- DOC Access Act reintroduced amid growing Capitol Hill vigor for VBM reform
- U.S. House, Senate approve VA OD physician-level recognition legislation
- Citing array of concerns and complaints, Congress ramps up scrutiny of vision benefit manager industry
- AOA-PAC Election Report: Optometry Has Outsized Impact on 2024 Elections
- How the AOA and affiliates are fighting for reimbursement and coverage fairness
- Are you ready for the Eyeglass Rule of 2024?
- NIH, NEI consolidation plan ‘jeopardizes’ vision research, draws AOA opposition
- Bill seeks better fix to Medicare Physician Fee Schedule cuts
- How Chevron ruling could impact optometry
- Takeaways from CMS’ proposed 2025 Physician Fee Schedule
- FTC issues 10-year Eyeglass Rule update as AOA renews demand for crackdown on medical device scammers
- AOA joins other groups seeking Supreme Court reversal of decision favoring ERISA authority
- AOA sees positives in federal children’s eye health legislation
- CMS heeds AOA recommendations on Medicare supplemental benefits
- 'All the advocacy firepower’ called up at AOA on Capitol Hill
- What optometry’s advocates are championing at AOA on Capitol Hill
- Capitol Hill inquiries into plan abuses are expanding
- Vision plan abuses top of mind? Register for AOA’s town hall on reimbursement, coverage fairness advocacy
- 15 advocacy highlights of 2023
- CMS takes aim at Medicare Advantage plans misrepresenting vision benefits
- Fighting for veterans, fighting for optometry
- AOA and AFOS: ‘Cut through the noise’ and empower licensed doctors of optometry to provide greater access to care to veterans
- A force to reckon with
- U.S. House investigative committee calls for scrutiny of vision plans
- Retail optical lobbying group name change allays AOA, affiliate concerns
- Doctors of optometry challenge reasoning behind proposed Eyeglass Rule changes at FTC workshop
- Contact lens safety legislation proposes banning robocalls
- Help voice optometry’s priorities at AOA on Capitol Hill: Here’s how
- Part of the solution: Optometry groups join AOA in submitting actionable solutions for workforce shortages
- Hatch Act permits issue advocacy by doctors of optometry
- AOA makes robust rebuttal to FTC over proposed changes to Eyeglass Rule
- DOC Access Act introduced amid growing patient calls for Congress to act
- bill seeks advancement for VA doctors of optometry
- Are you adhering to the Contact Lens Rule
- AOA decries misleading Medicare Advantage advertising
- Gaining access A win for veterans and doctors of optometry
- Congress heeds AOA’s call to stop Medicare pay cuts, but lawmakers’ plan falls short
- Proactive advocacy gets early eyeglass rule gains, notice of potential new burden
- AOA PAC plays outsized role in 2022 midterm elections
- Veterans notch win as VA rescinds restrictive language governing community ODs
- Supporting Medicare Providers Act
- Federal student loan forgiveness: What to know
- Medicare Pay Cuts 2022
- 2022 Capitol Hill Recap
- AOA and South Carolina doctors expose and defeat retail lobby group’s influence scheme
- Medicare Pay Cuts March 2022
- Hold Medicare Advantage plans accountable
- Hubble Contacts slapped with 3.5 million penalties restrictions and supervision
- Medicare pay cuts, once delayed, looming without Congressional action
- Bipartisan AOA-backed bill targeting abusive discount plans gets boost from policy-expert report delivered to Congress
- Advocacy in optometry
- U.S. House, consumer groups mull federal action against DTC contact lens sales schemes
- Medicare Cuts Averted
- Medicare vision efforts fizzle 10 percent pay cuts still loom
- Optometry’s advocates going FAR beyond the call
- Lawmakers host AOA, patient and consumer advocates for VBM abuse briefing as Congress expands probes
- AOA-AFOS make case to Department of Veterans Affairs for access-boosting national practice standards
- Medicare expansion: The long road to here and now
- House pens Medicare vision benefits
- Congress sets deadline to ink Medicare vision expansion language
- White House extends student loan relief, AOA continues push for NHSC inclusion
- 4 questions about Medicare vision expansion answered
- AOA, AFOS work to ensure optometry well represented in formation of national practice standards by Veterans Affairs
- Medicare expansion
- Congress urges administration to fully implement provider nondiscrimination law
- Department of Veterans Affairs Optometry Service and doctors of optometry
- Medicare Vision Expansion
- AOA-backed DOC Access Act reintroduced to combat anti-competitive vision plans
- 2021 Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill Wrap-up
- Contact lens prescription verification failings targeted by new legislation
- Advocacy Bootcamp
- Medicare Telehealth Expansion
- 2 percent Medicare sequester delayed
- Doctors of optometry obtain 2.1 billion in federal relief
- CL rule takes effect
- Medicare Sequester
- Expanded COVID-19 vaccinator workforce includes doctors and students of optometry
- NBEO decisions provoke AOA-AOSA response
- Congress’ COVID-19 relief package HHS funds-ERC extension
- Why staff involvement is critical
- 2021 Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill
- Ohio activates eligible doctors for COVID-19 vaccine administration AOA focuses new relief efforts
- Congress President Biden asked to activate optometry for COVID-19 vaccination response
