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1 | AN ACT concerning regulation.
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2 | WHEREAS, The legislative power in the State of Illinois is | |||||||||||||||||||
3 | vested in a General Assembly consisting of a Senate and a House | |||||||||||||||||||
4 | of Representatives, elected by the electors from 59 Legislative | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | Districts and 118 Representative Districts; and
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6 | WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly's principal | |||||||||||||||||||
7 | activities are to enact, amend, or repeal laws, pass | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | resolutions, adopt appropriation bills, and conduct inquiries | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | on proposed legislation; and
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10 | WHEREAS, It is the General Assembly's belief that | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | boundaries between licensed professions in Illinois should be | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | set by the legislature to ensure the best protection for | |||||||||||||||||||
13 | Illinois citizens and professions; therefore
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14 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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15 | represented in the General Assembly:
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16 | Section 5. The Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987 is | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | amended by changing Section 3 as follows:
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18 | (225 ILCS 80/3) (from Ch. 111, par. 3903)
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19 | (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)
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20 | Sec. 3. Practice of optometry defined; referrals; |
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1 | manufacture of lenses
and prisms. | ||||||
2 | (a) The practice of optometry is defined as the employment | ||||||
3 | of any
and all means for the examination, diagnosis, and | ||||||
4 | treatment of the human
visual system, the human eye, and its | ||||||
5 | appendages without the use of
surgery, including, but not | ||||||
6 | limited to: the appropriate
use of ocular
pharmaceutical | ||||||
7 | agents; refraction and other determinants of visual function;
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8 | prescribing corrective lenses or prisms; prescribing, | ||||||
9 | dispensing, or management
of contact lenses; vision therapy; | ||||||
10 | visual rehabilitation; or any other
procedures taught in | ||||||
11 | schools and colleges of optometry approved by the
Department, | ||||||
12 | and not specifically restricted in this Act, subject to
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13 | demonstrated competency and training as required by the Board, | ||||||
14 | and pursuant
to rule or regulation approved by the Board and | ||||||
15 | adopted by
the Department.
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16 | A person shall be deemed to be practicing optometry within | ||||||
17 | the meaning of
this Act who:
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18 | (1) In any way presents himself or herself to be | ||||||
19 | qualified to
practice optometry.
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20 | (2) Performs refractions or employs any other | ||||||
21 | determinants of
visual function.
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22 | (3) Employs any means for the adaptation of lenses or | ||||||
23 | prisms.
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24 | (4) Prescribes corrective lenses, prisms, vision | ||||||
25 | therapy,
visual rehabilitation, or ocular pharmaceutical | ||||||
26 | agents.
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1 | (5) Prescribes or manages contact lenses for | ||||||
2 | refractive,
cosmetic, or therapeutic purposes.
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3 | (6) Evaluates the need for, or prescribes, low vision | ||||||
4 | aids to
partially sighted persons.
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5 | (7) Diagnoses or treats any ocular abnormality, | ||||||
6 | disease, or
visual or muscular anomaly of the human eye or | ||||||
7 | visual system.
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8 | (8) Practices, or offers or attempts to practice, | ||||||
9 | optometry as defined in
this Act either on his or her own | ||||||
10 | behalf or as an employee
of a person, firm,
or corporation, | ||||||
11 | whether under the supervision of his or her employer or | ||||||
12 | not. | ||||||
13 | Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted (A) to prevent | ||||||
14 | a person from
functioning as an assistant under the direct | ||||||
15 | supervision of a person licensed
by the State of Illinois to | ||||||
16 | practice optometry or medicine in all of its
branches or (B) to | ||||||
17 | prohibit visual screening programs that
are conducted without a | ||||||
18 | fee (other than voluntary donations), by
charitable | ||||||
19 | organizations
acting in the public welfare under
the | ||||||
20 | supervision of a committee composed of persons licensed by the | ||||||
21 | State of
Illinois to practice optometry or persons licensed by | ||||||
22 | the State of Illinois
to practice medicine in all of its | ||||||
23 | branches.
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24 | (b) When, in the course of providing optometric services to | ||||||
25 | any person,
an optometrist licensed under this Act finds an | ||||||
26 | indication of a disease or
condition of the eye which in his or |
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1 | her professional judgment requires
professional service | ||||||
2 | outside the scope of practice as defined in this Act,
he or she | ||||||
3 | shall refer such person to a physician licensed to practice | ||||||
4 | medicine
in all of its branches, or other appropriate health | ||||||
5 | care practitioner.
Nothing in this Act shall preclude an | ||||||
6 | optometrist from rendering appropriate nonsurgical
emergency | ||||||
7 | care.
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8 | (c) Nothing contained in this Section shall prohibit a | ||||||
9 | person from
manufacturing ophthalmic lenses and prisms or the | ||||||
10 | fabrication
of contact lenses according to the specifications | ||||||
11 | prescribed by an optometrist
or a physician licensed to | ||||||
12 | practice medicine in all of its branches, but shall
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13 | specifically prohibit (1) the sale or delivery of ophthalmic
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14 | lenses, prisms, and contact lenses without a prescription | ||||||
15 | signed by an
optometrist or a physician licensed to practice | ||||||
16 | medicine in all of its
branches and (2) the dispensing of | ||||||
17 | contact lenses by anyone other than a licensed optometrist, | ||||||
18 | licensed pharmacist, or a physician licensed to practice | ||||||
19 | medicine in all of its branches. For the purposes of this Act, | ||||||
20 | "contact lenses" include, but are not limited to, contact | ||||||
21 | lenses with prescriptive power and decorative and plano power | ||||||
22 | contact lenses. Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the sale | ||||||
23 | of contact lenses by an optical firm or corporation primarily | ||||||
24 | engaged in manufacturing or dealing in eyeglasses or contact | ||||||
25 | lenses with an affiliated optometrist who practices and is | ||||||
26 | licensed or has an ancillary registration for the location |
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1 | where the sale occurs.
