Minutes of the

North Carolina State Board of Optometry                                                        

March 26-27, 2010                                                                                   

Wallace, North Carolina                                                                                   

 

The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometry met in Wallace, North Carolina on Friday and Saturday, March 26-27, 2010, to determine the results of the Winter 2010 Clinical/Practicum Examinations and for other purposes.  Present were Dr. Joel Banks ,  President, Mr. Roger Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer,  Drs. David Anderson, Michael Clark, Andy Cook, William Rafferty and Ms. Mary Richardson, Members of the Board.     Also present were Dr. David Baxter, former Board member (who appeared at the examinations in lieu of Dr. Cook due to his absence), Janice Peterson, R.N., Administrative Secretary, and Mr. Johnny Loper, Board Attorney, via conference telephone call.  Dr. John Robinson, the Board’s Executive Director, was unable to be present due to his sudden illness and subsequent hospitalization.

 

The meeting was called to order at 5:25 p.m. on Friday by Dr. Joel Banks, President of the Board after which he read the “ETHICS AWARENESS & CONFLICTS OF INTEREST REMINDER” as required by the North Carolina State Ethics Commission. A copy of the ”Reminder” was in each Members meeting notebook.  Before continuing the meeting he took the opportunity to welcome Dr. Andrew Cook, the newest Board Member.

 

Meeting with the Board Attorney.  On a motion by Mr. Mitchell seconded by Ms. Richardson and carried unanimously the Board went into closed session in accordance with the provisions of NCGS 143-318.11(a)(3) prior to placing a call to the Board’s Attorney, Johnny Loper, to receive privileged information from the Board attorney.  At 5:30 p.m. Mr. Loper joined the meeting via a conference telephone call.  He discussed a draft of a memorandum regarding the Board’s position on national programs being marketed as ‘board certification’ by boards recently created by the American Optometric Association (American Board of Optometry) and the American Optometric Society (American Board of Clinical Optometry).  Both boards purport to asses and determine the ‘continued competence’ (MOC) of licensed optometrists, regardless of the state in which they hold  licenses to practice optometry, who pay the required fees and who successfully complete the required continuing education courses offered by and/or approved by their organization.  It is the position of the North Carolina Board of Optometry that there is no other board or organization other than this Board that can assess or determine the continued competence of those optometrists holding a valid license to practice optometry in the State of North Carolina.

 

On a motion by Ms. Richardson and seconded by Dr. Anderson, the Board returned to open session.

 

Approval of Minutes.  On a motion by Dr. Anderson and seconded by Dr. Clark, the minutes of the  February 12-13, 2010 meeting were unanimously approved.

 

Report of the President.   Dr. Banks stated that he did not have any thing specific to report at this time; however, he gave notice that he would be offering comments on certain agenda items at the appropriate time.  On a motion by Dr. Clark and seconded by Dr. Anderson, the remarks of the President were unanimously accepted.

 

Report of the Secretary-Treasurer.  Mr. Mitchell presented the Budget Report for the period covering July 1, 2009 through March 24, 2010.     He pointed out that three months are left in the fiscal year and the expenses are comfortably in line with funds budgeted for fiscal year 2009-2010.  In the absence of the Executive Director, Mr. Mitchell suggested that discussions of the proposed 2010-2011 Budget be postponed until the next regularly schedule meeting of the Board in June.  Dr. Anderson moved and Ms. Richardson seconded a motion that the report of the Secretary-Treasurer be accepted and that discussion of the proposed 2010-2011 budget be postponed until the Board’s meeting in Myrtle Beach in June. The motion carried unanimously.

 

Report of the Executive Director.   Due to illness, Dr. Robinson was unable to attend the meeting; therefore, his report was postponed until the meeting of the Board in June.

 

Executive Session to Review the Scoring and Results of the Winter 2010 Clinical/Practicum Examinations.   At 6:00 p.m. on a motion by Mr. Mitchell, seconded by Dr. Cook, and carried unanimously, the Board went into Executive Session in accordance with NCGS 143-318.11(a)(1) to review of the scoring and results of the Winter 2010 Clinical/Practicum Examination.  At 7:10 p.m., on a motion by Dr. Cook,   seconded by Mr. Mitchell, and carried unanimously, the Board returned to open session.  No motions were made and no action was taken while in closed session.

