Minutes of the
North Carolina State Board of Optometry
November 6 – 9, 2008
Grove Park Inn
Asheville, North Carolina
The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometry met at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina on November 6 – 9, 2008 to conduct its regularly scheduled Fall meeting, to monitor the Educational Program at the Fall Educational Congress of the North Carolina State Optometric Society, and for other purposes. Present were, Drs. Joel Banks, President, William Hendrix, Secretary/Treasurer, David Anderson, Michael Clark William Rafferty and Mr. Roger Mitchell and Ms. Mary Richardson, Members of the Board. Also present was Dr. John Robinson, the Executive Director. Mr. Byron Nelson, a political consultant from Winston Salem representing the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the North Carolina Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons (SEPS) was present during the entire meeting except those portions closed pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11(3) and 143-318(a)(1). Present at the time certain meeting at 10 A.M. via conference telephone was Mr. Johnny Loper, the Board’s attorney. Present to discuss issues in light of current budgetary concerns relating to the numbers and the admission of qualified students from North Carolina to the contract spaces allotted to their respective institutions by the North Carolina Educational Authority were: James M. Caldwell, OD, EdM, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Admissions at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University; Gerald Simon, OD, Associate Clinical Professor and Director of Student Affairs and Ms. Connie S. Wright, Program Manager, Student Admissions and Records at the University of Alabama School of Optometry; and Richard W. Phillips, OD, President and Kristin Anderson, OD, Vice President, Institutional Advancement, Southern College of Optometry. .
The President called the meeting to
order at 8:35 AM and offered the opening prayer after which he called the Board
Member’s attention to the Ethics and
Conflict of Interest statements as requested by the North Carolina Board of
Ethics (copies furnished to each Member of the Board)
Approval of Minutes. On a motion by Mr.
Mitchell and seconded by Dr. Hendrix the minutes of the meeting of the August
22 – 23, 2008 were unanimously approved.
Report of the President Dr. Banks’ report was brief. He spent time going over what he thought was
among the important tasks before the
Board at this time, the revamping of
the system and the manner in which the case scenarios are constructed as a
means of more uniform presentation of case scenarios, examiner training in
scoring and the building of an expanded data base of case scenarios for use in
the future. Dr. Rafferty as the
Chairman of the Committee will continue in his role as Chairman and will have
his report ready by our next
meeting. On a motion by Dr. Clark that was seconded by
Mr. Mitchell the report of the President was carried unanimously.
Report of the
Secretary/Treasurer. Dr. Hendrix called everyone’s attention to
the Budget Report covering the period July 1, 2008 through October 31, 2008, copies of which were in
the meeting notebook. The most significant
difference noted in this report and the report given at this meeting last year
is in the income line. There is a
significant increase in income reflected in this report due to the fact that
license renewals went out a full week earlier this year and nearly three weeks
earlier than two years ago. At the same
time the response rate this year was somewhat faster resulting in the income
line improving over that of a year ago.
Following a brief discussion and the
answering of questions by Dr. Hendrix and the Executive Director, Dr. Anderson
moved and Mr. Mitchell seconded a motion that the report of the
Secretary/Treasurer be accepted. The
motion carried unanimously.
Report of the Executive
Director.
The 2009 license renewals did go out prior to the deadline set a
year ago. As expected the telephone began to ring with licensee’s inquiring
about their continuing education hours.
As was the case last year the greatest source of ‘missing credits’ was
the result’ of the failure of the
Southern Council once again to report the continuing education hours taken at
SECO directly to this Board as had been the case over many years. Further, there is some question this year as
to whether or not SECO is reporting
hours to ARBO’s OE Tracker, instead
leaving it the responsibility of the
individual registrant to report their hours directly to the entity(ies) of
their own choosing.
In discussing annual renewals of
licenses and ways to make the process
more efficient, less time consuming
and easier to manage from an administrative standpoint while at the same
time making it more convenient for the licensee we anticipate adding an option
that will allow our licensees who would
like to do so the option to renew their license on line. This will require the acceptance credit
cards, something we do not have the ability to do now. To off set the expense that would be
incurred the Board would impose a
‘convenience fee’ to cover those
costs. It not only would be faster but would also include a
transaction trail that would track the deposits and the licensee(s) making the
payment. Monthly statements of the
transactions would become a part of the Board’s financial records and would
eliminate the Board staff’s need to fill out deposit slips that can run
pages long minimizing the possibility
of mathematical errors. We also
plan to build into the data base the ability of the licensees to access their
own continuing education records. This
will save staff a lot of time on the
telephone reporting CE hours, especially
at the busiest time of year when license renewals go out.
Mr. Dixon’s report dated November
4th is a part of your meeting note book. I will be happy to answer any questions you have when you have
had time to review it.
