§ 1536. Continuing Optometric Education; Purpose and Requirements.
16 CA ADC § 1536Barclays Official California Code of RegulationsEffective: August 23, 2023
Effective: August 23, 2023
16 CCR § 1536
§ 1536. Continuing Optometric Education; Purpose and Requirements.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in Section 1536(b), each licensee shall complete 40 hours of formal continuing optometric education course work within the two years immediately preceding the license expiration date. Such course work shall be subject to Board approval. Up to eight hours of course work may be in the area of patient care management or ethics in the practice of optometry. Business management courses are not accepted by the Board.
(b) An optometrist certified to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents pursuant to Business and Professions Code Section 3041.3 shall complete a total of 50 hours of continuing optometric education every two years in order to renew their license. Thirty-five of the required 50 hours of continuing optometric education shall be on the diagnosis, treatment and management of ocular disease and consistent with Business and Professions Code section 3059, subdivision (e).
(A) Documented and accredited self study through correspondence or an electronic medium that is completed by successfully passing a test of the subject matter. The test may include: (1) an interactive test where the licensee submits answers electronically to the educational provider and receives instant feedback on whether the answer chosen by the licensee is correct and why, and whether they have passed the test; or (2) through self-assessment testing (open-book tests that are completed by the licensee, submitted to the provider, graded, and returned to the licensee with correct answers).
For the purposes of this section, “self-study” means a form of learning that does not offer participatory interaction between the licensee and the instructor during the instructional period. This may be accomplished via the following methods:
(C) Writing articles that have been published in optometric journals, magazines or newspapers, pertaining to the practice of optometry (or in other scientific, learned, refereed journals on topics pertinent to optometry), providing no articles are duplicates. One hour of credit will be granted for each full page of printing or the equivalent thereof.
(f) Other continuing optometric education courses shall be approved by the Board upon meeting the criteria set forth in paragraph (g) below, and after submission of the fee in Section 1524(l), a completed Continuing Education Course Approval Application (Form CE-01, Rev. 8/22), hereby incorporated by reference, course schedule, topical outline of subject matter, and curriculum vitae of all instructors or lecturers involved. Form CE-01 shall be submitted to the Board not less than 45 days prior to the commencement of the program. The Board may, upon application of any licensee and for good cause shown, waive the requirement for submission of advance information and request for prior approval. Nothing herein shall permit the Board to approve a continuing optometric education course which has not complied with the criteria set forth in paragraph (g) below. Course approvals shall be valid for two years from the date as approved by the Board. Each individual course shall be assigned a course approval number by the Board.
(4) Whether the provider of any mandatory continuing optometric education course agrees to maintain and furnish to the Board and/or attending licensee such records of course content, dates and places of the course, course completion certificates as specified in subdivision (h), and attendance as the Board requires, for a period of at least four years from the date of course presentation.
(6) If the proposed course is live and interactive as defined in subsection (d), whether the proposed course has measures for participatory interaction, including participant attendance reports, in-content quizzes, participant polls, real time participant video requirements, and records of participant log in and log out times.
(h) Proof of continuing optometric education course attendance shall be provided in a form and manner specified in writing by the Board and distributed to all licensed optometrists in this State. Certification of continuing optometric education course attendance shall be submitted by the licensee to the Board upon request, and shall contain the following minimal information:
A certificate of course completion generated by the continuing optometric education provider is required to be issued to any licensee who completes any continuing optometric education course approved by the Board pursuant to the above.
The Board will also recognize and utilize the Association of Regulatory Boards in Optometry's online Optometric Education (OE) Tracker system as proof of continuing education course attendance.
(3) Those licensees as the Board, in its discretion, determines were unable to complete sufficient hours of continuing optometric education courses due to illness, incapacity, or other unavoidable circumstances. An extension may be granted if the Board, in its discretion, determines that good cause exists for the licensee's failure to complete the requisite hours of continuing optometric education.
(j) The Board, in its discretion, may exempt from the continuing optometric education requirements of this section licensees who for health reasons or other good cause cannot meet these requirements. Licensees requesting an exemption shall complete a Continuing Education Exemption Request (Form CE-E, Rev 2/2016) and submit it, along with all required supporting information, to the Board for its consideration at least thirty (30) days prior to the expiration of the license.
(k) The Board may conduct an audit of any licensee's attendance of a continuing optometric education course as a means of verifying compliance with this section. A licensee shall maintain all course completion certificates on file which are used for renewal purposes for a period of four (4) years from the license renewal date and shall provide these records to the Board upon request or in the event of an audit, if requested, within ten (10) days of the date of the Board's written request for such records.
(l) Licensees that are glaucoma certified pursuant to BPC section 1571 shall be required to complete 10 hours of glaucoma specific optometric continuing education every license renewal period. These 10 hours shall be part of the required 35 hours on the diagnosis, treatment and management of ocular disease.
Credits
Note: Authority cited: Section 3059, Business and Professions Code. Reference: Section 3059, Business and Professions Code.
History
1. New section filed 2-21-89; operative 3-23-89 (Register 89, No. 10).
2. Amendment of subsections (a) and (d), new subsection (d)(3), and amendment of subsections (e), (f), (f)(2), (f)(4), (g), (g)(8), (h)(2), (h)(3) and (i), and new subsection (j) and amendment of Note filed 5-8-96; operative 6-7-96 (Register 96, No. 19).
3. Amendment filed 12-22-2004; operative 1-21-2005 (Register 2004, No. 52).
4. Amendment of section and Note filed 5-18-2011; operative 6-17-2011 (Register 2011, No. 20).
5. Amendment of subsection (c)(4), new subsections (c)(6)-(7), amendment of subsections (f) and (g)(1), repealer of subsection (i)(2), subsection renumbering, new subsection (i)(3)-(j)(2) and (l) and subsection relettering filed 11-9-2016; operative 1-1-2017 (Register 2016, No. 46).
6. Amendment filed 8-23-2023; operative 8-23-2023 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2023, No. 34).
This database is current through 4/26/24 Register 2024, No. 17.
Cal. Admin. Code tit. 16, § 1536, 16 CA ADC § 1536
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