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As reported in our September newsletter, NYSSO President Dale S. Clemens and Executive Director Laura Frezza met in July in downtown Albany with Ms.Thania Fernandez, Executive Secretary of Ophthalmic Dispensing at the New York State Education Department Office of the Professions, to discuss unlicensed practice, as well as consumer safety and awareness.
There were two calls to action that came out of the meeting, outlined below:
I. The Office of the Professions Is in Need of State Board Members.
Part of the synergy created with NYSED was that they are asking for our assistance for nominations for State Board members.
The Board of Regents, on the recommendation of the Commissioner of Education, appoints a State Board for each licensed profession to advise and assist the Board of Regents and the State Education Department on matters of professional regulation. The Board of Regents also appoints a Committee for Professional Assistance to advise them on matters relating to practice by professional licensees with alcohol or other drug abuse problems. The more than 30 State Boards for the Professions and the Committee for Professional Assistance are composed of professional members and one or more representatives from the general public. The composition of each board and the Committee is specified in Title VIII of Education Law.
Professional board members must be New York State-licensed professionals who are residents of the state. For many boards, professional member appointees must have at least five years of experience. Committee members are not required to be licensed professionals.
Every State Board must also have at least one public representative (and in some cases up to five public members), who is a consumer of the services of the profession(s) on which the board advises. The individual must be a New York state resident.
During the meeting this summer, Ms. Fernandez shared the need for board members. To learn more about responsibilities, criteria and terms, as well as to submit a nomination, please visit HERE.
II. Reporting of Unlicensed Practice
Pursuant to 6501 of the Education law, The Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) must investigate all complaints of professional misconduct to determine if there is a violation of law or regulation. The New York State Education Department is not a prosecutorial agency and must rely solely on specific written complaints. You may address any issues dealing with Permit, License or employment matters as it relates to our license or permit laws.
NYSSO urges licensed opticians to submit any reports of unlicensed practice to Headquarters at info@nysso.org. NYSSO will then compile the complaints and report them directly to the New York State Department of Education. The violation form can be found HERE.
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The meeting summary that was previously shared has included below, from Executive Director Laura Frezza to Ms. Fernandez, outlining these two points.
Dear Executive Secretary Fernandez,
Thank you for arranging time to speak with Dale Clemens and I on behalf of NYS Opticians.
We appreciate your explanation of the department’s oversight. Our subsequent discussion around unlicensed practice clearly sums up the state of opticianry in New York; moreover how frustrating for those that want to uphold the rules and NYS laws.
Your suggestion for NYSSO to pursue other avenues that might benefit and protect consumers are taken with the knowledge that this may prove to be a legislative issue and not under the purview of your department. Thank you for that clarification. Your comments around investigating complaints and how such complaints are handled within the department will be shared with our members and within our media channels.
Knowing and confirming that investigations are complaint driven needs to be circulated among our members. Without reporting there are no other options to stop the proliferation of unlicensed practice.
Beyond reporting we will need to pursue a campaign to mandate dispensaries register their staff and make owners accountable for all employees filling eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions for NYS consumers. This will ensure that licensed opticians are the only persons directly caring for these patients/consumers.
As mentioned, there is a movement for the state to monitor out of state licensed service personnel to establish the ability to practice within New York. Perhaps this may provide insight into new measures developed for this registration process. We are hopeful this might carry over into professions, like ours, that need better monitoring of apprentices and their sponsors, much like new registration of service personnel and their whereabouts.
NYSSO will be at the ready to learn how the state plans to handle these action items and whether there are future opportunities to dovetail this monitoring into retail dispensaries. All retail dispensaries should be held to the same standard the state is requiring already licensed professionals to uphold, and those moving into New York State.
We have reviewed the information sent about the dire need for state board members. We will be sharing your entire correspondence by way of a link from the NYSSO website homepage and within our next newsletter. We intend to also supply a link to the application form and details to go to the main SED website for general information.
In closing we understand that in order to review the current guidelines for continuing education courses we would need to meet with state board members. Please allow me the opportunity to plan ahead when you are arranging your next meeting. I will do my best to attend in person to assist the board members. All recommendations will come from firsthand knowledge of what is available from educators and manufacturers, domestic and abroad.
Expanding the guidelines to include new course material will bring continuing education to a higher, more current level that parallels what is necessary knowledge around new products and technology. We look forward to that invitation.
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