(225 ILCS 80/9) (from Ch. 111, par. 3909)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)

Sec. 9. Definitions. In this Act:

(1) "Department" means the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

(2) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation.

(3) "Board" means the Illinois Optometric Licensing and Disciplinary Board appointed by the Secretary.

(4) "License" means the document issued by the Department authorizing the person named thereon to practice optometry.

(5) (Blank).

(6) "Direct supervision" means supervision of any person assisting an optometrist, requiring that the optometrist authorize the procedure, remain in the facility while the procedure is performed, approve the work performed by the person assisting before dismissal of the patient, but does not mean that the optometrist must be present with the patient, during the procedure. For the dispensing of contact lenses, "direct supervision" means that the optometrist is responsible for training the person assisting the optometrist in the dispensing or sale of contact lenses, but does not mean that the optometrist must be present in the facility where he or she practices under a license or ancillary registration at the time the contacts are dispensed or sold. For the practice of optometry through telehealth, "direct supervision" means supervision by an optometrist of any person located at a remote location who is assisting an optometrist with procedures or optometric services administered to a patient at the remote location when the optometrist is at a distant site.

(7) "Address of record" means the designated address recorded by the Department in the applicant's application file or the licensee's license file maintained by the Department's licensure maintenance unit.

(8) "Remote location" means the site at which the patient is located at the time optometric services are rendered through telehealth to that patient.

(9) "Distant site" means the location in Illinois from which an optometrist is rendering services through telehealth.

(10) "Interactive telecommunications system" means an audio and video system permitting 2-way, real-time interactive communication between a patient located at a remote location and an optometrist located at a distant site.

(11) "Telehealth" means the evaluation, diagnosis, or interpretation of patient-specific data that is transmitted by way of an interactive telecommunication system between a remote location and an optometrist located at a distant site that generates interaction or treatment recommendations for a patient located at a remote location. "Telehealth" includes the performance of any of the activities set forth in Sections 3 and 15.1.

(Source: P.A. 102-153, eff. 1-1-22.)