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Contact lens bill aims to improve communication, patient safeguards
The legislation applies caveats to the prescription verification process.
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The Contact Lens Consumer Health Protection Act of 2016 was written to strengthen the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act “to preserve access to accurate information and the contact lenses patients need,” according to the sponsor of the legislation
As the law stands, a prescription is considered verified if the prescriber fails to communicate with the seller within 8 business hours after receiving the seller-provided verification information, according to the congressional website.
S.2777, which was introduced April 11 by Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), would allow prescribers to email, fax or phone confirmations to sellers, whichever is most convenient for the prescriber. If a prescriber communicates a question or concern about the accuracy of a prescription before the deadline, the seller shall not fill the prescription, and the prescriber shall provide the seller with an accurate prescription.
The bill also removes the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to adjust the 8-hour period, the bill summary states.
Improving communication
“The ‘Cassidy bill’ ensures we get things right by improving communication,” American Optometric Association President Steven A. Loomis, OD, said in an interview.
Cassidy said in a press release: “The Contact Lens Consumer Health Protection Act of 2016 will provide patients with stronger safeguards and will modernize the way our contact lens marketplace is able to work.”
Loomis and the AOA believe the bill protects sellers, prescribers and, most importantly, the patient.
“Under current law, the prescriber of the contact lens bears the responsibility of verification, and patients bear the effect of the lens,” Loomis said.
He noted that the bill does not remove passive verification and it maintains the right for patients to choose where to buy their prescription lenses.
“Today, when contact lens sellers telephone prescribers, they typically do so through the use of a ‘robo call’ – which is often unintelligible and very difficult for prescribers to confirm for prescription verification requirements,” he continued. “Currently, it’s a poor communication system in which the call will come in, and the prescriber has no practical way to communicate back to the seller.
“Optometrists receive no feedback as to whether the lens was sold or not,” Loomis continued. “Often we have to call the patient to find out what happened. It really results in the sale of these medical devices in a bit of a free-for-all. You would never have a pharmacist fill a prescription they don’t feel confident about; they would call the doctor and speak to them directly.”
He believes the same should be true for contact lenses.
Loomis noted that in 2014 there were 1 million emergency room visits directly related to contact lens-associated keratitis, at a cost to the patient and quality of life of $175 million per year.
“The whole notion is to keep the doctor in the process,” he said.
Industry coalition
The Coalition for Patient Vision Care Safety has voiced support for the Cassidy bill.
The coalition, which comprises AdvaMed, Alcon, AOA, Bausch + Lomb, CooperVision and Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, stated in a letter to Cassidy that the legislation makes a number of valuable improvements to the current process.
“It helps to strike a meaningful balance between patient health and safety and consumer access and choice,” the coalition wrote.
“In addition, your legislation provides an important clarification that will better ensure that, regardless of where a patient chooses to fill their prescription, it will be dispensed exactly as written by their eye care provider,” the group said.
Further stipulations
The legislation contains further stipulations.
Under the bill, a seller can alter a prescription if a private label contact lens is included on the prescription and the same contact lens is manufactured by the same company and sold under multiple labels to individual providers, and the seller fills the prescription with a contact lens of exactly the same material, design and power manufactured by that company under another label.
In addition, sellers are required to maintain a database of the issuance and expiration dates of each prescription they receive. Advertisements claiming a contact lens prescription may be filled after the prescription expires are prohibited.
Consumer survey
A survey conducted by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials in 2015 found that one in four contact lens wearers received a different brand than ordered with no advance warning.
Further, the survey, which was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Vision Care and involved 500 U.S. consumers, found that online retailers advised one in three wearers to substitute a nonprescribed lens due to supply issues. Also, one in three customers were able to purchase lenses using an expired prescription.
On April 11, S.2777 was introduced to the Senate, read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Loomis encouraged optometrists and eye care professionals to contact their legislators on this bill and visit the AOA’s Legislative Action Center online to learn more. – by Abigail Sutton
- References:
- S.2777 – Contact Lens Consumer Health Protection Act of 2016. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2777/actions. Accessed June 13, 2016.
- Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. Loopholes in today’s contact lens online marketplace. JnJVisionCareInfo.com. Accessed June 14, 2016.
- AOA supports contact lens prescription verification, patient safety bill. Healio.com/optometry. Posted April 13, 2016. Accessed May 26, 2016.
- For more information:
- Steven A. Loomis, OD, can be reached at saloomis@aoa.org.
Disclosure: Loomis is AOA president.