National Glaucoma Society

September 14, 2022

The NGS Fall webinars will start up on Wednesday, September 14 with a one-hour webinar from 8-9 p.m. Eastern time (7-8 pm Central / 5-6 pm Pacific). Dr. Jim Thimons will present "Patient Compliance: The Ultimate Goal in Glaucoma Therapy." 

October 1-2, 2022

The National Glaucoma Symposium 2022 will be a virtual program on Saturday and Sunday, October 1-2.

6-MONTH NGS MEMBERSHIP COMING SOON

In addition to $250 annual membership in the National Glaucoma Society, the NGS will begin offering 6-month memberships for $150. The 6-month membership will include the twice-a-month Wednesday one-hour webinars offered from September-May, reduced prices at other NGS virtual programs, and access to members-only postings on the NGS website. We hope to have this new membership option available on August 15.

LIVE WEBINARS = LIVE CE IN MASSACHUSETTS

At their Decmber 15, 2021 meeting, the Massachusetts Board of Optometry specified that a live webinar where speakers and attendees can interact in real-time are considered to be live CE. The Board clarified that distance learning CE courses, which are limited to 6 hours per renewal cycle, are those where the licensees are reading content or observing media on their own with no interaction with the instructor. Thus, the COPE-approved interactive NGS webinars count as live CE for MA optometrists.

CE BROKER FOR TEXAS OPTOMETRISTS

The NGS will submit attendance data to CE Broker for Texas optometrists who attend our webinars.  We will continue to mail CE certificates so attendees have a copy for their records and also will send attendance data to ARBO's OE Tracker. 

NEW COPE RULES FOR INTERACTIVE WEBINARS

COPE has announced a transition period from January through June, 2022, while they develop new guidelines for online CE. ***This transition period has been extended through December 31, 2022.*** During this transition period, live, interactive webinars will go back to being considered Interactive Distance Learning, but post-course tests will NOT be required. Thus, the NGS live webinars will be COPE approved as Interactive Distance Learning CE starting in January 2022.  A number of states consider live, interactive webinars to be live CE, without restrictions on the number of credits, including: California, New York, Minnesota, Texas, Virginia and Vermont. For optometrists in those states, the COPE changes will not have an impact. Other states may consider the live webinars to be live CE (e.g., Pennsylvania for this renewal cycle) or may treat the live webinars as online CE with restrictions on the number of hours.  Check with your State Board to determine how these hours will be treated for 2022.

PENNSYLVANIA CONTINUES TO ALLOW ONLINE CE

The NGS has just been notified that the Board of Optometry will continue to allow all CE to be online for the renewal period that ends November 30. 2022. There was communication that the waiver in Pennsylvania that allowed all CE to be virtual will end on September 30, 2021.  However, to avoid confusion in the middle of the renewal cycle, the Board has decided to continue to allow all CE to be online.  

CALIFORNIA ALLOWS LIVE WEBINARS AS LIVE CE

The California Board of Optometry now recognizes interactive courses offered live over internet platforms such as WebEx as Live CE toward the 30 hours of live continuing education required for license renewal. Courses can be live COPE courses offered by COPE's June 30, 2021 deadline or courses approved by the Board.

NGS LIVE WEBINARS = CATEGORY 1 ABO

We have received confirmation that the NGS live webinars now count as Category 1 Education towards American Board of Optometry (ABO) certification.