Minutes of
North Carolina State
Board of Optometry
July 31 – August 3,
2003
Jane McKimmon Center
Raleigh, North
Carolina
The North Carolina State Board
of Optometry met in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Thursday, July 31 through Sunday, August
3, 2003 to conduct the Summer 2003 Clinical/Practicum Examinations
at the Jane McKimmon Center
on the Campus of North Carolina State University and for other purposes. Present were Drs. Scott
Edwards, President, Joel
Banks, William Hendrix, William Rafferty and Ms. Trudy
Mitchell, Members of the Board. Absent due to illness were Dr. David
Baxter, Secretary-Treasurer and Mr. Jim Richardson. Present as Staff were John D. Robinson,
OD, Executive Director, Janice
Peterson, RN,
Administrative Secretary and Ms. Sara Roberts, Administrative
Assistant. Mr. Johnny Loper, the Board’s
Attorney was present on Friday afternoon to meet with the Board
following the end of
Friday’s examination sessions to discuss with the Board
in closed session potential litigation.
Present at the
Examinations as Clinical Examiners were Drs., Kenny Bumgarner, Tom Bull, Michael Clark, David
King, Don MacQueen, Magda Metwalli, Sandra Moore, Robert Rosenstein,
Yvonne Shook and Kerry Sullivan. Present
on Saturday as an observer was Dr. Ania Hamp. Also present
was Dr. David Anderson, nominee for
appointment by the Governor to the North Carolina State Board
of Optometry.
On Thursday evening Dr. Rafferty spent an hour with the Board
and Clinical Examiners in the review of the scoring methodology for the
procedures station and the revised examination format.
On
Friday evening at 6 P.M.
following the first day of examinations the President called the meeting of the
Board to order.
On a motion by Dr. Hendrix, seconded by Dr. Rafferty and
carried unanimously the Board went in Closed
Session in accordance with the provisions of
the Administrative Procedures Act, specifically G.S. 143-318.11(a)(3), to discuss matters of
litigation with its Attorney.
Closed Session. In closed session, Mr. Loper
discussed with the Board various possibilities
for resolving the longstanding issue with the Medical Board
concerning whether optometrists may use certain injections to diagnose and
treat conditions of the eye and its adnexa; discussed
with the Board the merits of joining in an
amicus brief to be filed in support of the Dental Board’s
position in the Watkins case; and
discussed with the Board the potential
disciplinary and legal implications of the lawsuit filed against an
optometrist.
After Mr. Loper provided his
analysis of these matters and responded to questions from the Board
Members on matters of legal positions and legal advice, the Board
voted to return to open session.
Upon returning to Open Session at 6:50 P.M., on a motion made by
Dr. Hendrix and seconded by Dr. Banks, the Board
voted unanimously to authorize its legal counsel to draft certain documents for
consideration by the Board as a method of
resolving prior discussions with representatives of the North Carolina Medical Board
over the issue of whether optometrists may perform certain types of injections.
On a motion by Ms. Mitchell and seconded by Dr. Hendrix the Board
voted unanimously to authorize its legal counsel to file an amicus brief as
requested by the North Carolina Dental Board
in a matter of Watkins v. North Carolina State Board
of Dental Examiners that is currently on appeal to the North Carolina State
Supreme Court.
Review of Complaints. The Executive Director briefly outlined a
self-filed complaint by a licensee who has had a mal practice lawsuit filed
against him. He recommended that the Board
begin an investigation that could lead to a probable cause hearing in the
matter. On a motion by Dr. Hendrix,
seconded by Dr. Banks and carried unanimously the Executive Director was
instructed to begin an investigation and that he, the Board’s
attorney and Dr. William Rafferty serve as the Board’s
Probable Cause Committee in the matter.
.
On a motion by Dr. Banks seconded by Dr. Hendrix and carried
unanimously the minutes of the June 5 –
8, 2003 as corrected were approved.
On a motion by Ms.
Mitchell seconded by Dr. Hendrix and carried unanimously the minutes of the
Annual Meeting held on June 12, 2003, by
conference telephone as corrected were approved.
Clinical Examiners Honorarium. On a motion by Ms. Mitchell seconded by Dr.
Hendrix 4 days honorarium, travel and meal expenses for the Clinical Examiners were unanimously
approved.
