(b) If a patient requests a contact lens
prescription during an initial or annual examination, the
physician, optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist must prepare
and give the contact lens prescription to the patient at
the time the physician, optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist
determines the parameters of the prescription.
The physician, optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist
may not charge the patient a fee in addition to the examination
fee and fitting fee as a condition for giving a contact lens
prescription to the patient.
The physician, optometrist, or therapeutic
optometrist may exclude categories of contact lenses if the
exclusion is clinically indicated.
(d) A physician, optometrist, or
therapeutic optometrist may refuse to give a contact lens
prescription to a patient if: (1) the patient's ocular health
presents a contraindication for contact lenses; (2) refusal
is warranted due to potential harm to the patient's ocular health;
(3) the patient has not paid for the examination and fitting
or has not paid for other financial obligations to the physician,
optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist if the patient would
have been required to make an immediate or similar payment if the
examination revealed that ophthalmic goods were not required; (4)
the patient has an existing medical condition that indicates
that the patient's ocular health would be damaged if the prescription
were released to the patient or if further monitoring of
the patient is needed; or (5) the request is made after the
first anniversary of the date of the patient's last eye examination.
(f) A physician, optometrist, or
therapeutic optometrist may not condition the availability
to a patient of an eye examination, a fitting for contact
lenses, the issuance of a contact lens prescription, or any
combination of those services on a requirement that the patient
agree to purchase contact lenses or other ophthalmic goods
from the physician, optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist
or from a specific ophthalmic dispenser.
(h) If a physician, optometrist,
or therapeutic optometrist refuses to give a patient the
patient's contact lens prescription for a reason permitted
under Subsection (d) of this section or writes the prescription
for a period of less than one year, the physician, optometrist,
or therapeutic optometrist must: (1) give the patient a verbal
explanation of the reason for the action at the time of the
action; and (2) maintain in the patient's records a written explanation
of the reason.
(g) Unless a shorter prescription
period is warranted by the patient's ocular health or by
potential harm to the patient's ocular health, a physician,
optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist may not issue a contact
lens prescription that expires before the first anniversary
of the date the patient's prescription parameters are determined.
(f) A person who dispenses contact
lenses under this Act from a contact lens prescription: (1)
must fill the prescription accurately without modification;
and (2) may not fill an expired prescription. (3)
(g) If a patient presents a written
contact lens prescription to be filled, but requests that
less than the total number of lenses authorized by the prescription
be dispensed, the person dispensing the lenses must note
on the prescription the number of lenses actually dispensed,
the number of lenses that remain eligible to be dispensed
under the prescription, and the name, address, telephone
number, and license or permit number of the person dispensing
the lenses. The notation is a permanent and valid modification
of the prescription.
(h) If a patient needs an emergency
refill of the patient's contact lens prescription, a physician,
optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist may telephone or
fax a contact lens prescription to a person authorized to
fill contact lenses under this Act in order for the person
to fill the prescription. The person filling the prescription
shall maintain a copy of the fax or telephone record as if
the record were an originally signed prescription. The fax or
telephone record must include the name, address, telephone number,
and license number of the physician, optometrist, or therapeutic
optometrist.
(i) On request by a patient, a prescribing
physician, optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist shall
authorize at least once a two-month extension of the patient's
contact lens prescription. The extension may be made in accordance
with the provisions for emergency refills in Subsection (h)
of this section.
(c) Contact lenses may only be dispensed
by the following persons: (1) a physician, optometrist,
or therapeutic optometrist; (2) a pharmacist; or (3)
an optician who holds a valid contact lens dispensing permit issued
under this Act.
(d) Except as provided by this Act,
a contact lens prescription may not be modified.
(e) If a physician notes on a spectacle
prescription "fit for contacts" or similar language
and has, as required by Section 9 of this Act, specifically
delegated to a specific optician the authority to make the
additional measurements and evaluations necessary to derive
the information required for a fully written contact lens
prescription, the optician may dispense contact lenses to
the patient even though the prescription is less than a fully written
contact lens prescription.
(c) A corporation or other business
entity that dispenses contact lenses to a person in this
state: (1) must obtain a contact lens dispensing permit in the
entity's own name; and (2) may not dispense contact lenses
to a person in this state through an employee or other person
who holds a contact lens dispensing permit.
SECTION 6. ENFORCEMENT; OFFENSE.
(a) The board may suspend or revoke a person's contact
lens dispensing permit, place the permit holder on probation,
or impose an administrative penalty of not more than $1,000
for a violation of this Act. A course of conduct that involves
more than one prescription shall be considered a separate
violation for each prescription filled in violation of this
Act.
SECTION 11. LIABILITY. (a)
A contact lens prescription may not contain, and a physician,
optometrist, or therapeutic optometrist may not require a
patient to sign, a form or notice that waives or disclaims
the liability of the physician, optometrist, or therapeutic
optometrist for the accuracy of: (1) the eye examination
on which a contact lens prescription furnished to the patient
is based; or (2) the contact lens prescription provided to
the patient. (b) A physician, optometrist, or therapeutic
optometrist is not liable for any subsequent use of a contact
lens prescription by a patient if the physician, optometrist,
or therapeutic optometrist does not reexamine the patient,
and the patient's condition, age, general health, and susceptibility
to an adverse reaction caused by or related to the use of
contact lenses or other factors result in the patient no
longer being a proper candidate for the contact lens or lenses
prescribed.