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Dear IOP members,
Our current education requirements run from January 1st to December 31st of each calendar year. Although renewal of licensure still takes place on the month of a licensee's birthday, the education requirements are from the calendar year prior to license renewal. The continuing educational requirement is a minimum of 18 hours of approved optometric continuing education courses or meetings. Carry-over of excess educational hours from the previous year is no longer allowed. Licensees are responsible for choosing quality continuing education programs that focus on protecting the health and safety of the public and/or contributing to their germane profession. No more than 9 hours of continuing education shall be asynchronous (non-live).
Respectfully,
Jared P. Walker, OD
Idaho Board of Optometry, Chair
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We have reached the traditional midpoint of the 2024 Legislative Session. The 2024 Legislative Session began quickly and has not slowed down. As expected, a number of big-picture issues dealing with the Budget Process and a bunch of culture war issues (abortion, public libraries, transgender rights, fentanyl, guns, etc.) have dominated the 2024 Legislative Session. According to Legislative Services staff, more bills have been introduced this year than in the previous five years.
We have also witnessed a first in the history of the Idaho Legislature – A Majority Leader was removed from their leadership position during the middle of an active Legislative Session. Megan Blanksma (R-Hammett), was voted out from her position as Majority Leader and replaced with Jason Monks (R-Meridian). The Majority Leader is the second most powerful leadership position in the House, next to the Speaker of the House. Representative Monks is a close ally of Speaker Mike Moyle (R-Star), and as a result, Speaker Moyle is even more powerful than ever.
The Idaho Optometric Physicians (IOP) are once again attempting to bring legislation that would give licensed Idaho Optometrists the ability to perform three laser procedures - Laser Capsulotomies, Laser Trabeculoplasties, and Laser Iridotomies. As you know, last year, we were unable to get the bill past the finish line after the bill had passed the Senate, and we ran into a roadblock with the Speaker. At the end of the last session, IOP leadership and our lobbying team met with the Speaker, who promised that we would have some kind of Laser privileges bill – He just didn’t know what it would like. He also said he would write the bill for us if IOP and the Idaho Society of Ophthalmology (IOS) could not agree.
In July, the Idaho Optometric Physicians (IOP) leadership and our lobbying team met with the ISO leadership and lobbying team and had a productive conversation. Not surprisingly (although a little earlier than expected), the ISO sent us a letter stating they would no longer negotiate and basically doubled down on their assertion that Optometry education was not sufficient to perform the three laser procedures. Since then we have been working with the Speaker to come up with a bill and it has gone extremely slow to point where we still do not have a bill that IOP leadership can support. We are close on many items but are still too far apart on other key issues.
With the legislative session half-way over, we reached a critical crossroad. IOP leadership and our lobbying team had multiple back and forth meetings with Speaker Moyle to see if we could finalize a deal. Unfortunately, the final offer from Speaker Moyle was just a “bridge-too-far” for our membership to accept and thus, our laser scope expansion legislation is dead for this year. Speaker Moyle did let us know that he wants to keep communications open, which we will do.
There is only one bill that has been introduced this session that impacts the profession of Optometry. Below is a quick summary. House Bill 505 was introduced on behalf of IDOPL and sponsored by Representative Jeff Ehlers
(R-Meridian) and would update all licensure renewals under the jurisdiction of IDOPL from one-year to two-years. The bill is currently pending on the House Third Reading Calendar (which means the bill is eligible to be voted upon by the full House). As always, it is my pleasure to be your eyes, ears, and advocate at the State Capitol. I will continue to keep you updated throughout the session. If you have any questions or need additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
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Respectfully Submitted,
Lance Giles
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Legislative Committee
Hello IOP Members,
It was another year of working diligently as a legislative committee to try and come up with a legislative bill regarding expanding our scope of practice to include laser privileges. It was my first year as Legislative Committee Chair, and it was an eye-opening experience to see the entire process from a different perspective. As most of you know, we have been working closely with Speaker of the House Moyle and our lobbyists to come up with bill language that would help Idaho optometrists now and in the future. Communication with the Idaho Society of Ophthalmology stalled several months ago, with them continuing to provide false information to legislators and the general public, stating that optometrists do not have the proper education and training to perform laser procedures. The IOP put its efforts into communicating directly with Speaker Moyle, which unfortunately fell short. The last bill draft that was prepared by Speaker Moyle’s office would not only be the most restrictive laser legislation in the entire country, but it would give ophthalmology the ability to make decisions regarding optometry in Idaho. The legislative committee, along with the national help of multiple AOA gurus, felt as if it would be a disservice to current and future optometrists in Idaho and even nationwide if we went forward with the legislation. We are going to use the current language as a foundation to work directly with Speaker Moyle between legislative sessions to come up with an agreement. The legislative committee thanks everyone who was involved in this brief legislative session and looks forward to upcoming updates to make 2025 the year!
