Title OC, Occupations Code

Sec. 351.254. EXAMINATION APPLICATION. (a) An applicant is eligible to take the licensing examination if the applicant provides to the executive director, on a form provided by the board, information the board considers necessary to enforce this chapter, including satisfactory ev…

Sec. 351.255. CONDUCT OF EXAMINATION. (a) The board shall give an applicant notice of the date and place of the examination. The examination shall be given at least twice a year at the board's regular meetings. (b) The board shall conduct the examination: (1) in writing and by ot…

Sec. 351.256. EXAMINATION SUBJECTS. (a) The examination must consist of written or practical tests in subjects regularly taught in recognized accredited colleges of optometry, including: (1) practical, theoretical, and physiological optics; (2) theoretical and practical optometry…

Sec. 351.257. EXAMINATION RESULTS. (a) The board shall notify each examinee of the examination results not later than the 30th day after the date the examination is administered. If an examination is graded or reviewed by a national testing service, the board shall notify each ex…

Sec. 351.258. ISSUANCE OF LICENSE TO THERAPEUTIC OPTOMETRIST; FEE. (a) The board shall: (1) register as qualified under this chapter an applicant who passes the examination and meets all board requirements; and (2) issue to the applicant a license to practice therapeutic optometr…

Sec. 351.259. PROVISIONAL LICENSE. (a) The board shall issue a provisional license to practice optometry or therapeutic optometry to an applicant who: (1) is licensed in good standing as an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist in another state that has licensing requirements th…

Sec. 351.2595. LICENSE WITHOUT EXAMINATION. The board may issue a license to practice therapeutic optometry without requiring the applicant to pass all or part of the examination required by Section 351.253 if: (1) the applicant is licensed in good standing as a therapeutic optom…

Sec. 351.260. LIMITED LICENSE FOR CLINICAL FACULTY. (a) The board by rule may issue a limited license to a full-time clinical faculty member of an institution of higher education of this state who provides instruction in optometry or therapeutic optometry. (b) A license issued un…

Sec. 351.261. DISPLAY OF LICENSE OR CERTIFICATE. A person practicing optometry or therapeutic optometry in this state shall: (1) display the person's license or certificate in a conspicuous place in the principal office in which the person practices optometry or therapeutic optom…

Sec. 351.262. INFORMATION PRESENTED TO PATIENT. (a) An optometrist or therapeutic optometrist shall, within a reasonable time after completing an examination of a patient, present to the patient a prescription, bill, or receipt containing the license number and name of the optome…

Sec. 351.263. LOST OR DESTROYED LICENSE. The board shall issue a license under this chapter to a license holder whose license has been lost or destroyed on: (1) submission of an affidavit stating: (A) that the license has been lost or destroyed; (B) that the person making the aff…

Sec. 351.264. INACTIVE STATUS. The board by rule may provide for a license holder's license to be placed on inactive status. Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.

Sec. 351.265. RETIRED STATUS. (a) The board by rule may allow a license holder to place the person's license on retired status. A license holder must apply to the board for retired status, on a form prescribed by the board, before the expiration date of the person's license. (b) …

Sec. 351.266. MILITARY LIMITED VOLUNTEER LICENSE. (a) The board shall adopt rules relating to the issuance of a military limited volunteer license under this section. (b) The board may issue a military limited volunteer license to practice optometry or therapeutic optometry to an…

Sec. 351.301. RENEWAL CERTIFICATE. (a) A person required by this subchapter to hold a renewal certificate may not practice optometry or therapeutic optometry without the certificate. (b) A violation of this section has the same effect as, and is subject to the penalties for, prac…

Sec. 351.302. LICENSE RENEWAL. (a) A license under this chapter is valid for a term of one or two years as determined by board rule. (a-1) The board by rule may adopt a system under which licenses expire on various dates during the year. The board shall adjust the final dates for…

Sec. 351.303. NOTICE OF LICENSE EXPIRATION. Not later than the 30th day before the date a person's license is to expire, the board shall send written notice of the impending license expiration to the person at the person's last known address according to board records. Acts 1999,…

Sec. 351.304. PROCEDURE FOR RENEWAL. (a) Not later than the date provided under Section 351.302, an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist shall pay to the board a renewal fee for the renewal of a license to practice optometry or therapeutic optometry. A person may renew an unexp…

Sec. 351.3045. CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMATION REQUIREMENT FOR LICENSE RENEWAL. (a) An applicant renewing a license issued under this chapter shall submit a complete and legible set of fingerprints for purposes of performing a criminal history record information check of the …

Sec. 351.305. ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATE. On receipt of the required fees, the board shall issue a renewal certificate containing information from board records that the board considers necessary for the proper enforcement of this chapter, including the license number and the period…

Sec. 351.306. RENEWAL OF EXPIRED LICENSE BY OUT-OF-STATE PRACTITIONER. (a) The board may renew without examination the expired license of a person who was licensed in this state, moved to another state, and is currently licensed and has been in practice in the other state for the…

Sec. 351.3065. RENEWAL OF EXPIRED LICENSE BY RETIRED OPTOMETRIST OR THERAPEUTIC OPTOMETRIST. The board may renew the license of a person whose license has been expired for one year or more without requiring the person to comply with the requirements and procedures for an original…

Sec. 351.307. GOVERNMENTAL SERVICE, TRAINING, OR EDUCATION. An optometrist or therapeutic optometrist may obtain reinstatement of an expired license without paying a lapsed renewal fee or other fee and without passing an examination if: (1) the license holder's license expired wh…

Sec. 351.308. CONTINUING EDUCATION. (a) An optometrist or therapeutic optometrist must take annual courses in subjects relating to the use and application of scientific, technical, and clinical advances in subjects relating to the practice of optometry or therapeutic optometry re…

