NRS 636.394 Requirements; authorized activities; prohibitions.

584 words·~3 min read·/nv/chapter-636-optometry/636-394

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 5, a person shall not engage in optometric telemedicine to provide health care services to a patient located at an originating site in this State unless the person is licensed to practice optometry pursuant to this chapter.

2. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, a licensee may engage in synchronous or asynchronous optometric telemedicine to provide health care services to a patient only if the licensee has completed a comprehensive examination on the patient within the immediately preceding 2 years.

3. A licensee may engage in synchronous optometric telemedicine to perform a non-comprehensive examination of a new patient if the licensee has access to all the information obtained from a comprehensive examination of the patient that was conducted by an optometrist or ophthalmologist within the immediately preceding 2 years.

4. A licensee may engage in asynchronous optometric telemedicine to conduct a consultation regarding a patient on whom the licensee has not completed a comprehensive examination within the immediately preceding 2 years if:

(a)An optometrist, ophthalmologist or primary care physician providing care to the patient requests that the licensee conduct the consultation and provides the licensee with all the information about the patient that is necessary to determine whether the patient requires a comprehensive examination; and

(b)The consultation performed by the licensee is limited to a determination of whether the patient requires a comprehensive examination and does not involve any diagnosis, recommendation for or treatment of the patient or a prescription for the patient.

5. A person who holds a valid, active and unrestricted license issued by the District of Columbia or any state or territory of the United States to practice optometry may conduct a consultation through asynchronous optometric telemedicine described in subsection 4 in the same manner as a licensee pursuant to that subsection without holding a license to practice optometry in this State.

6. A licensee may engage in remote patient monitoring of a patient on whom the licensee has completed a comprehensive examination within the immediately preceding 2 years for the purposes of:

(a)Acquiring data about the health of the patient;

(b)Assessing changes in previously diagnosed chronic health conditions;

(c)Confirming the stability of the health of the patient; or

(d)Confirming expected therapeutic results.

7. A licensee may engage in optometric telemedicine to provide health care services to a patient who is located at an originating site outside this State if the licensee has completed a comprehensive examination of the patient within the immediately preceding 2 years and such action is permitted by the laws of the state in which the patient is located.

8. A licensee shall not engage in optometric telemedicine to provide any health care service to the patient that the licensee has determined should be provided in person.

9. A licensee engaging in optometric telemedicine or remote patient monitoring shall not:

(a)Conduct himself or herself in a manner that violates the standard of care required of an optometrist who is treating a patient in person, including, without limitation, by issuing a prescription for ophthalmic lenses based solely upon one or more of the following:

(1)Answers provided by a patient in an online questionnaire;

(2)The application of lensometry; or

(3)The application of auto-refraction; or

(b)Condition the provision of optometric telemedicine or remote patient monitoring on the patient consenting to receiving a standard of care below that which is required by paragraph (a).

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS