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Contact lens prescription legislation passes Committee
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WASHINGTON — A revised contact lens prescription bill passed through subcommittees last week, and will now await House consideration, the American Academy of Ophthalmology said in a press release.
Numerous, substantive changes to the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act (H.R. 3140) include a mandate to include payment to the practitioner before releasing the prescription, a mandate on the dispenser to contact the practitioner with certain essential information needed to verify the prescription, and a mandate on the dispenser not to distribute the lenses if informed that the prescription is not valid. There is also a prohibition on the seller from altering any of the specifications of a lens prescription, according to the Academy release.
Additional changes include limiting the validity of the contact lens prescription to only one year, with shorter or longer time frames allowed based on the discretion of the medical provider, the Academy release states, and deleting a provision calling for practitioners to “respond promptly” to agents for the patient seeking to fill the prescription.