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns.
Kind Regards,
Doug Adams, OD
Legislative Committee Chair
dradams@familyeyes.com
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Insurance Advisory Committee | | |
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The IOP worked very hard to expand the scope of practice in Idaho. This year is very unique because unlike most years, we have been negotiating with the Speaker of the House, Mike Moyle. Speaker Moyle promised the IOP there would be legislation in 2024 after he tabled our bill in 2023. His vision was to have optometry and organized ophthalmology to come together and work out a compromised bill. After our first meeting with organized ophthalmology it looked promising. Unfortunately, ophthalmology pulled out of negotiations, stating that optometry was not willing to compromise. This was simply not true, but instead a delay tactic on their part.
When Speaker Moyle came to the realization that the two sides were not going be able to come to an agreement, he drafted a bill. However, the terms of the bill were not acceptable to the legislative committee. There were multiple problems with the latest bill, including only having ophthalmologists proctor an
optometrist to become credentialed, adding an ophthalmologist to the optometry board for any laser
related issues, and removing one of our procedures (LPI). The legislative committee met with the AOA
who recommended not going forward with legislation if it included having an ophthalmologist on the
optometry board. At this time, we are not going forward with legislation. It is difficult to predict the
future of our legislation as Speaker Moyle holds our fate. We are very fortunate that we still have a great optometric law in Idaho.
Respectfully Submitted,
Brian Miller, IOP President Elect
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Hi Hi Idaho Paras!
We are putting all the finishing touches on the education for Congress and you’ll see registration links coming out soon. You can always check the IOP page for registration information if you missed it in an email here. If you missed it in the last letter, our headlining speaker is Joy Gibb, ABOC. Joy Gibb is an American Board of Opticianry Certified Optician who began her optical career in 1986. She managed an independent retail opticianry in Bountiful, Utah for over ten years before opening her own business, Eyes of Joy Mobile Optical Service in 2008. We look forward to her classes in October.
If you are interested in testing for CPO/CPOA or ABO - check out the links to see testing dates. Reminder: if your CE is due in 2024, you’ll need to make sure you have earned all your credits and submitted them by November! Don’t wait until the last minute to get all your credits needed! CPO/CPOA - you need 18 credits, of which nine need to be CPC certified. If you have some ABO credits, those count toward the other 9 needed credits!
ABO - you need 12 ABO/NCLE credits, of which 6 of them must be ophthalmic classes. No cross over from CPC credits, sorry.
The AOA offers free education on their Eyelearn website and when your doctor belongs to the AOA, para membership is free! If you just want to expand more of your knowledge in general, you can find all kinds of education from Spexy (from an Idaho native and previous Congress speaker Kayla), VSP has an optician course, and Vision Source has all kinds of training (if you are at a Vision Source affiliated office).
As always, if you have any questions about certification, you can always contact me at iop.para.cc@gmail.com.
Getting my credits ready for submission myself,
Tami Arnett, CPOA, ABOC
IOP Paraoptometric Section
Committee Chair
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All IOP members are invited to join our online Facebook community, IOP OD’s. This group is designed to provide our members with another way to connect with one another. Following the QR code below will allow you to request admission to the page. | | |
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Final notes...
We hope to see everyone at our annual Congress in October. You will be notified in April when registration opens. Seating in Coeur d'Alene is limited for ODs and paras. Please register early.
This has been a banner year for industry support. The exhibit hall was at capacity by mid-January! We were able to negotiate more space to include 15 additional booths. A breakfast symposium may be added to Saturday's schedule to entertain other sponsors. Thank you to Misty for all her hard work!
As always, please get in touch with me with questions, comments, or concerns.
Happy Spring!
Lisa White
IOP Executive Director
execdir@iopinc.org
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2024 IOP Industry Partners | | | | |