The President had no formal report. .
In the absence of the Secretary/Treasurer the President and
the Executive Director presented the Budget Reports for the periods 07/01/02 through 06/30/03 and 07/01/03 through 08/1/03. The exact amount that the income exceeds the
expenses during the fiscal year just ended must await the receipt of the annual
audit; however, it appears that it will exceed the amount of the deficit
incurred during fiscal year 2001 - 2002.
Following the answering of questions and a brief discussion, there was a
motion by Dr. Banks seconded by Ms. Mitchell that the financial report be
accepted. The motion carried
unanimously.
The President asked that the Executive Director have a complete analysis as
is possible of the Board’s investment accounts
at the next meeting of the Board. It was pointed out that the Annual Audit now
in progress should be completed by that time and that the Board’s
current financial position including investments will be stated therein.
The report of the Executive Director. The Board
was updated on the progress of several investigations that are currently
underway. In the Board
office the part time employee
has completed scanning all of the licensing files and is now
starting to scan the complaint and disciplinary files. The Board
has had a
request from the President of the North Carolina State Optometric Society to issue a Declaratory Ruling as to the
appropriateness of optometrists utilizing certain CPT Codes that do not appear
in the AGREEMENT as currently written
between the Medical and Optometry Boards (and
other parties) for the purpose of billing optometric services in the areas of
vision training, developmental vision and rehabilitative optometry. However, in communication with the
representatives of the State Optometric Society there has not been sufficient
information submitted for the Board’s Staff
and Attorney to proceed to fashion a Ruling.
On a motion by Dr. Rafferty seconded by Ms. Mitchell the report of the
Executive Director was unanimously accepted.
The President asked Dr. Banks to work with the Executive Director
and representatives of the State Society to a draft a proposed ruling
determining those CPT Codes that can be properly used by optometrists to bill
for optometric services relating to vision training, developmental vision and
optometric services provided in the rehabilitation of brain injured patients to
be presented to the Board as soon as possible
for its review and subsequent approval.
The following individuals, their applications having been
approved, appeared for examination:
Perry
Joseph Castellano, O.D.
Gurpreet Kaur Chadha, O.D.
Tiffany Layne Chase, O.D.
Lori Couch, O.D.
Gail Cox, O.D.
Devon Charles Dvorzsak, O.D.
Terry W. Ellington, O.D.
Patrick Fahey, O.D.
Lisa B. Fox, O.D.
Kent A. Haefs, O.D.
Steven Haleo, O.D.
Jamie Hanna, O.D.
James Harris, O.D.
Jason Lawrence Hendrix, O.D.
Samuel Ryan Hobbs, O.D.
Kevin Paul Hoye, O.D.
Jonathan F. Jackson, O.D.
Stephanie Carol Johnson, O.D.
William Kastern, O.D.
Jung Eun Kim, O.D.
Frances Clare Kramer, O.D.
David Jerome Kulesia, O.D.
Megan Harrold Latham, O.D.
Tiffany Le, O.D.
Erica Snyder Morris, O.D.
Robert Willilam Morris, O.D.
Jennifer L. Harrelson Murphy, O.D.
Nima A. Naik, O.D.
Zachary Stephen Nobles, O.D.
Adrienne Nowicki, O.D.
Nilpa Patel,
O.D.
Hiten Prajapati, O.D.
Dustin Lee Reece, O.D.
Rosanna Richards-Delatour, O.D.
James H. Singletary, O.D.
Balpreet Sohi, O.D.
Stephanie Leigh Tompkins, O.D.
Lisa Carol Whitman, O.D.
Crystal
Whittington, O.C.
Katherine S. Whittington, O.D.
Susan Yee, O.D.
The following individual failed to appear for examination:
Karen Weber-Mullican, O.D.
Examination Review. In the event that there are candidates who
wish to review their examination scores following the receipt of the results of
the Summer 2003 Examinations, the President appointed
Dr. Banks to represent the Board along with
the Executive Director in conducting the review(s).
At the end of the last session of the Summer
2003 Examinations on Sunday afternoon, August
3, 2003, the meeting was adjourned at 5:40 P.M.
The next meeting of the Board
will be in Wallace, North Carolina
on September 19 - 21, 2003
APPROVED
09/20/2003