Sec. 351.309. CONTINUING EDUCATION EXEMPTIONS. A person is exempt from the continuing education requirements of Section 351.308 if the person: (1) holds a license but does not practice optometry or therapeutic optometry in this state; (2) served in the regular armed forces of the…

Sec. 351.351. LICENSE HOLDER INFORMATION. (a) A license holder shall file with the board: (1) the license holder's mailing address; (2) the address of the license holder's residence; (3) the mailing address of each office of the license holder; and (4) the address for the locatio…

Sec. 351.352. OPTOMETRIC FILES AND RECORDS. (a) All prescription files, patient records, and business records of an optometric practice are the sole property of the optometrist or therapeutic optometrist. (b) A patient may obtain a copy of the patient's optometric records, or may…

Sec. 351.353. INITIAL EXAMINATION OF PATIENT. To ensure adequate examination of a patient for whom an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist signs or causes to be signed an ophthalmic lens prescription, in the initial examination of the patient the optometrist or therapeutic opto…

Sec. 351.354. CERTAIN OPTOMETRIC SERVICES AUTHORIZED. An optometrist or therapeutic optometrist may: (1) perform: (A) vision therapy; (B) hand-eye coordination exercises; (C) visual training; and (D) developmental vision therapy; and (2) evaluate and remedy a learning or behavior…

Sec. 351.355. DETERMINING OR MEASURING VISION. In determining or measuring the powers of vision of the human eye, an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist may: (1) examine the eye to diagnose the presence of a defect or abnormal condition, the presence or effect of which may be …

Sec. 351.356. FITTING LENSES OR PRISMS. In fitting lenses or prisms, an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist may: (1) directly or indirectly prescribe or supply lenses or prisms; (2) make measurements involving the eyes or the optical requirements of the eyes; or (3) adapt or s…

Sec. 351.357. FITTING AND DISPENSING CONTACT LENSES. (a) Contact lenses may be fitted only by an optometrist, therapeutic optometrist, or licensed physician. (b) An ophthalmic dispenser may dispense contact lenses on a fully written contact lens prescription issued by an optometr…

Sec. 351.358. OPHTHALMIC DEVICES, ORAL MEDICATIONS, AND PHARMACEUTICAL AGENTS. (a) An optometrist may not treat the eye for a defect or administer or prescribe a drug or physical treatment unless the optometrist is a therapeutic optometrist or licensed physician. (b) A therapeuti…

Sec. 351.3581. TREATMENT OF GLAUCOMA. (a) A therapeutic optometrist may not administer or prescribe an oral or parenteral medication or treat glaucoma unless the therapeutic optometrist holds a certificate issued by the board. A therapeutic optometrist certified under this sectio…

Sec. 351.359. PRESCRIPTION. (a) An ophthalmic lens prescription must include: (1) the signature of the optometrist or therapeutic optometrist; and (2) the information and parameters the optometrist or therapeutic optometrist considers relevant or necessary. (b) The prescription m…

Sec. 351.360. PROFESSIONAL STANDARD OF THERAPEUTIC OPTOMETRIST. A therapeutic optometrist, including an optometric glaucoma specialist, is subject to the same standard of professional care and judgment as a person practicing as an ophthalmologist under Subtitle B. Acts 1999, 76th…

Sec. 351.361. LEASE; PAYMENT BASIS; ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE. (a) An optometrist or therapeutic optometrist may: (1) lease space from an establishment; (2) pay for franchise fees or other services on a percentage or gross receipts basis; or (3) sell, transfer, or assign accounts recei…

Sec. 351.362. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY; NAME OF PRACTICE. (a) An optometrist or therapeutic optometrist may practice under a trade name, an assumed name, or the name of a professional corporation or association. (b) An optometrist or therapeutic optometrist practicing in this …

Sec. 351.363. MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENT. (a) To safeguard the visual welfare of the public and the doctor-patient relationship, assign professional responsibility, establish standards of professional surroundings, more nearly secure to the patient the optometrist's or therapeutic …

Sec. 351.364. RELATIONSHIPS WITH DISPENSING OPTICIANS. (a) If an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist occupies space for the practice of optometry or therapeutic optometry on premises on which a person engages in the business of a dispensing optician, solid partitions or walls …

Sec. 351.365. PATIENT RIGHTS REGARDING SPECTACLE PRESCRIPTION. (a) If, after examining a patient, an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist believes that lenses are required to correct or remedy a defect or abnormal condition of vision, the optometrist or therapeutic optometrist …

Sec. 351.366. AUTHORITY TO FORM CERTAIN JOINTLY OWNED ENTITIES. (a) Except as provided by Section 351.361 or 351.457, an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist and a physician may, for the purposes described by Subsection (b), organize, jointly own, and manage any legal entity, i…

Sec. 351.367. CONTRACT OR EMPLOYMENT WITH COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS. (a) In this section, "community health center" means a health organization that: (1) is a nonprofit corporation under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes…

Sec. 351.401. PROHIBITED OFFER, REPRESENTATION, OR DESIGNATION. Unless a person is licensed to practice under this chapter, the person may not: (1) offer to practice optometry or therapeutic optometry; (2) represent to others that the person is authorized to practice optometry or…

Sec. 351.402. IMPERSONATION PROHIBITED. A person may not: (1) impersonate an optometrist or therapeutic optometrist or falsely assume another name; or (2) buy, sell, or fraudulently obtain an optometry diploma, an optometry or therapeutic optometry license, or a record of registr…

Sec. 351.403. FALSE, DECEPTIVE, OR MISLEADING ADVERTISING. (a) A person may not publish or display, or cause or permit to be published or displayed, by any means, including by newspaper, radio, television, billboard, or window display, a false, deceptive, or misleading statement …