Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 57 of chapter 71 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

Any person who conducts an eye examination of a child in response to such child having failed an eye examination given in accordance with the provisions of this section shall forward a written report of the results of the examination to the school health personnel and a copy of said report to a parent or guardian of such child. Said report shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(a) date of the report;

(b) name and address of the child;

(c) name of the child's school;

(d) type of examination;

(e) a summary of significant findings, including diagnoses, medication used, duration of action of medication, treatment, prognosis, whether or not a return visit is recommended and, if so, when;

(f) recommended educational adjustments for the child, if any, which may include the following: preferential seating in the classroom, eyeglasses for full-time use in school, eyeglasses for part-time use in school, sight-saving eyeglasses or any other recommendations;

(g) name, address and signature of the examiner.

SECTION 2. Section 66A of chapter 112 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

Any registered optometrist, qualified by examination for practice under the provisions of section sixty-eight subsequent to January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-four or duly certified in accordance with the provisions of section sixty-eight A may for the purpose of conducting an examination of the eye, and not for therapeutic purposes, utilize the topical application to the eye of diagnostic pharmaceutical agents; provided, however, that mydriatic agents shall not be administered to a person with an iris-fixed pseudophakes.

SECTION 3. Section 67 of said chapter 112, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the third sentence the following sentence:- Said report shall include a listing of the reports, if any, of adverse reactions to the administration of diagnostic pharmaceutical agents in accordance with the provisions of section sixty-eight.

SECTION 4. The first paragraph of section 68 of said chapter 112, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence and inserting in place thereof the following two sentences:- Every applicant for examination shall present satisfactory evidence, in the form of affidavits properly sworn to, that he is eighteen years of age or older and of good moral character, that he has graduated from a high school having a course of study of four years and approved by the board or has had a preliminary education equivalent to at least four years in public high school, and that he has graduated from a school or college of optometry, approved by the board, maintaining a course of study of not less than two years with a minimum requirement of fifteen hundred attendance hours or in the case of a person applying for a first examination after January first, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, maintaining a course of study of not less than three separate academic years, each academic year consisting of thirty-six weeks of classroom work with thirty hours of instruction each week and this course of study shall include ninety-five hours of study in the following areas:

(A) general pharmacology: four hours in biochemistry; eight hours in general physiology, two of which shall be in pediatric physiology; eight hours in pharmacology, three of which shall be in pediatric pharmacology; and ten hours in indications and ocular effects of commonly prescribed drugs, two of which shall be in indications of effects in pediatric situations;

(B) ocular pharmacology: eight hours in ocular pharmacology and eight hours in the study of particular topically applied agents, including but not limited to, anesthetics, dyes, mydriatics, cycloplegics, and contact lens solutions;

(C) interpretation and patient management: six hours each in the study of anterior and posterior segment; two hours in pediatric eye diseases; two hours in glaucoma; and one hour in ocular emergency;

(D) cardiopulmonary resuscitation, including treatment of anaphylaxis: four hours; and

(E) Supervised clinical practice, including six hours in pediatric practice: thirty hours. If an applicant is unable to prove graduation from, or four years actual attendance at a high school, the board shall determine his preliminary education qualifications by a proper and separate examination.

SECTION 5. Said section 68 of said chapter 112, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding the following paragraph:-

Any person certified under this section who observes a patient's adverse reaction to a diagnostic pharmaceutical agent, shall report said observance and any comment thereon to the board of registration in optometry.

SECTION 6. Section 68A of said chapter 112, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the second paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

Such examination shall be open upon application to any optometrist registered under the provisions of this chapter and to any person who meets the qualifications for examination under section sixty-eight; provided, however, that each applicant shall furnish to the board satisfactory evidence of the completion of a qualifying course of study relating to the topical application to the eye of diagnostic pharmaceutical agents. Such a qualifying course of study shall be at a duly accredited medical school or college of optometry. The board shall, from time to time, adopt rules and regulations prescribing the content of said course of study; provided, however, that said course of study shall require a combined total of at least ninety-five hours of study and shall include the following areas of study:

(A) general pharmacology: four hours in biochemistry; eight hours in general physiology, two of which shall be in pediatric physiology; eight hours in pharmacology, three of which shall be in pediatric pharmacology; and ten hours in indications and ocular effects of commonly prescribed drugs, two of which shall be in indications of effects in pediatric situations;

(B) ocular pharmacology: eight hours in ocular pharmacology and eight hours in the study of particular topically applied agents, including but not limited to, anesthetics, dyes, mydriatics, cycloplegics, and contact lens solutions;

(C) interpretation and patient management: six hours each in the study of anterior and posterior segment, two hours in pediatric eye diseases; two hours in glaucoma; and one hour in ocular emergency;

(D) cardiopulmonary resuscitation, including treatment of anaphylaxis: four hours; and

(E) supervised clinical practice, including six hours in pediatric practice: thirty hours.

SECTION 7. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections sixty-six A and sixty-eight A of chapter one hundred and twelve of the General Laws, any registered optometrist who has: graduated from a school or college of optometry, approved by the board of registration in optometry, during the period from January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-one to December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighty-three; successfully completed a thirty hour lecture and clinical review regarding the use of diagnostic pharmaceutical agents; and successfully passed an examination administered by said board pursuant to the provisions of said section sixty-eight A; shall be issued a certificate of qualification in the utilization of diagnostic pharmaceutical agents; provided, however, that proof of compliance with the aforementioned requirements has been filed with said board on or before March first, nineteen hundred and eighty-eight.

SECTION 8. The board of registration in optometry shall promulgate rules and regulations to provide that any registered optometrist qualified by meeting the requirements for licensure by reciprocity under section sixty-eight of chapter one hundred and twelve of the General Laws and having originally qualified for licensure in another state shall be issued a certificate of qualification by the board upon providing the board with evidence of successful completion of the course work provided in section sixty-eight A, or its equivalent.