Minutes of the

North Carolina State Board of Optometry

February 13- 15, 2004

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 13 through Sunday, February 15, 2004 to conduct the Board’s winter 2004 examinations and for other purposes.  Present were Drs. Scott Edwards, President, David Baxter, Secretary-Treasurer, David Anderson, Joel Banks, William Rafferty and Ms. Trudy Mitchell, Members of the Board.  Also present were Dr. John Robinson, the Board’s Executive Director, Ms. Janice Peterson, the Administrative Secretary and Ms. Sara Roberts, the Administrative Assistant.  Present on Friday evening was Dr. William Hendrix who was replaced on the Board at the end of his second term by Dr. Anderson. Present at separate times on Saturday evening by way of conference telephone were Mr. Johnny Loper, the Board’s Attorney and Mr. Ernie Patterson, the Board’s computer and software consultant.   Present as Clinical Examiners were Drs Tom Bull, Kenneth Bumgarner, Ania Hamp, Robert Harding, David King, Don MacQueen, Magda Metwalli, Sandra Moore, Robert Rosenstein,  and Robert Sullivan.

 

Beginning at 4 P.M. on Friday afternoon Members of the Board, Clinical Examiners and Staff met at the McKimmon Center to set up the examination stations and to briefly review the examination format and scoring. 

 

The examinations began promptly as scheduled on Saturday morning, February 14th at 8:00 A.M.

 

The following individuals, their applications having been approved, appeared for examination:

           

Sharon Kiefer Barentine, O.D.

            Angela Holland Bergin, O.D.

            Kathleen Brown-Juliano, O.D.

            Bonnie Pan Chen, O.D.

Lori Walker Couch, O.D.

            Gail Louise Cox, O.D.

            Denis Paul Finney, O.D.

            Lisa Barnhart Fox, O.D.

            Patrick Kevin Fahey, O.D.

            Steven Leon Haleo, O.D.

            Jamie Jones Hanna, O.D.

            James Edward Harris, O.D.

            Amanda Beth Hendrix, O.D.

            Stacy Renell Humberson, O.D.

            Adrienne Pritchard Nowicki, O.D.

            W. Pruce Pope, O.D.

            Hiten Prahlad Prajapati, O.D.

            Jason Robert Price, O.D.

            Philip Michael Roels, O.D.

            Eva Shiau, O.D.

            Maria Beth Smith, O.D.

            Giovanni Venittelli, O.D.

 

The President called the first meeting of the Board to order at 5:30 P.M. on Saturday.  Joining the Board at that time by way of conference telephone was the Board’s attorney, Mr. Loper.  On a motion by Dr. Baxter, seconded by Dr. Anderson and carried unanimously the Board went into closed session in accordance with the provisions of NCGS 143-318.1 (a)(3) to hear from Mr. Loper concerning the current status of the litigation recently filed by the Board .  The Board’s attorney gave a report on the injections lawsuit against the Medical Board, and answered questions from the Board concerning status, procedure, and strategy regarding that litigation.  None of the matters discussed required a vote of the Board, and when such discussions ended, the Board returned to open session on a motion by Ms. Mitchell and seconded by Dr. Banks that carried unanimously.

 

Mr. Patterson then joined the Board by way of telephone conferencing and reviewed the status of the conversion of the current operating system to a windows operating system.  He reported to the Board that between he and Mr. Considine things were moving along on schedule and that the new system would be able to go on line on March 1, 2004 as promised late last October.

 

 

The Secretary-Treasurer presented the Budget Report for the period July 1, 2003 through February 1, 2004.  Following a brief period of discussion and the answering of questions by Dr. Baxter and members of the Staff, Dr. Baxter moved that the report of the Secretary-Treasurer be accepted.  The motion was seconded by Dr. Anderson and carried unanimously.

