from Ch. 111, par. 3903)
19    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)
20    Sec. 3. Practice of optometry defined; referrals;

 

 

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1manufacture of lenses and prisms.
2    (a) The practice of optometry is defined as the employment
3of any and all means for the examination, diagnosis, and
4treatment of the human visual system, the human eye, and its
5appendages without the use of surgery, including, but not
6limited to: the appropriate use of ocular pharmaceutical
7agents; refraction and other determinants of visual function;
8prescribing corrective lenses or prisms; prescribing,
9dispensing, or management of contact lenses; vision therapy;
10visual rehabilitation; or any other procedures taught in
11schools and colleges of optometry approved by the Department,
12and not specifically restricted in this Act, subject to
13demonstrated competency and training as required by the Board,
14and pursuant to rule or regulation approved by the Board and
15adopted by the Department.
16    A person shall be deemed to be practicing optometry within
17the meaning of this Act who:
18        (1) In any way presents himself or herself to be
19    qualified to practice optometry.
20        (2) Performs refractions or employs any other
21    determinants of visual function.
22        (3) Employs any means for the adaptation of lenses or
23    prisms.
24        (4) Prescribes corrective lenses, prisms, vision
25    therapy, visual rehabilitation, or ocular pharmaceutical
26    agents.

 

 

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1        (5) Prescribes or manages contact lenses for
2    refractive, cosmetic, or therapeutic purposes.
3        (6) Evaluates the need for, or prescribes, low vision
4    aids to partially sighted persons.
5        (7) Diagnoses or treats any ocular abnormality,
6    disease, or visual or muscular anomaly of the human eye or
7    visual system.
8        (8) Practices, or offers or attempts to practice,
9    optometry as defined in this Act either on his or her own
10    behalf or as an employee of a person, firm, or corporation,
11    whether under the supervision of his or her employer or
12    not.
13    Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted (A) to prevent
14a person from functioning as an assistant under the direct
15supervision of a person licensed by the State of Illinois to
16practice optometry or medicine in all of its branches or (B) to
17prohibit visual screening programs that are conducted without a
18fee (other than voluntary donations), by charitable
19organizations acting in the public welfare under the
20supervision of a committee composed of persons licensed by the
21State of Illinois to practice optometry or persons licensed by
22the State of Illinois to practice medicine in all of its
23branches.
24    (b) When, in the course of providing optometric services to
25any person, an optometrist licensed under this Act finds an
26indication of a disease or condition of the eye which in his or

 

 

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1her professional judgment requires professional service
2outside the scope of practice as defined in this Act, he or she
3shall refer such person to a physician licensed to practice
4medicine in all of its branches, or other appropriate health
5care practitioner. Nothing in this Act shall preclude an
6optometrist from rendering appropriate nonsurgical emergency
7care.
8    (c) Nothing contained in this Section shall prohibit a
9person from manufacturing ophthalmic lenses and prisms or the
10fabrication of contact lenses according to the specifications
11prescribed by an optometrist or a physician licensed to
12practice medicine in all of its branches, but shall
13specifically prohibit (1) the sale or delivery of ophthalmic
14lenses, prisms, and contact lenses without a prescription
15signed by an optometrist or a physician licensed to practice
16medicine in all of its branches and (2) the dispensing of
17contact lenses by anyone other than a licensed optometrist,
18licensed pharmacist, or a physician licensed to practice
19medicine in all of its branches. For the purposes of this Act,
20"contact lenses" include, but are not limited to, contact
21lenses with prescriptive power and decorative and plano power
22contact lenses. Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the sale
23of contact lenses by an optical firm or corporation primarily
24engaged in manufacturing or dealing in eyeglasses or contact
25lenses with an affiliated optometrist who practices and is
26licensed or has an ancillary registration for the location

 

 

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1where the sale occurs.
2    (d) Nothing in this Act shall restrict the filling of a
3prescription by a pharmacist licensed under the Pharmacy
4Practice Act.
5    (e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict the
6dispensing and sale by an optometrist of ocular devices, such
7as contact lenses, that contain and deliver ocular
8pharmaceutical agents permitted for use or prescription under
9this Act.
10    (f) Nothing On and after January 1, 2018, nothing in this
11Act shall prohibit an optometrist who is certified by a school
12of optometry approved by the Department from performing
13advanced optometric procedures, pursuant to educational
14requirements established by rule, provided that such rule
15incorporates sufficient didactic and clinical training to
16develop the technical skills needed to properly perform the
17advanced optometric procedure, including any complications
18that may arise, the knowledge to properly diagnose the
19condition requiring use of an advanced optometric procedure,
20and the judgment necessary to determine when an advanced
21optometric procedure should and should not be used that are
22consistent with the recommendations of the Collaborative
23Optometric/Ophthalmological Task Force created in Section 15.3
24of this Act and that are taught (1) at an accredited, private
254-year school of optometry that is located in a city in
26Illinois with a population in excess of 1,500,000, or (2) at a

 

 

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1school of optometry with a curriculum that is substantially
2similar to the curriculum taught at the school of optometry
3described in item (1) of this subsection. Advanced optometric
4procedures do not include the use of lasers.
5    (g) As used in this Act, "surgery" means any procedure
6employed to treat diseases or conditions of the human eye and
7adjoining tissues or structures, to correct refractive error,
8or to alter or enhance structures of the eye or adnexa for
9cosmetic purposes in which human tissue is cut, ablated,
10vaporized, punctured, burned, frozen, or otherwise permanently
11altered or penetrated by instruments, laser, ultrasound,
12ultraviolet light, cryotherapy, electrocautery, chemicals,
13ionizing radiation, or by other means, including placement and
14removal of sutures, transplanting or applying human or other
15tissue, and inserting an instrument into or placement of a
16device into a natural opening of the body.
17    "Surgery" does not include the use of a scanning laser for
18purely diagnostic purposes to create an image.
19    (h) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (g),
20"advanced optometric procedures" includes: removal of a
21superficial foreign body from the surface of the eye or adnexa;
22removal using a topical anesthetic of non-perforating foreign
23bodies from the cornea no deeper than the midstroma, the
24conjunctiva, or eyelid; dilation and irrigation of the lacrimal
25ducts; insertion and removal of lacrimal plugs; mechanical
26epilation of eyelashes; removal of dead corneal epithelium by

 

 

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1scraping; scraping of the cornea for culture; application of
2self-retaining amniotic membrane on the cornea; removal of a
3suture with approval of the surgeon who placed the suture; or
4other non-surgical procedures approved by the Department by
5rule.
6    "Advanced optometric procedures" does not include any
7procedure: (1) requiring the use of general or injectable
8anesthesia; (2) in which the globe or orbit of the eye is
9penetrated by any means; (3) involving use of a laser, except
10as provided for in subsection (g); (4) involving removal of
11live epithelial tissue from the cornea; (5) involving the
12removal of or disturbing any cancerous or neoplastic tissue;
13(6) involving injections, except as provided for in Section
1415.1; and (7) requiring placement or removal of sutures, except
15as provided for in this subsection.
16    An optometrist may not perform advanced optometric
17procedures on a patient under 18 years of age.
18(Source: P.A. 98-186, eff. 8-5-13; 99-909, eff. 1-1-17.)