Senate Bill No. 82
(By Senators Wiedebusch, Bailey, Blatnik, Sharpe, Helmick,
Dugan, Ross, Schoonover, Love, Dittmar, Bowman and Plymale)
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[Introduced January 17, 1996; Referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Health and
Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article eight, chapter
thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to amending the
definition of the practice of optometry.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article eight, chapter thirty of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. OPTOMETRISTS.
§30-8-2. Practice of optometry defined.
Any one or any combination of the following practices shall
constitute the practice of optometry:
(a) The examination of the human eye, with or without the use of drugs prescribable for the human eye, which drugs may be
used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes for topical
application to the anterior segment of the human eye only, and,
by any method other than surgery, to diagnose, to treat or to
refer for consultation or treatment any abnormal condition of the
human eye or its appendages;
(b) The employment without the use of surgery of any
instrument, device, method or diagnostic or therapeutic drug for
topical application to the anterior segment of the human eye
intended for the purpose of investigating, examining, treating,
diagnosing, improving or correcting any visual defect or abnormal
condition of the human eye or its appendages;
(c) The prescribing and application or the replacement or
duplication of lenses, prisms, contact lenses, orthoptics, vision
training, vision rehabilitation, diagnostic or therapeutic drugs
for topical application to the anterior segment of the human eye,
or the furnishing or providing of any prosthetic device, or any
other method other than surgery necessary to correct or relieve
any defects or abnormal conditions of the human eye or its
appendages.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, an optometrist may perform any specific procedure determined by the
board of optometry to be within the scope of optometric education
and training, when the optometrist demonstrates to the
satisfaction of the board that he or she has successfully
completed board-certified education and training, which may
include a clinical experience requirement, for that specific
procedure, an optometrist may prescribe, administer and dispense
such drugs as are approved by the board of optometry when the
optometrist demonstrates to the satisfaction of the board that he
or she has successfully completed board-certified education and
training in the use of diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical
agents for treatment of conditions of the eye and its appendages.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit an
optometrist to perform surgery, use drugs by injection or to use
or prescribe any drug for other than the specific purposes
authorized by this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to update the definition
of the practice of optometry in order to make it consistent with
current optometric practices.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.