 

Determining the Results of the Examination.  Having reviewed the results of the Winter 2010 Examinations in closed session, it was moved by Mr. Mitchell, seconded by Ms. Richardson, and carried unanimously that the following candidates be notified of their having achieved a passing score on the Winter 2010 Clinical/Practicum  Examinations and that they be duly licensed to practice the profession of optometry in North Carolina and that their names be entered in the Board Registry with license numbers assigned as follows:

 

          Holly Susanne Adams, O.D.            #2182       

          Melissa A. Graves, O.D.                      #2183       

          Yao Lu, O.D.                                   #2184       

          Scott W. Nebel, O.D.                      #2185       

          Rolando Ortiz, O.D.                      #2186       

          Megan L. Tester, O.D.                      #2187       

         

Revocation of Licenses.  On a motion by Mr. Mitchell, seconded by Dr. Clark, and carried unanimously the following licenses were revoked for non-payment of the 2009 renewal fees:

 

          James L. Menius, O.D.

          Mary A. Reto, O.D.

 

Report of the Board’s Software Consultant and Data Systems Manager.   Mr. John Dixon was unavailable to give an update of the current status of the Board’s data base and management system.

 

Old Business.   

 

·        Mr. Loper’s memo of February 23rd regarding release of patient records was reviewed.   

·        Dr. Anderson led the discussion about the increase in the number of continuing education hours required annually for license renewal noting that the issue was on the agenda of the Executive Council of the North Carolina State Optometric Society at its meeting in Raleigh this weekend. 

No action was taken in either matter.

 

A motion was made by Dr. Clark and seconded by Dr. Anderson to approve travel, subsistence and per diem for Dr. Baxter for attending this meeting of the Board.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

New Business.

 

·        Staff Evaluation.  Due to the absence of the Executive Director, a motion was made by Dr. Anderson, seconded by Ms. Richardson, and carried unanimously to postpone the annual evaluation of staff until the next meeting of the Board  in June.

·        Association of Regulatory Boards in Optometry.   The Annual Meeting of the Association of Regulatory Boards in Optometry will be held in Orlando, Florida on June 13 – 15, 2010.  It was noted that Dr. Rafferty is the President of ARBO, therefore, all of his expenses in attending the meeting will be paid by ARBO; further, that the registration fee for the Executive Director who is a Life Member of ARBO will be waived.  After a brief discussion Dr. Clark made the following motion: that travel, five days meal , four hotel nights and registration expenses for up to two staff members and up to three Members of the Board appointed by the President to attend the ARBO meeting be approved. The Executive Director will stay the remainder of the week to attend the meetings of the House of Delegates of the American Optometric Association. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mitchell and carried unanimously.

 

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board will be at the Kingston Plantation and Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C. with arrivals on Wednesday afternoon, June 2nd with the meetings starting at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 3, 2010 and ending no later than 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 6, 2010.    On a motion by Dr. Rafferty,  seconded by Dr. Cook,  and carried unanimously registration, travel, 4 hotel nights and 5 days meal expenses were approved for the Members of the Board and the Executive Director; further, that the Board Members are entitled to 5 days per diem for their attendance.

 

The Annual Meeting of the Board for the purpose of electing officers for fiscal year July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011 will be held in the Eton Room at the Embassy Suites Hotel at Kingston Plantation in Myrtle Beach, S.C. at noon on Thursday, June 3, 2010.

 

Guidelines for Approval of Continuing Education Programs.  Following discussion of the problems being encountered by the Board and its Staff in the approval process for the variety of continuing programs being submitted for credit as meeting the Board’s continuing education requirements, Dr. Rafferty presented a PowerPoint slideshow he had prepared regarding continuing education approval guidelines. While there was agreement that there was a need to establish clearer and more stringent guidelines to be followed in the approval process, no action was taken.

 

There being no further business, at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 26, 2010,  Dr. Anderson moved and Dr. Cook seconded a motion that the meeting be adjourned.  The motion carried unanimously.                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                Approved 06/03/10

                                                                                                                                Myrtle Beach, SC