President's Message- October 2011

President’s Message
Glaucoma Certification is here!
Katherine Witmeyer, O.D., F.A.A.O

COA’s annual Presidents Council & Leadership Conference (PCLC) was held the weekend after our incredible county-wide (and beyond) power outage. Dr. Jason Tu (President-Elect) and I attended this two-day event with other California society leaders and the COA Board of Officers. For those of you who may not be familiar with PCLC, it is a forum for local society leaders to discuss and debate issues facing COA and optometry at the local, state and even national levels. In addition, it also provides an environment where attendees can sharpen their leadership skills.

It was a great experience in my second year of attendance. In many ways, PCLC sets the stage for COA’s annual meeting, the House of Delegates, typically held in February. Local society leaders brought concerns and issues from their membership – some of which were common amongst many societies. These included: how to attract and retain members, where optometry and vision plans will figure into any health care reform, non-discrimatory inclusion in medical insurance plans, and of course, the status of national board certification.

COA also brought forth their goals for California optometry. One of the more significant short- term goals of COA is to get all California optometrists glaucoma certified over the next two years. California Senate Bill (SB) 1406, which included glaucoma certification is now able to be fully implemented and is finally a reality to those of us who have been waiting to practice as we were taught. I want to use this President’s Message to outline the necessary requirements in order to obtain glaucoma certification, as I feel that it is important for each and every practicing OD in California to obtain glaucoma certification both for the ability of “full scope practice”, but also from a legislative standpoint. Remember…..we are a legislative profession!

For those of you familiar with bill SB 929, glaucoma certification required completion of a 24 hr didactic course (unless graduated after May 1, 2000) and 50 patients co-managed for two years with an ophthalmologist. Glaucoma certification under SB 929 proved extremely difficult to achieve for a variety of reasons, with many ODs unable to find preceptors willing to co-manage glaucoma patients. Now we have SB 1406. It specifies that glaucoma-certified California ODs can treat the following glaucoma patients over 18 years of age:

1. All primary open-angle glaucoma
2. Exfoliation and pigmentary glaucoma
3. In an emergency, an optometrist shall stabilize; if possible, and immediately refer any
patient who has an acute attack of angle closure to an ophthalmologist.
Now, here’s the information that you need to know in order to get certified…..

If you graduated after May 1, 2008, you are already certified to treat glaucoma. Be sure that you have fulfilled your paperwork with the Board of Optometry – you should be “TLG” designated.

If you graduated after May 1, 2000, you do not need to take the 24-hr didactic course, but you must fulfill the case management requirement. If you graduated prior to May 1, 2000, you must fulfill both the 24-hr didactic course, as well as the case management requirement.

As of 1/8/2011, a “25 patient requirement” is needed in order to fulfill the case management requirement. There are three possible options in order to attain this (any combination allowed):
1. 25 glaucoma patients (not glaucoma suspects) co-managed for 1 year with OMD or OD who has been glaucoma certified for a minimum of 2 years. **Note: any patients that you have co-managed for 1 year under SB 929 should be documented and can be submitted for credit. See www.optometry.ca.gov/
formspub/glaucoma for the documentation necessary.

2. 16-hour case management lecture course. This is worth 15 co-managed patient credits. It can also be used for CE credit!

3. 16-hour clinical grand rounds program (live patients). This is worth 15 co-managed
patient credits.

Currently both the 16-hr case management lecture courses and the 16-hr clinical grand rounds are being offered by the three California optometry schools multiple times per year. Please visit each of the respective schools’ websites for more information regarding dates and applicable course fees for registration. Once the 25 patient requirement has been fulfilled, paperwork available on the Board of Optometry’s website will need to be signed and submitted in order for official certification to occur.

The Board of Optometry has also specified that all TPG and TLG licensed California ODs will be required to fulfill 10 hours of glaucoma-specific CE (of the 35 hours required in ocular disease) for each renewal period. Any additional questions, information can be found on the CA State Board of Optometry website: www.optometry.ca.gov or call the Board of Optometry at (916)
575-7170

Now is your time to practice as you were taught and to bring your optometric license up to the highest practicing level possible in California. It is extremely important to show California’s legislators that California optometrists believe in what they lobby and fight for and that we WANT to practice full scope optometry. Remember, we are a legislative profession. California optometry and COA has fought long and hard to make glaucoma certification possible for us. New ocular medications, procedures, and treatments are being developed at such a rapid pace. We need to make sure that California optometry is able to evolve with any and all things to come so that our patients can get the treatment that they need from doctors who are fully capable and trained to provide it. GET GLAUCOMA CERTIFIED and continue to support organized optometry!