Paperwork for eye care

Can an optometrist sign a parking placard form?

I am an internist, not an optometrist. What I can help with is my knowledge of how to complete the paperwork, so this page sticks to what the forms and the rules say, and I name the source for each example. For an optometrist, the first question is whether you may certify at all, and the answer depends on the state, because each state decides who may certify its placard application. Some name optometrists, some do not, and several let an optometrist certify only a vision condition. New York’s MV-664.1 names an optometrist for blindness. Massachusetts names optometrists for legal blindness only. Ohio’s law, R.C. 4503.44(A)(3), lets an optometrist certify only the vision condition. New Jersey’s instructions for the SP-41 do not name optometrists.

So before you sign, read the form’s signature section and its instructions. Some states list who may certify in the instructions or the law rather than next to the signature line, as New Jersey does. If those rules leave out optometrists, or limit you to a condition your patient does not have, the patient will need to ask a clinician who is authorized. Ophthalmologists sign as physicians. Some states accept only certain states’ licenses, and New Jersey’s permanent sight criterion calls for certification by the state’s Commission for the Blind.

What the form asks you

Every state and D.C. sets its own rules for what you sign. Usually it is a section of the state’s application, though a few take a statement on your letterhead or a prescription. Most of them list the same short set of qualifying conditions, which go back to a federal model, but the wording and the combinations differ, so I would use the wording on the patient’s own state form. Many states list blindness or a severe vision impairment, with their own definition, such as a corrected visual acuity or field limit, and in several states that is the only condition an optometrist may certify.

Match the patient’s vision to the state’s definition, then fill in the boxes and any diagnosis or description the form asks for. Massachusetts requires a clinical diagnosis on every application, and says a symptom such as pain or an ICD code alone will be denied, while New York and Michigan, for example, ask for one in some cases. A disease name alone does not answer the parking question. For a patient with glaucoma, I would check the state’s vision criteria against the documented corrected acuity and visual field. The placard is for the person, not the driver, so a patient who no longer drives may still qualify as a passenger. Massachusetts also asks whether the patient can drive safely, even if they do not drive, and its form marks legal blindness as an automatic loss of license, so I would talk with the patient before starting.

For the duration, I would use the state’s own categories. “Permanent” does not mean the same thing everywhere. Washington uses an expected duration of at least five years, and Ohio has a standard placard between its temporary and permanent ones. Disabled parking placard applications compares the states, with a page for each of twelve of them.

Other forms you may see

Optometrists are also health care providers under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations, as long as they are working within their scope of practice under state law, so you may be handed a WH-380-E while co-managing a patient after cataract surgery. Being allowed to sign does not settle whether the patient’s condition meets the FMLA’s criteria, and HR decides whether the leave is protected. FMLA paperwork for doctors covers that form. A patient with a work injury to the eye may bring Missouri’s eye injury report (WC-241) or Wisconsin’s (WKC-16-A). Both are titled as a physician’s report, so I would check whether the state’s workers’ compensation rules accept yours before filling one.

Where PatientPapers fits

I built PatientPapers to make this paperwork easier to complete. PatientPapers walks you through the forms eye doctors are asked to complete, such as parking placard certifications, FMLA forms and eye injury reports for workers’ compensation, so you can fill them out more quickly and more confidently. You set up your information once on each computer you use. Then you answer one question at a time, and nothing goes on the form until you confirm it. Before you sign, it flags some problems, such as family history on an FMLA form. On a parking form, it also checks your credential and will not let you sign where that state’s form rules your profession out. Then you review the completed form, and if everything looks correct, you sign it and you’re done.

Your patients’ information is encrypted on your own device with a passcode only you know, and none of it is sent to us or anyone else. Because we never receive it, there is no business associate agreement to sign with us. HIPAA still applies to how your office handles that computer, any copies you export, and the forms you print and sign. If you want to see whether it helps with your own paperwork, try the free trial, and I think you will find it saves you time and makes the forms more intuitive to complete.

Questions the office asks

Can an optometrist sign a disabled parking placard application?

In some states, and often only for blindness or a severe vision impairment. New York and Massachusetts, for example, name optometrists for blindness only, and New Jersey’s instructions do not name optometrists at all. Read the signature section of your state’s form and its instructions.

Does glaucoma qualify for a disabled parking placard?

Not by name. The state’s vision criteria decide it, usually a corrected visual acuity or visual field limit, so I would check the documented acuity and field against the definition on the patient’s own state form.

Can my nurse or medical assistant fill in the form for me?

Yes. A provider can add staff such as a nurse or medical assistant, at no extra charge, and each one gets their own passcode. They can fill in the whole form and mark it ready for you, but only the certifying provider can sign it, so I would read what they entered before signing. Everything stays on one computer, so a simple setup is one laptop or tablet kept just for forms that staff and clinicians share. How staff help with forms is the practice’s to arrange and supervise.