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Oregon Board of Optometry

P. O. Box 13967
Salem OR 97309
Phone: (503)399-0662
Fax: (503)399-0705

Continuing Optometric Education

Requirements.Every active status licensed doctor of optometry shall complete not less that eigthteen (18) hours of clinical optometric courses each license year as a condition of license renewal. Credit towards the required hours shall be allowed in a succeeding license year for excess hours taken in the preceding license year. Continuing education hours will cover 12-month periods and be reported with license renewal applications.

No less than nine (9) hours of the required hours per license year shall be in the area of diagnosis, treatment, and management of ocular disease.

Beginning with the 2005 license renewal year, no less than one (1) hour of the required hours every other license year shall be in the area of ethics or Oregon law and administrative rules.

Credit will only be given for five (5) hours of live observation in a surgical facility per license year.

Credit will only be given for up to one half of the required hours of cousework in internet, journal, or video courses.

The required hours of courses and lectures per license year shall be of different course content. When the Board determines that a licensee has submitted a course or lecture essentially identical to another presentation submitted in the same license renewal period, credit will be given for only one.

Those doctors of optometry who meet the criteria and have been granted inactive status by the Board shall not be required to complete the continuing optometric education requirement in OAR 852-70-010. If an inactive licensee petitions to change to active status, he or she must comply with OAR 852-70-010 for the continuing education license year previous to the year in which active status is granted by the Board.

Application for Credit. Each continuing education offering must be approved by the Board in order for a Doctor of Optometry to obtain credit. Upon application the Board may:

Grant credit, to the extent determined by it, for any course,or individual or group study deemed suitable to carry out the purposes of ORS 683.210. To be granted credit, any course offering must be open to all Doctors of Optometry licensed in Oregon;
Grant credit, to the extent determined by it, for publication of articles and papers of scientific and educational interest published in recognized scientific publications; and
Grant credit, to the extent determined by it, for courses that relate to the maintenance or advancement of professional skills and abilities, including communication skill. Courses that relate primarily to financial aspects of a practice shall not be granted credit.

Credit for Conducting Course or Presenting Material. Any Doctor of Optometry who presents material or conducts a course eligible for credit shall be entitled to credit hereunder for two hours for each hour spent in presenting this course, in addition to the hour actually spent in such presentation. No credit shall be given for repeat presentations unless application for credit has been filed in advance with the Board and appropriate evidence submitted that additional study or research was necessary for such additional presentation. The Board may then grant to the extent deemed suitable by it, credit for the additional presentation.

Calculation of Credit. A Doctor of Optometry shall be required to meet the continuing optometric education requirement beginning with the second license year renewal period following the year of original licensure by the board.

Responsibility to Notify Board. It shall be the responsibility of each active licensee to notify the Board of Optometry in writing of completion of the required hours of approved continuing education credits as part of their license renewal. Notification for at least the total number of required hours shall be submitted at one time. If sufficient proof of continuing education is not received by the Board by the license year renewal period, the license will be not be renewed until the continuing education deficiency is made up in a manner acceptable to and approved by the Board. It is the licensee's responsibility to assure that all continuing optometric education credits the licensee plans to submit have been approved by the Board prior to the license year renewal period deadline. Continuing optometric education credits which are not approved by the Board before the deadline will be considered late and may not be approved. Licensees relying on unapproved continuing optometric education program credits must submit sufficient program information to the Board for credit approval a minimum of one month previous to the license renewal period in order to ensure consideration. Licensees must submit original certificates of attendance or other proof of attendance acceptable to the Board.

Any licensee who has completed the required continuing optometric education course work by the license year renewal period but fails to meet the submission deadline shall be subject to a late fee of $50 for the first failure; $100 for the second failure; $200 for each subsequent failure.

Continuing Optometric Education Provided by the Board. The Board shall notify each active licensee of any continuing optometric education it provides at least 30 days before the activity commences.

Continuing Optometric Education Provided by Others. All continuing optometric education provided by other organizations shall be submitted to the Board for approval. Approval or denial of the continuing optometric education shall be based on course of lecture content and the credentials of the presenter(s). (2)The Board may accept continuing optometric education courses that have been approved by other organizations. This acceptance shall be in accordance with the standards set by the Board.

COPE Approved Continuing Optometric Education Courses. The Oregon Board of Optometry accepts courses related to the maintenance or advancement of professional skills and clinical abilities approved by COPE (Council on Optometric Practitioner Education). If such a course has been COPE approved, the Board shall accept the course as meeting its continuing education requirements for license renewal excepting Category D as indicated below.

COPE course category A - clinical Optometry which includes Contact Lenses (CL), Functional Vision/Pediatric (FV), General Optometry (GO), and Low Vision (LV).

COPE course category B - Ocular Disease and C - Related Systemic Disease are approved as meeting the Board's nine (9) hours per license year requirement of continuing optometric education in the area of diagnosis, treatment and management of ocular disease. Category B - Ocular Diseaase includes Glaucoma (GL), Peri-Operative Management (RS), Treatment and Management of Ocular Disease; Anterior Segment (TA), and Treatment and Management of Ocular Disease; Posterior Segment (TP).

Category C. - Related Systemic Disease includes Neuro-Optometry (NO), Pharmacology (PH), Principles of Diagnosis (PD), and Systemic/Ocular Disease (SD).

COPE course category D, which includes Practice Management (PM) and Jurisprudence (JP) are not approved by the Oregon Board of Optometry, unless it is an ethics course. Ethics courses are approved by the Board.

It is the responsibility of the licensee to make sure that any continuing optometric education coursework submitted for credit has been approved by the Board or COPE. The Oregon Board of Optometry will review the COPE criteria for course category definitions to determine if the process and categories are within the standards it has set. Those COPE category definitions not acceptable to the Board will be identified to COPE and listed in the Board's adminisratative rules.

This page was last revised: June 11, 2007

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