Jan. 17, 2024 — Proposed legislation in Utah could cause patients to lose the ability to purchase contact lenses directly from their prescribing eye doctor, the American Optometric Association (AOA) shares.
Introduced by Republican state Rep. Jordan Teuscher, H.B. 189 would amend Utah’s contact lens retail statute to not only prohibit contact lens prescribers from selling prescribed contact lenses to their patients but to also require additional actions of contact lens prescribers such as the following: providing certain information to patients during consultation, documenting certain information related to the patient interaction, and providing patients with prescriptions for a specific brand or manufacturer, if medically appropriate, at the patient’s request.
Under this measure, prescribing doctors would have to inform patients of other brand and manufacturer options and require documentation of specific patient preferences—all while reiterating adherence to the federal Contact Lens Rule requirements for prescription release. “Significantly, the bill would prevent specialty contact lens wearers from receiving their lenses within Utah if the bill is passed as written,” the AOA explains.
The Utah Optometric Association has reached out to Rep. Teuscher to discuss the bill’s negative effects on patient care.
“I’ve reviewed this proposal and find its flawed approach to be anti-patient and anti-doctor,” says AOA advocacy executive committee chair William T. Reynolds, O.D. “Our health care system deserves better.”
An analysis by the NERA Economic Consulting firm found that the proposed bill would “drastically” reduce contact lens options for Utah residents, likely resulting in additional costs through finding alternative sellers. Specifically, 38% of current contact lens wearers would have to find a new way to get their contact lenses, potentially causing challenges for the 18% of Utahns who do not shop online. Additionally, 40% of contact lens purchasers say their decision to purchase from a private practice is due to a personal relationship with their doctor or the practice’s staff, and over a third of contact lens consumers say the ability to get an exam and lenses in the same place is why they chose a private practice. However, the analysis found that some consumers are likely to drop their independent prescriber in favor of chain or big-box stores with allowed in-house prescription services.
“State Rep. Jordan Teuscher has introduced amendments to Utah’s contact lens retail sales statutes that would shut down prescriber-owned prescription eyewear retail shops,” Andrew Stivers, Ph.D., writes in the analysis. “These amendments would harm competition by removing a significant group of small, locally owned businesses from competing in the marketplace” resulting in “substantial loss of this retail channel.”