- AOA- AOSA-backed federal student loan relief extended through September
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- AOA-backed DOC Access Act gains U.S. Senate companion
- Contact Lens Rule bill gains backing
- Contact Lens Rule changes take effect Oct 16
- 1-800 Contacts notifies patients not to wear AquaSoft lenses due to lens defect
- Contact Lens Rule Modernization Act introduced in the U.S. Senate
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- AOA finds allies in fight against new FTC contact lens prescription paperwork mandate
- Proposed payment model would have put burden solely on shoulders of doctors of optometry
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- Medicaid CHIP relief funds
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- AOA and state affiliates put optometry's concerns front and center in Washington
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- Pandemic relief bill will help optometry practices nationwide
- AOA mobilizes for doctors in national response to pandemic
- AOA assembles industry leaders set future guidance telehealth services
- AOA secures legislative win provides direction Medicare telehealth services
- AOA calls for FDA investigation into retailers remote vision test
- How and why you should get involved in advocacy
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- reauthorization of higher education act
- Legislation targets contact lens prescription verification shortcomings
- DOC Access Act fights harmful vision plan abuses
- AOA on Capitol Hill 2019
- The big picture
- AOAs advocacy at top of their game
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- FTC contact lens paperwork proposal update
- FTC workshop wrapup
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- FTC Contact Lens Rule Workshop
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- AOA alerts states to NAVCP backed noncovered services bill
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- AOAs patient safeguards reflected in final Cures Bill
- Fullcourt press AOAs 2016 advocacy highlights
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- FTC proposes Contact Lens Rule changes
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- FTC issues warning letters related to Contact Lens Rule
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- Congress spending bill addresses optometrys priorities
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- Medicare pay cuts loom without Congress action
AOA: No letting up on Eyeglass Rule advocacy
November 2, 2023
In a recent one-on-one conversation with Federal Trade Commission staff, the AOA again urges the agency to reconsider a proposal requiring patients to sign forms attesting that they have received copies of their eyeglass prescriptions. For small-business optometric practices, the requirement would be burdensome from a paperwork perspective and unnecessary given that consumers are more empowered than ever, the AOA says—again.
Tag(s): Advocacy, Federal Advocacy
The AOA is pressing its argument against proposed changes by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the Eyeglass Rule that would impose burdensome demands on optometric practices, including a requirement that patients fill out forms verifying that their eye doctors have given them copies of their prescriptions after an eye examination.
Recently, AOA member and advocate Jeffrey Michaels, O.D., conversed with FTC officials and repeated concerns of doctors of optometry regarding the changes, known officially as the Ophthalmic Practice Rules. Prior to the Oct. 18 meeting, the AOA’s advocacy first began in 2015 when the commission initially indicated it was considering requiring doctors to include pupillary distance on eyeglass prescriptions and was evaluating whether it was necessary to create an eyeglass prescription verification system to mirror the Contact Lens Rule. The AOA was successful in pushing back on these new requirements. However, the FTC is still considering requiring doctors to document that eyeglass prescriptions were provided to patients. The AOA has raised concerns regarding the burden of that type of acknowledgement requirement through an extensive rebuttal letter in March and four AOA members testifying at an FTC workshop in May.
The AOA continues to actively engage the FTC regarding proposed rule changes.
“The AOA is actively working to protect the rights of doctors of optometry, so the FTC does not strong-arm its way into creating more burdens for our small businesses,” Dr. Michaels, co-owner of a practice in Virginia, says. “The AOA requested this recent meeting to underline our point of view—the burdens, the demonstrated lack of need. They all point to zero need for a signed acknowledgement.
“The AOA is working overtime to make sure our points are communicated on behalf of our members,” he adds.
Keeping the pressure on
Under the current rule, originally passed in 1978, doctors of optometry and ophthalmology are required to “immediately” provide patients with a copy of their prescription after the completion of an eye examination. The rule prohibits doctors of optometry and ophthalmology from conditioning the availability of an examination on a requirement that patients agree to purchase any ophthalmic goods from the practice.