Finally, there is a letter in your
notebook from Dr. Boyd Honeycutt, the Carrier Medical Director at CIGNA
Government Services, relative to reimbursement by Medicare of optometrists for
performing the procedure, Visual Evoked Response (CPT Code 95930). This
letter was written in response to a
letter from the Board’s attorney, Mr.
Loper, to CIGNA regarding denial of payment to optometrists for this procedure
by Medicare. Non-payment was brought to the attention of the Board by the makers
of the instrument used to perform the
procedure who stated that other Medicare carriers over the country were paying
for the procedure. Further
investigation will be undertaken prior to further communications with Dr. Honeycutt.
Dr. Banks, this concludes my
report. On a motion by Dr. Hendrix
seconded by Dr. Clark and carried unanimously, the report of the Executive
Director was unanimously accepted.
The Regional Association of
Regulatory Boards in Optometry (ARBO) held during the SECO International Educational
Congress and the Annual FARB Forum are traditionally held during the month of
February.
The 2009 FARB Forum is to be held in Tampa, Florida January 23 – 25, 2009. SECO and the Regional Meeting of the
Association of Regulatory Board’s in Optometry are scheduled to be held in
Atlanta February 4 - 8, 2009 and are traditionally attended by the Executive
Director and one or more of the Professional Members of the Board. It is not clear at this time as to which, if
any, Member of the Board has an interest in attending either the FARB meeting
in Tampa or the Regional ARBO / SECO meetings in Atlanta in 2009. Dr. Rafferty, a Member of the Board of
Directors of ARBO, will be in Atlanta attending
an ARBO Board of Directors meeting and the Regional ARBO meeting with his
expenses paid by that organization. Dr.
Clark indicated he might attend the Southern Council meeting. Attendance by the Executive Director at
either of the meetings, while possible, is doubtful because the many activities going on in the office requiring his
attention. Following a brief discussion it was left to the President to
approve attendance of a Board Member at
either of these meetings. Intentions to
register the meeting(s) should be made known to the Board office no later than
January 1, 2009 stating their plans to attend.. Reimbursement for expenses at either meeting will be for a
maximum of five per-diems plus the appropriate registration fee, travel, up to four
hotel nights and five days meal expenses.
Report of the Probable Cause
Committee. Dr. Anderson reported for the Probable Cause Committee in the
matter of Glenn S. Matheny. A copy of
the Consent Order recommended by the
Committee and agreed to by Dr. Matheny was in the meeting notebook. After reviewing the Order and the answering
of questions by Drs. Anderson and the Executive Director Mr. Mitchell moved and
Dr. Rafferty seconded a motion that carried unanimously that the Order be
approved and that the President be authorized to sign it on behalf of the
Board.
In closed session Mr. Loper informed the Board of certain discussions that have occurred by representatives of the Optometric Society with
the officers of SEPS and the NC Medical
Society regarding litigation between the Board and the NC Medical Board over
the injections issue and the potential
consequences of such discussions for the Board.
After Mr. Loper responded to
various questions from the Board Members (none of which related to the
substance of the matters to be decided by
the Board), on a motion by Ms.
Richardson, seconded by Dr. Clark and carried unanimously the Board voted to
return to open session. No motions were
made and no votes taken while the Board was in this closed session.
Scenario Construction Committee
Update.
Dr. Rafferty reported that he had experienced difficulty in getting
those Clinical Examiners who agreed to work on the project together to finalize the work done to this
point in time. He reported that Dr.
David King has agreed that he would work with him over the Christmas holidays
to finalize the committee’s recommendations and that their report would ready for
presentation to the Board at its meeting in February. Following a short discussion
and the answering of questions by Dr. Rafferty, on a motion by Mr. Mitchell that
was seconded by Dr. Clark, the ‘interim report’ of the Chairman of the Scenario
Construction Committee was unanimously accepted.
Winter 2009 Clinical/Practicum Examinations. Based
upon the number of applications received and the number that are in the hands
of potential registrants at the time of this meeting the number of applicants
taking the Winter 2009 examinations will be less than twenty-five. Assuming that the number will not exceed
twenty-five no more than five sessions
over a period of two days will be required.
Therefore, it is recommended that the Board and Clinical Examiners
arrive in Raleigh on Friday afternoon February 13, 2009 for orientation and examination stations
set-up. Three sessions will be conducted on Saturday, February 14th and
if present projections hold true there will be no more than two sessions on Sunday, February 15th. In the very unlikely event that the number
of applicants exceeded 25 it would be
possible to do three sessions on
Sunday. Until we have information
otherwise the Board office is looking at a schedule that will accommodate up to
twenty-five candidates with the Board Members and Clinical Examiners arriving
at the McKimmon Center at 3 P.M. on Friday, February 13, 2009 with departures no later than 3 P.M. on Sunday afternoon,
February 15, 2009. On a motion by Dr. Clark, seconded by Dr. Anderson and
carried unanimously the Executive Director was authorized to select the Clinical
Examiners from those who were at the
Summer Examinations and if necessary from those who have served before as
back-ups. Should it become necessary he
may select one or more examiners from those who appeared as observers at the
Summer 2008.