 

Dr. Baxter asked that the Members review the letter in their meeting notebook from Mr. Charles Bridges, the Board’s investment counselor concerning the possibility of investing some of the Board’s investment income in Mutual Funds in an effort to maximize returns on investments.   It was the consensus that further study regarding changes in the current investment policy was in order.  Dr. Baxter then moved and Dr. Anderson seconded a motion to accept the report of the Secretary-Treasurer.  The motion carried unanimously.

 

The President requested that Dr. Baxter continue to study the issue of the Board’s investments and asked that Dr. Anderson work along with him and the Executive Director in formulating recommendations for changes, if any, in the current investment policy.

 

In his report, the Executive Director reported briefly on recent inquiries concerning modalities of practice by Dr. Ed Paul as well as investigations of such practices previously.  Dr. Paul when contacted by the Executive Director informed him both in conversation and later in writing that he was no longer involved in the investigation or the use of micro-stimulation therapy for macula degeneration as had been previously advertised on his web site.  Further, that he had negotiated an agreement with the Pharmaceutical Company, Novartis, to assume the role of investigator for this type of therapy and that he would no longer be associated with it in any way.  For the purposes of the Board’s investigation this would seem to end its responsibility to pursue this matter further at this time.

 

Several investigations are still active, one of which have been ongoing for a considerable period of time awaiting more credible evidence before citing the individual optometrist for a hearing.  Mr. Loper is currently awaiting the signature of one particular individual making a complaint against the licensee.

 

Ms. Mitchell recently attended the FARB meeting and brought back some interesting material that will be copied and distributed to those who are interested.  It appears now that Dr. Rafferty will be the only Board Member who will be attending the Regional Meeting of ARBO and the South Eastern Educational Congress in Atlanta later this month. That meeting begins on Thursday following the adjournment of this meeting on Sunday afternoon.

 

The recent passage of the Burr Bill in Congress requires that the Board update its Contact Lens Prescription Release Policy to comport with requirements of Federal Law.  Mr. Loper has already been asked to review the current Policy and to make changes for consideration by the Board at soon as possible.  A draft should be ready for the Board’s review by the time of our next meeting..

 

The Internal Revenue Service has increased the mileage reimbursement allowed under Federal Law.  It now stands at 37 ½ cents a mile. While Board Policy states that mileage reimbursement be that allowed by the Internal Revenue Service, a motion to that effect should be on record.

 

Finally, the Board’s attention was called to a letter from their CPA, Mr. Waters, concerning the new state requirement that beginning in fiscal year 2004-2005 State Agency’s financial statements must be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) as applicable to governments.  In his letter Mr. Waters outlines ways in which the Board can meet the new requirement.

 

On a motion by Ms. Mitchell and seconded by Dr. Rafferty, the report of the Executive Director was accepted unanimously.

 

On a motion by Dr. Anderson seconded by Dr. Rafferty and carried unanimously the reimbursement for travel by private automobile was established as .37 ½ cents a mile in accordance with the current rate approved by the United States Internal Revenue Service.

 

It was the consensus that Staff continue to use Quicken as the Board’s accounting and check writing system, and to engage Water and Piver, CPA’s, PA to process the transactions utilizing software which meets the GAAP as applicable to governments.

 

On a motion by Dr. Baxter, seconded by Dr. Rafferty, and carried unanimously the Board authorized payment of the hotel, travel and meal expenses for the Clinical Examiners and that they be given an honorarium in the amount of  $ 200.00 a day for the 3 days.

 

The President assigned Dr. Anderson to work with Dr. Banks, the Executive Director and Mr. Loper to review the current Board Policy regarding contact lens prescriptions in light of the recently enacted Federal Laws and to report its recommendations at the next meeting.

 

The President asked that Dr. Rafferty work with the Executive Director to review the Board’s  current policy in the granting of credit for continuing education courses and to report at the next meeting.

                                   

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board to review the results of the Winter 2004 Examinations and for other purposes will be held during the 3rd or 4th week in March, the exact time and place to be announced no later than March 1, 2004

 

                                                           

 

 

                                                                                                                                                Approved 03/24/04