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2 | (d) Nothing in this Act shall restrict the filling of a | ||||||
3 | prescription by a
pharmacist licensed under the Pharmacy | ||||||
4 | Practice Act. | ||||||
5 | (e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict the | ||||||
6 | dispensing and sale by an optometrist of ocular devices, such | ||||||
7 | as contact lenses, that contain and deliver ocular | ||||||
8 | pharmaceutical agents permitted for use or prescription under | ||||||
9 | this Act.
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10 | (f) Nothing On and after January 1, 2018, nothing in this | ||||||
11 | Act shall prohibit an optometrist who is
certified by a school | ||||||
12 | of optometry approved by the Department from performing | ||||||
13 | advanced optometric procedures, pursuant to educational
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14 | requirements established by rule, provided that such rule | ||||||
15 | incorporates sufficient didactic and clinical training to | ||||||
16 | develop the technical skills needed to properly perform the | ||||||
17 | advanced optometric procedure, including any complications | ||||||
18 | that may arise, the knowledge to properly diagnose the | ||||||
19 | condition requiring use of an advanced optometric procedure, | ||||||
20 | and the judgment necessary to determine when an advanced | ||||||
21 | optometric procedure should and should not be used that are
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22 | consistent with the recommendations of the Collaborative | ||||||
23 | Optometric/Ophthalmological Task Force created in Section 15.3 | ||||||
24 | of this Act and that are taught
(1) at an accredited, private | ||||||
25 | 4-year school of optometry that is located in a city in | ||||||
26 | Illinois with a population in excess of
1,500,000, or (2) at a |
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1 | school of optometry with a curriculum that is substantially | ||||||
2 | similar to the
curriculum taught at the school of optometry | ||||||
3 | described in item (1) of this subsection.
Advanced optometric | ||||||
4 | procedures do not include the use of lasers . | ||||||
5 | (g) As used in this Act, "surgery" means any procedure | ||||||
6 | employed to treat diseases or conditions of the human eye and | ||||||
7 | adjoining tissues or structures, to correct refractive error, | ||||||
8 | or to alter or enhance structures of the eye or adnexa for | ||||||
9 | cosmetic purposes in which human tissue is cut, ablated, | ||||||
10 | vaporized, punctured, burned, frozen, or otherwise permanently | ||||||
11 | altered or penetrated by instruments, laser, ultrasound, | ||||||
12 | ultraviolet light, cryotherapy, electrocautery, chemicals, | ||||||
13 | ionizing radiation, or by other means, including placement and | ||||||
14 | removal of sutures, transplanting or applying human or other | ||||||
15 | tissue, and inserting an instrument into or placement of a | ||||||
16 | device into a natural opening of the body. | ||||||
17 | "Surgery" does not include the use of a scanning laser for | ||||||
18 | purely diagnostic purposes to create an image. | ||||||
19 | (h) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (g), | ||||||
20 | "advanced optometric procedures" includes: removal of a | ||||||
21 | superficial foreign body from the surface of the eye or adnexa; | ||||||
22 | removal using a topical anesthetic of non-perforating foreign | ||||||
23 | bodies from the cornea no deeper than the midstroma, the | ||||||
24 | conjunctiva, or eyelid; dilation and irrigation of the lacrimal | ||||||
25 | ducts; insertion and removal of lacrimal plugs; mechanical | ||||||
26 | epilation of eyelashes; removal of dead corneal epithelium by |
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1 | scraping; scraping of the cornea for culture; application of | ||||||
2 | self-retaining amniotic membrane on the cornea; removal of a | ||||||
3 | suture with approval of the surgeon who placed the suture; or | ||||||
4 | other non-surgical procedures approved by the Department by | ||||||
5 | rule. | ||||||
6 | "Advanced optometric procedures" does not include any | ||||||
7 | procedure: (1) requiring the use of general or injectable | ||||||
8 | anesthesia; (2) in which the globe or orbit of the eye is | ||||||
9 | penetrated by any means; (3) involving use of a laser, except | ||||||
10 | as provided for in subsection (g); (4) involving removal of | ||||||
11 | live epithelial tissue from the cornea; (5) involving the | ||||||
12 | removal of or disturbing any cancerous or neoplastic tissue; | ||||||
13 | (6) involving injections, except as provided for in Section | ||||||
14 | 15.1; and (7) requiring placement or removal of sutures, except | ||||||
15 | as provided for in this subsection. | ||||||
16 | An optometrist may not perform advanced optometric | ||||||
17 | procedures on a patient under 18 years of age. | ||||||
18 | (Source: P.A. 98-186, eff. 8-5-13; 99-909, eff. 1-1-17.)
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