Meeting To Determine
Examination Results. A date for the Board to meet to determine
the results of the Winter examination must be established prior the end of the
February meeting. It is recommended
that the date be the week-end of March 20 – 22, 2009. Members of the Board are
requested to review their calendars for possible conflicts in order that a date
be firmed up. Likewise, a date must be
established by the time the Winter examinations start for those applicants who
might not be successful to review their results with representatives of the
Board. It is recommended that this be
done no later than the third week in May so that the recommendations of the
Committee can be submitted to the Board at its meeting in June. The President
asked that Dr. Rafferty be prepared to act as the Board Member on the Examination Review Committee and that
he consult with the Executive Director as to the most convenient time for him
to meet in the Board office during the first half of May 2009 to conduct the review session.
On a motion by Dr. Hendrix,
seconded by Dr. Clark and carried unanimously, the meeting was recessed at 12:00
P.M. on November 6, 2008 in order to meet with representatives of the three
schools of optometry for group luncheon
set up in the meeting room next door.
During an informal luncheon meeting there was a general discussion
between the Members of the Board and the Representatives of the Schools and
Colleges of Optometry holding ‘contract spaces’ funded by the North Carolina
State Education Assistance Authority and the College Foundation of North
Carolina for students enrolled in their
optometry degree programs. It was the
Board’s concern that the schools be aware of the budgetary problems facing the
State Legislature and that vacancies in the slots available in any
of the schools might well result in that slot being lost for the
foreseeable future. While there was a
time when slots that went unused in one institution could be transferred to
another one participating in the program, this is no longer the case. Further, under the current policies of those
administering the funds, once a slot is lost those funds will be transferred to
another program within the University System.
The end result is the loss of the total number of positions that were
previously allotted within the overall
program that were available to North
Carolina residents wishing to pursue a career in optometry.
At 2:00 P.M. the Board and the faculty
representatives of the Schools and Colleges of Optometry who have been retained
to serve as consultants to the Board reconvened in the Eisenhower Room. On a motion by Dr. Anderson seconded by Mr.
Mitchell and carried unanimously
the Board went into closed session in
accordance with the provisions of NCGS
143-318.11(1) and 93B-8(d) to
discuss the scoring and content of the
North Carolina Board’s Clinical/Practicum Examination and student
performance on these examinations. Over
a period of nearly two hours there was an exchange of information and detailed discussion
of the format, content and scoring of the examination and what was expected in the way of performance
from applicants taking the examination in order to become licensed to practice
optometry in North Carolina. When the discussions ended on a motion by Mr. Mitchell
that was seconded by Ms. Richardson and carried unanimously the Board returned
to open session.
Without objection from any Member
of the Board, the President
invited the consultants to carry
back and invitation to their institutions that those who would like the
opportunity to do so to send a representative to observe the examinations,
informing them that there was a schedule of future examinations posted on the
Board’s web site at www.ncoptometry.org. There was the caveat, however, ‘that the Board office be
notified a minimum of 30 days in advance so that a schedule for each
observer(s) could be designed in order to avoid their being in a station during
the time one of their own students was being examined (this to avoid undue
pressure on the applicant because of
the presence of one of his or her school’s faculty in the examination
station)’.
Consultants Honorarium. On a motion by Dr. Hendrix seconded by Dr. Clark and
carried unanimously the Board authorized an honorarium in the amount of $ 200
for each of the school representatives acting as consultants to the Board in
the review of the format, content and scoring of its Clinical/Practicum
Examinations.
There being no further business,
the President thanked the representatives of the three schools of optometry for
their willingness to take part in the afternoon portion of its meeting then
recessed the Board until the meeting with the new licensees and the
presentation of their licenses later in the Fall Educational Congress of the
North Carolina State Optometric Society.
The remainder of the time in Asheville was spent monitoring the
continuing education programs, and in the absence of other business adjournment
will be at noon on Sunday, November 9, 2009
The next meeting of the Board for
the purpose of conducting the Winter 2009 Clinical/Practicum Examinations and for other purposes will be
at the Jane McKimmon Center in Raleigh, NC beginning at 3:00 P.M. on Friday,
February 13, 2009. Adjournment will
depend on the number of applicants but will be no later than 6:30 P.M. on Sunday,
February 15, 2009.
Approved 02/13/09
Raleigh, North Carolina