State Board of Optometry Examiners public meetings in 2020
5 substantive meetings from 2020, with official agendas or minutes and plain-English summaries.
State Board of Optometry Examiners
The Louisiana State Board of Optometry Examiners will meet to review voting procedures and tabulate ballots for an open board position. The meeting includes a motion to accept the results and report them to the Governor’s Office.
- Review of voting procedures for an open LSBOE position
- Tabulation of ballots and revelation of votes by Board Attorney Graves Theus
- Motion to accept results and report to the Governor’s Office
The Board accepted the results of the 2020 nominating vote and will forward the top three candidates to the Governor's Office. An investigation was initiated regarding a complaint against Cate Street Optical. Proposed telehealth rules and license renewal streamlining were discussed for future consideration.
- Accepted vote results for Mark Roy, III, Gerry Gerdes, and David Fisher to be forwarded to the Governor's Office
- Initiated investigative process for complaint by Danna Bittola against Cate Street Optical
State Board of Optometry Examiners
The Board will conduct licensing examinations and address old and new business. The meeting is scheduled for July 17-18, 2020.
- Conduct licensing examination
State Board of Optometry Examiners
The State Board of Optometry Examiners will meet in Shreveport to conduct licensing examinations and address old and new business. The agenda contains only high-level procedural items.
- Conduct licensing examination
The Board of Optometry Examiners updated continuing education deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The board also elected new officers and determined all recent examination candidates were successful.
- Approved previous meeting minutes unanimously
- Extended 2020 and 2021 C.E. requirements deadline to March 1, 2022 (unanimous)
- Required licensees to upload annual C.E. hours to the O.E. Tracker registry (unanimous)
- Ordered suspension of licenses for those not meeting renewal requirements (unanimous)
- Found no violation of law in complaint against Dr. Bakowski (unanimous)
- Elected Dr. Wroten as President
- Elected Dr. Sandefur as Secretary
- Approved all examination candidates as successful
State Board of Optometry Examiners
The Louisiana State Board of Optometry Examiners will meet to adopt minutes, review bank card fees, select a new CPA firm, discuss telehealth, consider matters related to Stanton Optical and in-office testing, and hold formal hearings for Dr. Kim Ta and Dr. Scott Abbott.
- Bank card fees discussion
- New CPA firm selection
- Telehealth discussion
- Formal hearing for Dr. Kim Ta
- Formal hearing for Dr. Scott Abbott
The Board penalized Dr. Abbott with a suspension and fine following a formal hearing. The Board also approved a fine for failure to produce records and decided to notify licensees of a fraudulent misrepresentation incident.
- Approved minutes from 1.10.20 meeting
- Decided to sign paperwork to stop bank fees to Pay Save Merchant Services and request returns
- Decided to reword request to Payne, Moore & Herrington for a more defined CPA contract
- Decided to send notification to all licensed ODs regarding a fraudulent misrepresentation incident
- Decided to turn the fraudulent misrepresentation matter over to the Louisiana Attorney General's office
- Suspended Dr. Abbott for 50 days retroactive to January 11, 2020, with a $5,000 fine and continued monitoring (unanimous)
- Approved $1,000 fine for failure to produce records (unanimous)
State Board of Optometry Examiners
The Louisiana State Board of Optometry Examiners is meeting to discuss the 2020 budget, updates to the LSBOE website, a contract with Dr. Ta/Krewe Optical, licensure by endorsement policy, a request from Tennessee optometrists, updates on Stanton Optical and Lyn Savoie, telemedicine rule changes, restrictions on speaker CE credit, board exam timing, and a hearing for Barthelemey's Optical.
- Budget--2020
- Dr. Ta/Krewe Optical contract update
- Licensure by endorsement policy
- Telemedicine rule update
- Hearing—Barthelemey's Optical
The Board approved increases to license renewal and delinquency fees and accepted the revised 2020 budget. Members also agreed to grant continuing education credits to doctors delivering approved courses. A formal hearing regarding Barthelemy's Optical was held, but no action was taken.
- Approved increasing license renewal fees to $300.00 per year
- Approved increasing license delinquency fee from $300/year to $500/year
- Approved revised 2020 budget
- Approved granting continuing education credit hours to doctors delivering approved courses
- Approved forwarding Stanton Optical investigation findings to the Louisiana Attorney General
- Approved amended minutes from previous meeting