Report of Regents Professional Practice Committee to The Board of Regents

Your Professional Practice Committee held its scheduled meeting on February 14, 2022.  All members were present. Chancellor Lester W. Young, Jr., Regent Luis O. Reyes, and Regent Aramina Vega Ferrer also attended the meeting, but did not vote on any case or action.

ACTION ITEMS

Professional Discipline Cases

Your Committee recommends that the reports of the Regents Review Committees, including rulings, findings of fact, determinations as to guilt, and recommendations, by unanimous or majority vote, contained in those reports which have been distributed to you, be accepted in 2 cases.  In addition, your Committee recommends, upon the recommendation of the Committee on the Professions, that 30 consent order applications and 10 surrender applications be granted.

These recommendations are made following the review of 42 cases involving twelve licensed practical nurses, seven registered professional nurses, three dentists, three licensed master social workers, two certified public accountants, two midwives, one land surveyor, one licensed clinical social worker, one licensed practical nurse who is also a registered professional nurse, one midwifery professional corporation, one occupational therapist, one pharmacist, one physical therapist, one physical therapist assistant, one podiatrist, one professional engineer, one speech-language pathologist, and one veterinarian.

MOTION FOR ACTION BY FULL BOARD

Chancellor and Colleagues: Your Professional Practice Committee recommends, and we move, that the Board of Regents act affirmatively upon each recommendation in the written report of the Committee's deliberations at its meeting on February 14, 2022, copies of which have been distributed to each Regent.

MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION

Your Committee discussed several topics of interest, including:

Deputy Commissioner's Report/Update 

• Full Board Consent Agenda Items
  • Board (Re)Appointments
  • Licensing Petitions/Conferral of Degrees
  • Proposed Amendment to Subdivision (a) of Section 64.7 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Execution by Registered Professional Nurses of Non-Patient Specific Orders to Administer COVID-19 Immunizations (Emergency Action)

Proposed Amendment to Subdivision (a) of Section 66.5 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Use of Therapeutic Pharmaceutical Agents by Certified Optometrists (Discussion)

The proposed amendment to section 66.5 of the Commissioner’s regulations adds an additional class of drugs, Rho kinase inhibitors, to the list of drugs that an optometrist, who is certified to use phase two therapeutic pharmaceutical agents, may use and prescribe to treat patients.  Such optometrists may use and prescribe this class of drugs for topical application to the surface of the eye for therapeutic purposes only. Rho kinase inhibitors have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, is commercially available, and will be an important tool in the management and treatment of glaucoma.