Bill Text: IL HB4876 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Occupational Therapy Practice Act. Provides that visual therapy shall not be considered beyond an occupational therapist's scope of practice. Amends the Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987. Provides that nothing in the Act shall be construed to prohibit an occupational therapist who is licensed under the Illinois Occupational Therapy Practice Act from practicing visual therapy. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-15 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB4876 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HB4876-Introduced.html

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96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2009 and 2010 HB4876 Introduced 1/15/2010, by Rep. JoAnn D. Osmond SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
225 ILCS 75/3.1
225 ILCS 75/3.2
225 ILCS 80/3 from Ch. 111, par. 3903
Amends the Illinois Occupational Therapy Practice Act. Provides that visual therapy shall not be considered beyond an occupational therapist's scope of practice. Amends the Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987. Provides that nothing in the Act shall be construed to prohibit an occupational therapist who is licensed under the Illinois Occupational Therapy Practice Act from practicing visual therapy. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning professional regulation.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Occupational Therapy Practice Act
is amended by changing Sections 3.1 and 3.2 as follows:
(225 ILCS 75/3.1)
(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2014)
Sec. 3.1. Referrals. A licensed occupational therapist or
licensed occupational therapy assistant may consult with,
educate, evaluate, and monitor services for clients concerning
non-medical occupational therapy needs. Implementation of
direct occupational therapy to individuals for their specific
health care conditions shall be based upon a referral from a
licensed physician, dentist, podiatrist, advanced practice
nurse who has a written collaborative agreement with a
collaborating physician to provide or accept referrals from
licensed occupational therapists, physician assistant who has
been delegated authority to provide or accept referrals from or
to licensed occupational therapists, or optometrist.
An occupational therapist shall refer to a licensed
physician, dentist, optometrist, advanced practice nurse,
physician assistant, or podiatrist any patient whose medical
condition should, at the time of evaluation or treatment, be

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determined to be beyond the scope of practice of the
occupational therapist. Visual therapy shall not be considered
beyond an occupational therapist's scope of practice.
(Source: P.A. 92-297, eff. 1-1-02; 93-461, eff. 8-8-03; 93-962,
eff. 8-20-04.)
(225 ILCS 75/3.2)
(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2014)
Sec. 3.2. Practice of optometry.
(a) No rule shall be adopted under this Act that allows an
occupational therapist to perform an act, task, or function
primarily performed in the lawful practice of optometry under
the Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987, except for visual
therapy.
(b) An occupational therapist may not perform an act, task,
or function primarily performed in the lawful practice of
optometry under the Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987,
except for visual therapy.
(Source: P.A. 92-297, eff. 1-1-02; 92-366, eff. 1-1-02; 92-651,
eff. 7-11-02.)
Section 10. The Illinois Optometric Practice Act of 1987 is
amended by changing Section 3 as follows:
(225 ILCS 80/3) (from Ch. 111, par. 3903)
(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2017)

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Sec. 3. Practice of optometry defined; referrals;
manufacture of lenses and prisms.
(a) The practice of optometry is defined as the employment
of any and all means for the examination, diagnosis, and
treatment of the human visual system, the human eye, and its
appendages without the use of surgery, including but not
limited to: the appropriate use of ocular pharmaceutical
agents; refraction and other determinants of visual function;
prescribing corrective lenses or prisms; prescribing,
dispensing, or management of contact lenses; vision therapy;
visual rehabilitation; or any other procedures taught in
schools and colleges of optometry approved by the Department,
and not specifically restricted in this Act, subject to
demonstrated competency and training as required by the Board,
and pursuant to rule or regulation approved by the Board and
adopted by the Department.
A person shall be deemed to be practicing optometry within
the meaning of this Act who:
(1) In any way presents himself or herself to be
qualified to practice optometry.
(2) Performs refractions or employs any other
determinants of visual function.
(3) Employs any means for the adaptation of lenses or
prisms.
(4) Prescribes corrective lenses, prisms, vision
therapy, visual rehabilitation, or ocular pharmaceutical

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agents.
(5) Prescribes or manages contact lenses for
refractive, cosmetic, or therapeutic purposes.
(6) Evaluates the need for, or prescribes, low vision
aids to partially sighted persons.
(7) Diagnoses or treats any ocular abnormality,
disease, or visual or muscular anomaly of the human eye or
visual system.
(8) Practices, or offers or attempts to practice,
optometry as defined in this Act either on his or her own
behalf or as an employee of a person, firm, or corporation,
whether under the supervision of his or her employer or
not.
Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted (i) to prevent
a person from functioning as an assistant under the direct
supervision of a person licensed by the State of Illinois to
practice optometry or medicine in all of its branches or (ii)
to prohibit visual screening programs that are conducted
without a fee (other than voluntary donations), by charitable
organizations acting in the public welfare under the
supervision of a committee composed of persons licensed by the
State of Illinois to practice optometry or persons licensed by
the State of Illinois to practice medicine in all of its
branches.
(b) When, in the course of providing optometric services to
any person, an optometrist licensed under this Act finds an

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indication of a disease or condition of the eye which in his or
her professional judgment requires professional service
outside the scope of practice as defined in this Act, he or she
shall refer such person to a physician licensed to practice
medicine in all of its branches, or other appropriate health
care practitioner. Nothing in this Act shall preclude an
optometrist from rendering appropriate nonsurgical emergency
care.
(c) Nothing contained in this Section shall prohibit a
person from manufacturing ophthalmic lenses and prisms or the
fabrication of contact lenses according to the specifications
prescribed by an optometrist or a physician licensed to
practice medicine in all of its branches, but shall
specifically prohibit the sale or delivery of ophthalmic
lenses, prisms, and contact lenses without a prescription
signed by an optometrist or a physician licensed to practice
medicine in all of its branches.
(d) Nothing in this Act shall restrict the filling of a
prescription by a pharmacist licensed under the Pharmacy
Practice Act.
(e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict the
dispensing and sale by an optometrist of ocular devices, such
as contact lenses, that contain and deliver ocular
pharmaceutical agents permitted for use or prescription under
this Act.
(f) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit an

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occupational therapist who is licensed under the Illinois
Occupational Therapy Practice Act from practicing visual
therapy.
(Source: P.A. 95-689, eff. 10-29-07; 96-461, eff. 1-1-10.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.