30 days before the License Interview.
The Board License Interview is given on the second Saturday in February and on the second Saturday in July. Please check around 6 weeks before the normal date to see if the date has had to be moved due to unforeseen circumstances.
The Board’s rule, §14-01-03, lists the documents required to be submitted with the application. One additional piece of information must be added that began to be required in 2011 is a passing score on the NBEO’s injection examination or ISE. More information on the injection administration requirements is listed in Laws and Rules Governing Optometry, §14-11, and the Injection Packet.
West Virginia Board of Optometry, 179 Summers Street, Suite 231, Charleston, WV 25301, Phone: (304) 558-5901, Fax: (304) 558-5908, E-mail: wvbdopt@frontier.com
You may file a complaint by clicking on “Consumer Issues and Information.” There is a complaint link you may click to get the fillable online form. There is also a Medical Record Release Form in that section that should be submitted so the Board may thoroughly investigate your complaint. The optometrist has 30 days to respond in writing to the Board.
We only have jurisdiction over optometrists. If a patient takes his/her prescription somewhere else and is not happy, it is not in our jurisdiction to require anything from opticians or optical shops.
Fee refunds are a part of the individual doctor’s office policy and not in our jurisdiction. Complaints about the quality of eye care you recieved or the proper correction of your eye problem and eye health are always invesitgated by the Board. Complaints that are found to be under the jurisdiction of another agency, such as the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division, are forwarded by the Board to those agencies.
Click on “Consumer Issues and Information” There is a sentence at the top that says “Find an Optometrist click here. Click on the green “click here” to search by name or by city.
Use the “Verify License” button from the home Page or write to 179 Summers Street, Suite 231, Charleston, WV 25301. The fee is $25.00 per verification. A list of all optometrists is available under “Optometrist List” on the Home Page. The fee for the list is $200.00.
You may contact us via fax or e-mail or change it from our website.
43 hours
The Board of Optometry uses a biennial system for counting the 43 hours of CE required. Those 43 hours are counted for every even numbered, two year cycle, for example: 7/1/16-6/30/18. You must take at least 12 hours of CE in pharmacology or therapeutics, no more than 10 hours of CE by correspondence or Internet, and no more than 6 hours of CE in practice management. Injection certified optometrists must take at least 2 hours of CE in administering injections and have a current CPR card from the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross. All licensees must complete the Drug Diversion requirement for every two year cycle. New licensees must complete a 3 hour WVBO approved course in Drug Diversion and Best Practices Prescribing within one year of licensure. Those who prescribe controlled substances must complete the 3 hour course each two year period. Those who do not prescribe controlled substances have two choices: 1. take the 3 hours Drug Diversion course for 3 hours of CE credit, or 2. Sign the Drug Diversion Waiver posted on this site under “Licensees.” There is no CE credit for signing the Drug Diversion Waiver.
7 years from the date of the last visit.
June 30 every year.
$400 dollars
Click on “Board of Optometry.” The minutes, newsletter and Annual Report are listed there.