Minutes of the

North Carolina State Board of Optometry

February 18- 20, 2011

Jane McKimmon Center

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, North Carolina

The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometry met at the Jane McKimmon Center on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday, February 18 through Sunday, February 20, 2011 to conduct the Board’s Winter 2011 examinations and for other purposes. Present were Dr. Michael Clark, President, Dr William Rafferty, Secretary-Treasurer, and Drs. David Anderson, Andy Cook, Harold Herring and Mr. Roger Mitchell and Ms. Mary Richardson, Members of the Board. Staff Members present were Dr. John Robinson, Executive Director, Ms. Janice Peterson, Administrative Secretary, and Ms. Sara Roberts, Administrative Assistant. Present on Friday was Mr. Johnny Loper, the Board’s Attorney. Present as Clinical Examiners were Drs. Jill Bryant, Kenneth Bumgarner, Jamie Casper, Ania Hamp, David King, Magda Metwalli, John Miller, Sandra Moore, Brett Munn, and Robert Rosenstein.

Calling the meeting to order 4:15 P. M. the President then read from the ‘conflict of interest statement’, as required by the State Board of Ethics following which he directed the Members attention to the copy of the Ethic Board’s statement in their meeting notebook.

Meeting with Board Attorney. Mr. Loper joined the meeting as the President was calling it to order. Out of respect for his time the Dr. Clark welcomed Mr. Loper and turned the meeting over to him for his remarks before proceeding with other items of business on the Agenda. Mr. Loper responded to various questions and issues raised by the Board as to the status of various matters, no of these being matters involving current or contemplated litigation or otherwise calling for a closed session. When there were no further questions from Members of the Board the President thanked Mr. Loper for arranging his schedule to meet with the Board late on a Friday afternoon.

Approval of Minutes. On a motion by Mr. Mitchell seconded by Dr. Anderson and carried unanimously the minutes of the November 11 – 14, 2010 in Asheville were approved.

Report of the President. Dr. Clark stated had no report to give at this time.

Report of the Secretary/Treasurer. Dr. Rafferty reviewed the Budget Report dated 07/01/10 thru 02/17/11. He noted that the Board’s income is somewhat less than the amount budgeted; and while legal expenses are substantially higher than the budgeted amount, the ‘overall or total’ expenses to this point in time are comfortably within the amount budgeted. With less than four and a half months left in the fiscal year the vast majority of the 2011 license renewal fees have been paid. Those that have not been paid will be subject to “late penalty fees”. The Summer 2011 Examinations fees will be paid by applicants prior to the end of this fiscal year. Finally, achieving the ‘budgeted income’ is somewhat dependent on the Board’s interest and investment income. Those figures will not be available until the annual audit is completed in August 2011. Assuming the economy continues to improve it is anticipated that the Board’s net income for the year could reach the amount budgeted, while its total expenses should not exceed – or might even be less than - the amounts budgeted. After answering questions from Members of the Board by Dr. Rafferty and the Executive Director, on a motion by Dr. Anderson seconded by Ms. Richardson and carried unanimously the report of the Secretary/Treasurer was accepted.

Report of the Executive Director. The Executive Director in giving his report reviewed and where appropriate elaborated on the information contained in the meeting notebook calling the Board’s specific attention to:

