(1) Notwithstanding section 12-280-120, a licensed optometrist may purchase, possess, and administer prescription or nonprescription drugs for examination purposes only if, after July 1, 1983, the optometrist has complied with the following minimum requirements: Successful completion, by attendance and examination, of at least fifty-five classroom hours of study in general, ocular, and clinical pharmacology that must have been completed within twenty-four months preceding the application for certification; except that, in the event that the classroom hours have been completed since 1976, only six of the classroom hours must have been completed within twenty-four months preceding the application for certification. The courses shall be offered by an institution that is accredited by a regional or professional accreditation organization recognized or approved by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or the United States department of education or their successors.
Notwithstanding section 12-280-120, a licensed optometrist may purchase, possess,administer, and prescribe prescription or nonprescription drugs for treatment on and after July 1, 1988, only if the optometrist has complied with the following minimum requirements within twenty-four months preceding the application for certification: Successful completion, by attendance and examination, of at least sixty classroom hours of study in ocular pharmacology, clinical pharmacology, therapeutics, and anterior segment disease; and successful completion by attendance and examination of at least sixty hours of approved supervised clinical training in the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of conditions of the human eye and its appendages. The courses shall be offered by an institution that is accredited by a regional or professional accreditation organization recognized or approved by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or the United States department of education or their successors.
The optometrist shall successfully complete a course in cardiopulmonary resuscitation within twenty-four months before using prescription or nonprescription drugs and shall pass a written and clinical examination approved by the board.
In addition to the requirements of section 12-275-111, each therapeutic optometristshall meet all requirements prescribed by the board before commencing treatment of glaucoma or anterior uveitis.
(a) An optometrist is subject to the limitations on prescribing opioids specified in section 12-30-109.
(b) This subsection (5) is repealed, effective September 1, 2021.
Source: L. 2019: Entire title R&RE with relocations, (HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 1418, § 1, effective October 1.
Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 12-40-109.5 as it existed prior to 2019.
(2) Before its relocation in 2019, this section was amended in SB 19-079. Those amendments were superseded by the repeal and reenactment of this title 12, effective October 1, 2019. For those amendments to the former section in effect from August 2, 2019, to October 1, 2019, see SB 19-079, chapter 86, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.