Further, under the rule, it is an “unfair act or practice” if a doctor of optometry or ophthalmologist fails to provide a patient with a copy of their prescription after an exam (so a patient can comparison shop). The FTC contends that at least some doctors are failing to provide patients with their prescriptions.
Dr. Michaels, who testified at the FTC workshop, argued on the recent video conference with the federal agency that:
- Optometry offices are small businesses, and the prescription requirement would be burdensome at patient check-out. “On average, our offices are 10 times smaller than what the Small Business Association (SBA) considers small business,” he said.
- No strong evidence exists that doctors aren’t providing patients with prescriptions, patients understand they are entitled to copies of their prescriptions and that they are free to purchase their glasses from their eye doctor or other seller. “Adding additional paperwork burdens to every single patient who walks into our office is unfounded,” he said. “There is zero indication that Americans are not aware of their rights to the eyeglass Rx nor is there any evidence that doctors are not releasing eyeglass prescriptions.”
- FTC estimates that complying with the proposed policy would only take 10 seconds doesn’t add up. “A recent survey of AOA members who are complying with the Contact Lens Rule signed acknowledgment showed that 85% of doctors of optometry need at least 30 seconds to explain the rule, obtain the signature and secure (save) the acknowledgment for three years,” Dr. Michaels said. “Nearly one-third of optometrists indicate it takes at least 90 seconds. That means we would have our staff add 90 seconds to every patient—15, 20, 30 or 50 times per day for a rationale that is unfounded.”
AOA advancing optometry’s view
The FTC has maintained that the present prescriptions requirement is not followed by practices, and it is seeking to adopt a signed acknowledgement process. This specific change would match the heavily modified 2021 mandate under the Contact Lens Rule, opposed by the AOA and other medical groups and hundreds of U.S. Senators and House members over the course of a policy clash that lasted nearly five years.
Instead of the acknowledgement form, the AOA has recommended putting greater scrutiny on the sales of online retailers and mobile apps. Rather than focusing on the added paperwork, the AOA argues, the FTC should issue consumer guidance on buying prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses online. The AOA recommends the following advisory for consumers:
“The online retailer cannot guarantee that the eyeglasses you have purchased will meet your visual needs. The retailer will develop eyeglasses based on the prescription provided. However, errors can occur, and the company is not required to assess whether the eyeglasses have met your visual needs following purchase.”
“If your eyeglasses do not fit well upon receipt, the online retailer is not required to adjust your eyeglasses in person. You will typically be provided with instructions on how best to self-adjust your eyeglasses to address your concerns. Some recommendations may include bending the eyeglasses yourself or adjusting how you hold your head when using the glasses.”
“The online retailer is not obligated to respond to any complaints or issues surrounding your purchase.”
The AOA’s positions were substantiated by an analysis by Andrew Stivers, Ph.D., associate director in the antitrust practice of NERA Economic Consulting.
The standard for evaluating fairness to consumers under the Eyeglass Rule has changed, Stivers says. When the rule was adopted, he says, market conditions were far different. Consumers now have more choice and are far more informed.
“By contrast, today neither the regulatory nor the technological restrictions that predicated the determination of unfair practices still exists,” Stivers says. “The rise of new retail channels, and reductions in the market shares of the dominant retail channel relative to when that determination was made, provide further evidence that the conditions underlying a determination of unfair practices in retailing eyeglasses, and thus any benefits from increased regulatory requirements, cannot be presumed.
“Without such benefits, the rationale for technical compliance with the Eyeglass Rule’s specific conditions reduces a matter of administrative convenience and cannot be supported by an unfairness analysis,” he says. “That is, there is no relevant determination of unfairness associated with the proposed documentation requirements, and therefore no evidence or record that the documentation, or any effects on an underlying compliance issue, will have substantial benefits on consumers that would justify amending the Eyeglass Rule.”
Advocating for optometry and patient safety
The AOA advocacy is a force in Washington, D.C., ensuring that optometry is recognized and heeded on health care policy and other issues impacting practices, patients and public health. AOA doctors and students as well as its professional advocacy team are at the center of a 24/7/365 presence in the nation’s capital. Here are three ways to help ensure that illegal contact lens sellers are held accountable and adverse patient outcomes are reported:
- Report a website illegally sellingcontact lenses.
- Report an adverse eventrelated to contact lenses.
- Email a de-identified case report to StopIllegalCLs@aoa.orgto help bolster AOA advocacy against harmful contact lens practices. Include the state where you practice in your email.