PURPOSE: This rule clarifies the license renewal requirements and procedures.

1. (1) Every licensed hearing instrument specialist must notify the Board of Examiners for Hearing Instrument Specialists of every change in their office address(es) within fifteen (15) working days.
2. (2) Every licensed hearing instrument specialist shall display his/her current license in a conspicuous place in his/her office. A hearing instrument specialist working outside of the office shall have available for review his/her current official wallet license at all times.
3. (3) Each person who engages in the fitting and selling of hearing instruments shall, on or before the renewal date, pay the required fees, present annual receipts of calibration of all audiometers and obtain satisfactory evidence that continuing education requirements have been completed. No person whose license has expired and who applies for renewal will be required to submit to an examination as a condition of renewal, if this renewal application is made within two (2) years from the date of expiration.

4. (4) Prior to January 1, 2004, the following guidelines govern the attendance of educational programs for annual license renewal:

   1. (A) The licensee shall provide evidence of attendance upon request of the board. Every licensee shall maintain full and complete records of all approved continuing education hours earned for the two (2) previous reporting periods in addition to the current reporting period. Such records shall include all attendance certificates of approved continuing education hours. The board may conduct an audit of licensees to verify compliance with the continuing education requirements. Licensees shall provide all approved continuing education certificates to the board within fifteen (15) days of the board’s request of such documentation;
   2. (B) This evidence must demonstrate that the licensee attended a minimum of twelve

5. (12) hours of approved educational hearing instrument programs during the current reporting period; and

   1. (C) The continuing education reporting period shall consist of a one (1)-year period. It shall begin each year on January 1 and end on December 31 of that same year.

6. (5) Effective January 1, 2004, the following guidelines govern the attendance of educational programs for biennial license renewal:

   1. (A) The licensee shall provide evidence of attendance upon request of the board. Every licensee shall maintain full and complete records of all approved continuing education hours earned for the two (2) previous reporting periods in addition to the current reporting period. Such records shall include all attendance certificates of approved continuing education hours. The board may conduct an audit of licensees to verify compliance with the continuing education requirements. Licensees shall provide all approved continuing education certificates to the board within fifteen (15) days of the board’s request of such documentation;
   2. (B) This evidence must demonstrate that the licensee attended a minimum of twentyfour (24) hours of approved educational hearing instrument programs during the current reporting period;
   3. (C) The continuing education reporting period shall consist of a two (2)-year period. It shall begin on January 1 of even numbered years and end on December 31 of the following year.
7. (6) When an organization owns or leases all or a portion of the audiometers utilized by the hearing instrument specialist employed, the organization must submit annual receipt of calibration as required in 20 CSR 2165- 2.060(3). A hearing instrument specialist employed with such an organization who utilizes only this equipment may reference this annual receipt as evidence of compliance with his/her annual calibration requirements.
8. (7) The first twelve (12) hours of the continuing education requirements will be waived during the initial year of licensure as a hearing instrument specialist. Effective January 1, 2004, the new licensee will be required to obtain the remaining twelve (12) hours of the twenty-four (24)-hour continuing education requirement should the licensee become licensed in the first year of the continuing Hearing Instrument Specialists

education reporting period. If the new licensee becomes licensed in the second year of the continuing education reporting period the continuing education requirement shall be waived for that reporting period.

1. (8) Reactivation of Non-Current License.

   1. (A) Any hearing instrument specialist license, which is not renewed prior to the expiration date of the license, shall become non-current. Persons with non-current licenses shall not engage in the fitting of hearing instruments.

   2. (B) In order to reactivate a non-current license the hearing instrument specialist must submit the following:

      1. 1. Renewal application;
      2. 2. Renewal fee;
      3. 3. Reactivation fee;
      4. 4. Annual calibration receipt;
      5. 5. Prior to January 2004, proof of

twelve (12) hours of attendance at an approved continuing education program(s). These hours must have been obtained during the preceding twelve (12) months from the date of application for reactivation;

1. 6. Effective January 2004, proof of

twenty-four (24) hours of attendance at an approved continuing education program(s). These hours must have been obtained during the preceding twenty-four (24) months from the date of application for reactivation.

1. (C) Hearing instrument specialists may reactivate a non-current license within two

1. (2) years of its expiration date. Any hearing instrument specialist license not reactivated within two (2) years of the expiration date shall become void.

2. (9) Inactive License.

   1. (A) A hearing instrument specialist may choose to place his/her license on an inactive status by signing an affidavit stating that s/he will not engage in the practice or be involved in any aspect, administrative or otherwise, of the practice of fitting hearing instruments in Missouri, which would include serving as a supervisor of a hearing instrument specialist in training and submitting that affidavit with the renewal application and the appropriate fee to the board office. The license issued to all these applicants shall be stamped “inactive.”

   2. (B) In order for a hearing instrument specialist to activate an inactive license, the licensee shall submit to the board office—

      1. 1. The renewal application;
      2. 2. The balance of the active renewal fee.

No fee will be prorated;

1. 3. Evidence that the licensee has com-

pleted the required continuing education credits in accordance with 20 CSR 2165-2.060(5) for each renewal cycle that the license is inactive. These required approved continuing education credits shall not exceed a total of fifty (50) hours. These hours must have been obtained during the preceding twenty-four (24) months from the date of application for restoration to active status;

1. 4. Annual calibration receipt;
2. 5. The license stamped “inactive”; and
3. 6. Registered supervisors must submit

proof of current board certification.

1. (C) The board will issue an inactive license, which shall be effective until the next regular renewal date. No penalty fee shall apply.

AUTHORITY: sections 346.095 and 346.115.1(7), RSMo 2000.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 165-2.060. Emergency rule filed Oct. 28, 1996, effective Nov. 7, 1996, expired May 5, 1997. Original rule filed Nov. 6, 1996, effective May 30, 1997. Amended: Filed July 30, 2001, effective March 30, 2002. Amended: Filed April 1, 2003, effective Sept. 30, 2003. Moved to 20 CSR 2165-2.060, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Amended: Filed June 27, 2008, effective Jan. 30, 2009. *Original authority: 346.095, RSMo 1973, amended 1981, 1995; and 346.115.1(7), RSMo 1973, amended 1981, 1993, 1995.