New Connecticut law regulates contact lens prescribing

Legislation recently passed in Connecticut specifies that an in-person eye examination is required for initial and renewed contact lens prescriptions.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed House Bill 6012, now Public Act 17-115, into law July 5. The bill had passed the House several weeks earlier by a vote of 142-0. An Act Concerning Consumer Protection in Eye Care goes into effect Oct. 1.

“A provider may not use the data or information obtained from the administration of a test using a remote refractive device as the sole basis for issuing an initial prescription or renewing an initial prescription,” the act reads. “No provider shall issue an initial prescription to or renew an initial prescription for a patient without having performed an in-person evaluation and an eye examination of the patient.”

The Connecticut Association of Optometrists (CAO) provided this statement to Primary Care Optometry News from legislative chair Brian Lynch, OD: “This legislation will protect the public. The technology does not exist yet to make accurate contact lens prescriptions from an app. Fortunately, every single member of the House and Senate who voted on the bill agreed with this, as did Governor Malloy. We will now be vigilant in seeing that Public Act 17-115 is fully implemented in the State of Connecticut.”

Linda Kowalski, long-time CAO lobbyist, also said in a statement provided to PCON: “Connecticut has developed a sound approach to protecting patient safety when it relates to vision care services.”

She noted that patients are the beneficiaries of the legislation. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO

Disclosures: Kowalski is principle of The Kowalski Group, a government relations and public affairs firm based in Hartford, Conn. She has been the long-time lobbyist for the CAO. Lynch is CAO legislative chair.