Minutes of the
The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometry met
in Conference Room A in the offices of Womble,
Carlyle, Sandridge and Rice in
The President called the meeting to order at
Approval of Minutes
On a motion by Ms. Mitchell, seconded by Dr. Baxter the
minutes of the
On a motion by Ms. Mitchell, seconded by Dr. Banks the
minutes of the
On a motion by Ms. Mitchell, seconded by Dr. Anderson the
minutes of the
The Report Of The
Secretary-Treasurer. The Budget
Report for the period covering
On a motion by Dr. Banks, seconded by Dr. Anderson, the
report of the Secretary/Treasurer was accepted.
The President assigned Dr. Anderson to work with Dr. Baxter
and Dr. Robinson to review the current investment policy, and for the three of
them to meet with Mr. Charles Bridges of Legg Mason to review and recommend
options for investments, keeping in mind the need of sufficient reserves for
operations and legal expenses, and to report their recommendations at the June
2004 meeting.
Report Of The Executive Director. The Executive Director presented a memorandum
dated March 23, 2004 to the Board from Mr. Ernie Patterson concerning the
status of the work being done by his company, CPY Technologies, to convert the
Board’s data management system that has been in use since the early 1980’s to a
windows operating system.
Drafts of memoranda relating to the Board policies in the
approval of continuing education courses and the promotion of one’s practice of
optometry by using terms indicating that the practitioner was “Board Certified”
were distributed.
Both matters have been subjects of earlier communications to licensees
from the Board. In June of 1996 and
again in November of 1996 the Board warned that the use of the term Board
Certified or similar terms implying “certification” would subject individuals
so using to discipline by the Board
On a motion by Dr. Baxter, seconded by Ms. Mitchell and
carried unanimously the report of the Executive Director was accepted.
The President assigned Dr. Rafferty to work with the
Executive Director to finalize statements to be submitted to the Board at its
meeting in June for consideration for adoption as “Policy Statements” on the
subjects of Board Certification and Continuing Education Course Approval.
Board Policy On The Release of
Spectacle And Contact Lens Prescriptions.
Dr. Banks presented the recommendations for change in the Board’s Policy
Statement on the release of spectacle and contact lens prescriptions based upon
the recently enacted legislation by the United States Congress. Following discussion, Dr. Banks moved and Dr.
Baxter seconded a motion that the revised Policy Statement be adopted. The motion carried unanimously.
Closed Session At 9:30 A.M. 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
GS 143-318.11(a)(3) in order to receive counsel and advice from its
attorney with regard to pending litigation.
In such closed session, the Board received a report from Mr. Loper on the status of litigation with the North Carolina
Medical Board, an update on the recent argument of the Medical Board’s motion
to dismiss that litigation, and potential strategies for such litigation. Mr. Loper responded
to various questions from the Board members regarding the litigation and
related issues. No vote was taken in the
closed session.
At
Review Of The Scoring Of The Winter 2004
Clinical/Practicum Examinations*
Following a review of the scoring of each applicant on the
Winter 2004 Examinations it was moved by Dr. Rafferty, seconded by Dr. Baxter and carried unanimously that the
following individuals were successful in passing the Examinations, that they be
so notified and that their names be entered into the Board Registry with their
license numbers as follows:
Sharon Kiefer Barentine,
O.D. #1927
Kathleen
Brown-Juliano, O.D. #1928
Bonnie Pan Chen, O.D. #1929
Lori Walker Couch, O.D. #1930
Gail Louise Cox, O.D. #1931
Lisa Barnhart Fox, O.D. #1932
Jamie Jones Hanna, O.D. #1933
James Edward Harris, O.D. #1934
Amanda Beth Hendrix, O.D. #1935
Jason Robert Price, O.D. #1936
Philip Michael Roels, O.D. #1937
Maria Beth Smith, O.D. #1938
Giovanni Venittelli, O.D. #1939
and that the following individuals
were not successful in passing and that they be so notified:
Angela Holland Bergin, O.D.
Patrick Kevin Fahey, O.D.
Denis Paul Finney, O.D.
Steven Leon Haleo, O.D.
Stacy Renell Humberson,
O.D.
Adrienne Pritchard Nowicki, O.D.
W. Bruce
Pope, O.D.
Hiten Prahlad Prajapati,
O.D.
Eva Shiau, O.D.
Revocation Of Licensees For
Non-renewal.
Amy Armstrong, O.D. As a licensee who is not practicing in the
state, Dr. Armstrong acknowledged the Board’s letter in which she was notified
that her license was to be revoked for non-payment of the 2003 renewal
fee. In a written response to the Board
she opined that she could have her license moved to an inactive status, and
that at such time as she might want to make it active she could pay renewal
fees plus penalties back to the date it became inactive. Since there is an apparent misconception on
Dr. Armstrong’s part, the Executive Director was instructed to correct her in
this regard, and to notify her that unless the appropriate renewal fees plus
penalties are received in the Board office within ten (10) days of the receipt
of the notice, her license would be considered revoked in accordance with the
provisions of Article 6 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes of North
Carolina.
The next regularly scheduled meeting will be in
There being no further business at
*In the absence of any member of the public being
present during the meeting it was not necessary for the Board to go into closed
session to review the examination scoring.
Approved