By Deborah Yetter, Kentucky Lantern · June 2, 2026 The National Board of Examiners in Optometry is criticizing a Kentucky board for failing to protect the public as it addresses recent irregularities in licensing optometry graduates. (Getty Images) The state board that oversees Kentucky’s optom etrists is standing by its decision to allow optometry graduates who haven’t passed all parts of a required national licensure exam to provide eye care – even as the number of people it improperly granted licenses to has increased from 21 to 30. Despite mounting criticism, the state board will allow those optometrists to keep practicing while it works to resolve licensure deficiencies, Dr. Mary Beth Morris, president of the Kentucky Board of Optometric Examiners, told a legislative panel on May 12. “Protecting the public remains the board’s highest priority,” Morris said of new regulations which give improperly licensed optometrists until early next year to meet testing requirements. “We believe this represents a thoughtful and measured response to a very unusual and complex situation.” By March of 2027, all optometrists in Kentucky will be required to have passed all three parts of a standard national exam to obtain or renew a license – although regulations allow those who got waivers to substitute an online, multiple choice test for an in-person test of clinical skills for Part 3 of the exam. But the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, which administers the three-part licensure exam, disagrees with the plan, saying that the board’s latest “emergency regulation” allows optometrists with invalid licenses to continue to treat patients in Kentucky. It also objects to the substitution for Part 3, which tests candidates’ skills in diagnosing and treating patients in an actual clinical setting. “This emergency regulation does not help protect the citizens of Kentucky,” Dr. Patrick O’Neill, vice-president of the national board, said at the May 12 meeting of the  Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee meeting. Dr. James Campbell, president of the national board, said it was a difficult decision to publicly criticize the Kentucky board for its actions to exempt optometrists from national licensure requirements. “Ultimately, we have been compelled to speak up on behalf of patient protection,” Campbell said at the hearing. “Silence just wasn’t an option.” Moreover, the national board blasted the state board for operating secretly and refusing to detail reasons for a series of actions meant to address the licensure problems after they were first exposed last year. In October, the Kentucky Attorney General found the board violated state law by agreeing to waive licensure requirements at board meetings rather than enacting a change in state regulations, requiring public notice. And the Kentucky Lantern first reported in December that 21 optometry school graduates from 2020 through 2023 had been improperly awarded licenses to practice despite not having passed one or more parts of the three-part national exam. Among them was Dr. Hannah Ellis, daughter of former optometry board president Dr. Joe Ellis, a prominent Kentucky optometrist who resigned in December amid the board’s investigation into the matter. The national board – which last year, questioned the board about the 21 optometrists licensed through waivers – this year identified nine more such cases, as first reported by WAVE 3 News, a Louisville television station. ‘Basic safeguards’ lacking Also at the May 12 hearing, an optometrist who works for the Kentucky School for the Blind Charitable Foundation asked legislators to require the board to hold all optometrists to the same standard, citing deficiencies in care. Dr. Christina Kemp said she had encountered two cases of visually-impaired children in which optometrists providing an initial exam had failed to fully inform families of the seriousness of the children’s eye conditions or provide appropriate follow-up care, such as a referral to specialists. Both had been seen by an optometrist Kemp later learned was among the 21 granted a license through waivers of exam requirements. Kemp said she believes all optometrists “should be held to the same national standards. This is one of the basic safeguards families and patients rely on.” “When serious eye diseases are missed or not properly managed, the consequences can last a lifetime,” she said, posing this question to legislators: “How many children harmed by delayed referrals, missed diagnoses or inadequate care would be enough for this to be taken seriously?” In another instance, one of the 21 licensees is being sued for allegedly causing permanent eye injury to an adult patient, O’Neill, with the national board said at the hearing. Court records show a Marshall County man has filed a lawsuit against Hannah Ellis, who was licensed by the board in 2021, despite not having passed any parts of the three-part national exam at the time, according to board records. He alleges Ellis caused permanent and severe damage through a laser eye surgery procedure in 2023. In a reply, Ellis has denied