Minutes of the

North Carolina State Board of Optometry

April 27, 2003

Raleigh, North Carolina

The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometry met in Raleigh, North Carolina in the offices of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge and Rice for a specially called meeting to discuss with the Board’s attorney, Johnny M. Loper, Esq., the possible options that the Board might consider concerning the issues of the Board’s authority do determine the scope of optometric practice in North Carolina as set forth in Article 6 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes and the attempt by the North Carolina Board of Medical Examiners to usurp this authority through means of threats to charge duly licensed optometrists in North Carolina who might perform injections for conditions of the eye and its adnexa with the unauthorized practice of medicine; and to review the format and content of the Clinical Practicum Examinations. Present were Drs. William Hendrix, President, Scott Edwards, Secretary/Treasurer, Joel Banks, David Baxter and William Rafferty, Members of the Board. Also present were Dr. John D. Robinson, the Executive Director of the Board and Mr. Johnny Loper, the Board’s attorney. Absent due to illness was Mr. James Richardson. Also absent because of a family emergency was Ms. Trudy Mitchell.

The President called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. Upon a motion by Dr. Rafferty, seconded by Dr. Baxter and carried unanimously the meeting went into closed session in accordance with the provisions of the Open Meetings Act, G.S. 143-318.11(3).

The President turned the floor over to Mr. Loper who reviewed previous meetings and correspondence with both the Board and representatives of the Medical Board. He also informed the Board that he would be meeting with Mr. Thom Mansfield, an attorney for the Medical Board on Wednesday, April 30^th as agreed to at the Board’s meeting in Raleigh, N.C. on February 13, 2003. Following a three hour discussion and the asking of questions by Members of the Board, the answering of questions by both Mr. Loper and the Board’s Executive Director, the consensus of the Board was for Mr. Loper to have further discussions with Mr. Mansfield about whether the two Boards can agree on the appropriate way for the courts to decide the issue of whether optometrists appropriately credentialed by the Optometry Board may perform injections for the diagnosis and treatment of conditions and diseases of the eye and its adnexa.

The Board reviewed a draft of a revision of the current Board Policy on the release of contact lens prescriptions that had been prepared by the Executive Director and Mr. Loper. While the substantive changes were generally agreed to there were a number of changes that were suggested. Following a brief period of discussion it was agreed that the Executive Director would take into account the concerns that were expressed, make changes to be reviewed by Mr. Loper and circulate another draft to the Members of the Board for approval before any mailing is made to the licensees.

The remainder of the day was spent in reviewing the current examination format, content and scoring. A consensus was reached that at least two of the procedures now being tested would be eliminated from the Summer 2003 examination and that the Executive Director with the help of the Administrative Secretary would draft a number of options for the redesign of the schedule to accommodate one procedure station with an eye to shortening the overall time spent each day while allowing more time within the remaining stations to evaluate and score. Options are to be circulated to the Members of the Board for final approval. It was recognized that the time frame involved was critical due to the necessity to reprogram the computers to accommodate the new schedule prior to candidates being notified of a time to appear for examination. Candidate letters will have to be edited and the Clinical Examiners given updated information at the time the cases that they are to present are drawn and sent to them. There is approximately one month left to accomplish the necessary changes, if the changes are to take place for the Summer 2003 examinations.

At 4:35 the President declared an end to the closed session. When asked for further business there was none. The President then asked for a motion to adjourn. On a motion by Dr. Banks, seconded by Dr. Baxter and carried unanimously the meeting was adjourned at 4:40 P.M.

The next meeting of the Board will be in Myrtle Beach, S.C. starting on Thursday morning June 5, 2003 at the Embassy Suites Hotel at Kingston Plantation beginning at 8:30 A.M. and concluding on Sunday, June 8, 2003 not later than 1:00 P.M.

Approved

06/05/03