Frequently Asked Questions

Below are the statutes and rules providing the requirements for requesting a Petition for (Variance from) or (Waiver of) Rule (Citation)

Florida Statutes – 120.542 Variances and waivers

Florida Administrative Code (Rules) Chapter 28-104: Variance OR Waiver

The 2013 legislative session brought very important changes for the practice of optometry. On April 19, 2013, Governor Rick Scott signed HB-239 into law, which significantly increased the scope of practice of optometry. One of those changes impacts when and how adverse incidents in the practice of optometry are reported to the Department of Health.

Effective January 1, 2014, certified optometrists will be required to report to the Department of Health any adverse incidents in the practice of optometry. An adverse incident is defined to mean, “any of the following events when it is reasonable to believe that the event is attributable to the prescription of an oral ocular pharmaceutical agent” by a certified optometrist:

• Any condition requiring a patient’s transfer to a hospital;
• Any condition that requires care and treatment from a physician, other than a referral or consultation;
• Permanent physical injury to the patient;
• Partial or complete permanent loss of sight by the patient; or
• Death of the patient.

The reports must be:

• Sent by certified mail; and
• Postmarked within 15 days after the adverse incident occurs.

Mail the completed Adverse Incident Form to:

Department of Health
Consumer Services Unit
4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin C75
Tallahassee, FL 32399-3275

As of March 13, 2014, Rule 64B13-16.002, F.A.C., was repealed and Optometrists no
longer are required to renew their Branch office license.

You would need to submit a written request to the Department, including a list of all
Branch Office locations

· First and last name
· Optometrist license number
· Date of birth
· Last 4 of social security
· Sign and date

Mail:
Department of Health
Bureau of Operations, Licensure Support Services
4052 Bald Cypress Way Bin # C-10
Tallahassee, FL 32399-3260

Fax:
850-245-4791

Email:
Licensure_Services@doh.state.fl.us

We have updated our MQA Online Services Portal to be more user-friendly. Registration is a one-time process and you can use your email address or a user ID that you will easily remember to set up your account.

This commonly occurs when a user has already created an account. Please use the Forgot User ID link on the MQA Online Service Portal login page. If you cannot remember your password, you can select the Forgot Password link to have a new password emailed to you.

Please make sure you add MQAOperations@FLHealth.gov to your trusted/allowed email address list to ensure the temporary password email does not get sent to your spam, junk, clutter or trash folders or get filtered out of your email before it is received.

If you do not receive your temporary password email within a few minutes, check your email account’s junk, spam, clutter and trash folders. If the temporary password email is not in any of these folders, make sure you entered your valid email address correctly. If your email was entered correctly, please wait at least one hour to receive the email. (NOTE: Some email systems take longer to receive emails than others. Even though we send the email immediately, it make take some time for you to receive it.)

Accounts are locked after 5 failed login attempts. Please use the Forgot Password link to reset your password and log into your account.

You can update your email address by selecting the Update Account link within the MQA Online Services Portal. If you do not remember your password, please contact the MQA Customer Contact Center at 850-488-0595 for assistance in changing your email address.

Your email address is initially used to create your user account. We ask for your email address a second time when you renew as part of your renewal application’s contact information; however, providing your email address on an application is optional.