any wrongdoing or allegations of negligence. The case is set for trial in April 2027. ‘Kept in the dark’ Meanwhile, the state board “has failed to post meeting minutes and crucial decisions that affect public safety appear to have been made privately without open public discussion,” Campbell, the national board president, said at the May 12 hearing. “The end result is that the public and profession have been kept in the dark.” The state board has refused to release any information about optometrists it has identified who got testing waivers—or even say how many of the state’s 930 licensed optometrists are affected. It denied an open records request from the Kentucky Lantern for all communications with optometrists licensed without passing all parts of the exam, saying the information was “preliminary.” However, the national board in a letter last year to the state board listed the 21 optometrists who got waivers and Jan. 15 sent a second letter to the board listing nine more optometrists who had one or more parts of the exam waived. The Kentucky Lantern obtained those letters through an open records request. In both cases, the state board ignored requests from the national board for information on how those 30 optometrists were able to obtain licenses. Among the latest nine licensed optometrists who got waivers are two who on seven separate attempts failed Part 1 of the test —which focuses on science and medicine and is considered the most rigorous. A third licensee failed it six times, according to score reports the Kentucky Lantern obtained through an open record request. The national board allows a candidate to take each part of the three-part test up to six times. Under certain conditions, a candidate may be allowed a seventh attempt, it said in a May 22 statement. But a candidate who fails a seventh attempt is barred from taking the exam again—and thus, presumably from obtaining an optometry license, the national board said. Yet, the state board “has apparently granted these individuals a license to independently practice optometry in the Commonwealth,” it said. The state board has said little about why it waived testing requirements, other than to state some waivers originated during the COVID public health emergency when shutdowns limited classroom learning and testing. However, records obtained by the Lantern show waivers continued after the federal public health emergency ended in May 2023. Asked directly by Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, how many optometrists had requirements for licenses waived, Morris, the board president, declined to answer at the May 12 hearing. “I can’t tell you a definite number because we are still in the review process,” Morris said. Marzian, in an interview, said she was surprised by the response. “Why not just tell me?” she said. “It kind of looks bad.” Attending the Thursday meeting of the state optometry board were, from left: Kristin Webb, board counsel; Dr. Karoline Munson; Dr. Murray Adams; Dr. Mary Beth Morris; Christi LeMay, executive director; and Lakin Albrink, a citizen representative. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Deborah Yetter) ‘A legal Catch 22′ Among lawmakers wanting more information about the 30 optometrists whose licenses are in question is Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, who said he plans to devote a portion of the June 16 joint Health Services Committee meeting to the subject. “I really want to get some information on how we’re going to deal with the credentials of 30 people,” he said. “I think we need to have some discussion on that.” Meredith said he’s also concerned that those optometrists will be allowed to take a substitute test for Part 3 of the national exam. He said representatives of the state board have said some optometrists could lose their licenses if required to pass a harder exam—but that’s not the legislature’s responsibility. “Our responsibility is public safety,” he said. Meredith said he still has questions about how those licenses were awarded, calling the matter a “a legal Catch 22.” While the board has clear authority to set testing requirements and issue licenses, it must do so through enacting changes in state regulations. Its effort to do so through internal board decisions “is null, void and unenforceable,” the attorney general opinion found. Meredith said he’s still considering asking the legislative leaders to authorize a task force to review operations of the state optometry board but said he will wait on recommendations of a “work group” the board established in April. The group, which includes Morris, the current president of the optometry board; board member Dr. Ian McWherter; four more optometrists, who hold a four-year doctorate in eye care, and three ophthalmologists, medical doctors with eye care and surgical training, said it plans to issue a report to lawmakers July 1. “I’m looking forward to seeing that report,” Meredith said. View in feeds The post State board allows optometry graduates to practice without passing national exam appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less