• The memorandum on “False and Misleading Advertisements/Practice Promotions” prepared at the direction of the Board at its last meeting. In addition to being mailed to every licensee this memorandum will be posted on the Board’s web site with ‘links’ to previous memoranda stating Board Policy positions on this subject. This memorandum has been reviewed by the Board’s attorney and was circulated to the Members of the Board prior to this meeting. It is now on the agenda at this meeting for approval by the Board.
• A series of e-mails concerning proposals ‘floated’ at a recent meeting of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) to replace the “Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) Degree” with a “Doctor of Optometric Medicine (O.M.D.) Degree” are in the meeting notebook. This is essentially the same proposal received by the Board from one of the Colleges in 1996 at which time the Board unanimously rejected the idea for reasons set forth in a letter dated November 30, 1982 from the Board to Von F. Porter, O.D. The subject was raised again in the late summer of 1996 at a meeting of the AOA’s “Presidents’ Council” (a meeting of the Presidents of the AOA’s affiliated state organizations). Upon notification of the discussions and recommendations by the “Presidents Council” the Board once again rejected such a proposal as set forth in a letter from the Board to the Chairman of the Council on Optometric Education dated September 9, 1996. Since there has been no formal announcement by any School or College of Optometry approved by the Board or by their National Organization, ASCO, of plans to change the Doctor of Optometry Degree to a Doctor of Optometric Medicine Degree no ‘official’ response on behalf of this Board at this time is necessary.
• In the meeting notebook there are copies of programs put together by a ‘for profit’ company, “KMK Board Certification Review Services, formed by a small group of optometrists who advertise that their program prepares registrants to take the American Board of Optometry’s (ABO) ‘board certification examinations’. KMK’s programs are being sponsored by the South Carolina Optometric Physicians Association in March and by the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in May. It is assumed that this program to prepare registrants to take the ABO examination will be offered at various sites over the country.
• The amendments to the Board’s Rules appear to have cleared the final hurdle at the Office of Administrative Rules Commission. Ms. Amanda Ray with the Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge and Rice Law Firm has been working with our office in efforts to satisfy the staff at Commission by the re-writing of several of the changes we were seeking in the original filing with which they had problems. We believe that this work has now been completed without substantive changes in the intent of the proposed amendments and that the Rules as now amended will be approved and in effect within the next thirty to sixty days. No changes were requested by the Commission’s staff in the new rule that addresses the statutory requirement that the Board establish an “Escrow Account” in the event there is a suspension of its authority to expend funds. In conformity with the requirement that the Board establish an “Escrow Account” a money market account has been opened at First Bank in Wallace for this purpose. Should the Board ever have its authority to expend funds suspended, license renewal fees would be deposited into this account until the authority to expend funds is restored. In the meantime funds in this account will serve as “reserve funds”.
• Due to changes made during the 2010 Legislative session, all Board Members must complete a 2011 Statement of Economic Interest (SEI) form. The fact that one may have filed a SEI statement when they were appointed to the Board does not exempt them from the requirement of filing a 2011 SEI form. Instructions for filing are in the meeting notebook and you all are encouraged to file as soon as possible to avoid the Ethics Commission contacting the Board office questioning why a particular Board Member has not filed as required by law.
• Both Mr. Loper and Ms. Ray have attended meetings at the North Carolina Institute of Medicine where they are working on Fraud and Abuse Legislation as a part of the national Health Care Reform legislation. Copies of pertinent portions of the initial draft of the legislation are in the meeting notebook. The work at the Institute of Medicine is a work in progress and it is not known at this point if any of the legislation they are working on will be introduced this session.
• A copy of the President’s message in the most recent edition of FORUM, the newsletter of the North Carolina Medical Board, is in the meeting notebook. It contains information that should be of interest to our Board, their working with the Federation of State Medical on Maintenance of License (MOL) in setting standards to ensure the continuing competence of physicians. A similar effort is being made by the Association of Regulatory Boards in Optometry (ARBO). Dr. William Rafferty has been a very active participant in this effort.
• A long and detailed letter from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the North Carolina Board of Opticians concerning amendments that Board has proposed to their rules is in the meeting notebook. There is also a copy of the amendments to the rules that are the subject of the letter. You are urged to take the time to read the proposed amendments and the FTC’s letter of concern with them.
• In your notebook there is a copy of the proposed amendment to the North Carolina Optometry law that would establish “investigatory privilege”. It is intended that this amendment be introduced in the current session of the North Carolina General Assembly at the earliest date feasible.
• ARBO has requested “Annual Reports” including their Member Board’s position on board certification. I will be preparing that report within the next few weeks.

Dr. Clark, that concludes my report. On a motion by Dr. Rafferty seconded by Mr. Mitchell the report of the Executive Director was accepted.

On a motion by Dr. Anderson seconded by Ms. Richardson and carried unanimously the Board approved as policy the Memorandum prepared by the Executive Director on “Solicitation of patients through misleading or fraudulent advertisements, acts or practices constituting same or through use of the commercial media including, but not limited to, print or electronic media and regardless of whether such advertisements, acts or practices are “deliberate” or the result of “negligence” on the part of the practitioner or by an entity or individual acting on their behalf”.

Revocation of Licenses. On a motion by Dr. Anderson seconded by Dr. Herring and carried unanimously the following licenses were revoked for non-payment of the 2010 license renewal fees

Michelle K. Caputo, O.D.

Roxana J. Hastings, O.D.

Victor Hoffman, O.D.

George D. Martin, O.D.

Keith Stillions, O.D.

Jeffrey L. Summers, O.D.

Mary Grace Summers, O.D.

Lori J. Wassmann, O.D.

Thomas K. Wilcox, O.D.

Albert D. Woods, O.D.

William M. Younger, O.D.

Clinical Examiners Honorariums & Travel. On a motion by Mr. Mitchell seconded by Dr. Anderson and carried unanimously the Clinical Examiners are to receive honorariums in the amount of $ 600.00 plus reimbursement for meals and travel expenses.

Clinical Practicum Examinations. The first examination session began promptly as scheduled on Saturday morning, February 19, 2011 at 7:45 A.M. and final session was concluded on Sunday morning February 20, 2011 at 11:30 A.M. Nineteen candidates, their applications having been previously approved, appeared for examination over the two day period.

At the conclusion of the last examination session, there being no further business on a motion by Dr. Cook , seconded by Dr. Herring and carried unanimously the meeting was adjourned at 11:20 o’clock P.M. on Sunday, February 20, 2011.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board to review the results of the Winter 2011 Examinations and for other purposes will be held at the offices of the Board in Wallace, North Carolina beginning at 5:30 P.M. on Friday, March 25, 2011 ending no later than 2:00 PM on Saturday, March 26, 2011.

The Examination Review Committee is scheduled to meet in the Board office on Wednesday, April 20, 2010 to review the results of the Winter 2011 examination with any candidate making a request in writing to the Board to review their results.

Approved March 25, 2011

Wallace, North Carolina