California Changes How ODs and Opticians Can Work

Existing California law prohibits an OD and optician from having any kind of business relationship in regards to an individual practice. ODs also cannot have any such relationship with companies that supply products to physicians, optometrists, and opticians.

A new bill (AB 684) recently passed will those prohibitions when the governor signs it into law. It institute the following:

• Prohibits ODs from having any profit-sharing arrangement with an optician or optical company.
• ODs, opticians and operating companies can own and operate a health plan so long as the plan’s ODs do not provide optometric services to enrollees.
• Provide for the direct or indirect provision of products and services to the health plan or its contracted providers or enrollees or to other optometrists, as specified.
• ODs, opticians, optical companies, and health plans could enter into a lease or other written agreement an optometrist “if specified conditions are contained in a written agreement.”
• Authorizes the State Board of Optometry, to inspect lease agreements. 

Read the legislation.

Stand Alone Vision Plans Not to Be Sold Through California's Exchange

"Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill [Assembly Bill 1877] that Rancho Cordova’s vision insurer, VSP Global, says was necessary to let it sell coverage through the state-run health care marketplace, Covered California," according to a report in the Modesto Bee. "Brown’s veto appears to tear open an old wound...In 2012, the governing board of Covered California, the electronic marketplace created in response to the federal Affordable Care Act, was finalizing its rules. It had decided not to let 'stand-alone' companies like VSP, which provide only vision care insurance, sell coverage to individuals. Lynch protested and said he was putting on hold a significant expansion of the company’s operations in the Sacramento area. A slew of elected officials and business leaders urged the state agency to reconsider. Eventually, the Covered California board reversed course and voted to let VSP and other stand-alone insurers into the market for individuals....But because of a wrinkle in federal law, the agency later realized that stand-alone vision plans couldn’t be sold through an exchange, according to a legislative analysis of AB 1877." Read more.

ODs Must Wait Til Next Year

“State Sen. Ed Hernandez is giving up for this year his effort to expand the kinds of medical services optometrists can offer in California,” according to a Sacramento Bee post. “The Democrat from West Covina said Monday that he is pulling his Senate Bill 492 from any further action in the Legislature this year, and will instead push for its passage in 2014. The bill would allow optometrists to diagnose and treat all kinds of ailments related to the eye, including conditions such as diabetes. Read more.

California Looks to Limit Liability for Nonprofits Offering Free Eye Exams and Used Eyewear

"An Inland Southern California lawmaker’s bill signed earlier this month will limit lawsuits against nonprofits offering free eye tests or used glasses, " according to PE Legislature. "California] Senate Bill 724 by state Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, limits liability for both the vision care nonprofits and anyone working with the organization. Barring injury resulting from 'gross negligence or a willful act,' charities or charity workers conducting eye tests cannot be held liable for damage." Read more.

Stand-Alone Vision Plans May Not Join California’s Exchange

“Vision Service Plan's launch on California's new health care exchange is downright blurry, and the firm is seeing red,” says the Sacramento Bee. “The Rancho Cordova company and others in the vision industry lobbied successfully last year for the right to sell adult vision insurance to individuals via the state's new health care exchange.But a new controversy has emerged, raising the prospect that vision plans will not be part of the state's exchange, Covered California, when it begins offering health insurance Oct. 1.” Read more.

CA Considers Letting ODs Perform Some Medical Tasks

“Legislation that would let optometrists, pharmacists and nurse practitioners perform medical tasks that now are the domain of doctors passed its first committee [in the California legislature],” reports the Press Enterprise. “The measures considered Monday, April 29, are the most far-reaching of several bills pending in the Legislature this year that pit different groups of health care professionals against each other in scope-of-practice fights. Supporters of Monday’s legislation said it would help improve a lack of primary care providers in Inland Southern California and other parts of the state. The problem will worsen as the federal Affordable Care Act adds millions of people to the health-insurance rolls, they say.” Read more.

U.S. Spreme Court Rejects Contentions from Luxottica and Walgreens

"The U.S. Supreme Court left intact California rules that bar eyeglass companies from offering on- site vision exams, rejecting contentions that the system favors local eye doctors over consumers and multistate optical businesses," reports Bloomberg News. "The justices today turned away an appeal by companies including LensCrafters Inc., whose parent Luxottica Group SpA is the world’s biggest maker of eyeglasses. LensCrafters argued that the rules unconstitutionally discriminate against interstate commerce. The appeal had support from Walgreen Co., which said a lower court ruling upholding the California rules would let states bar drugstores from offering health-care services in competition with doctors. States might also restrict Internet commerce to protect local businesses, Walgreen said." Read more.

Out-of-Staters Take California to Supreme over the State's Optical Code

In California, "state-licensed optometrists and ophthalmologists are allowed to conduct eye exams and sell glasses at their place of business, while commercial retailers—such as the national eyewear chains represented by the NAOO [National Association of Optometrists and Opticians]—are barred from furnishing on-site optometry services." So starts a Cato Institute blog post written by Ilya Shapiro. "The NAOO...sued California officials for discriminating against out-of-state retailers...The district court ruled in the group's favor...The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed, however...On the case's second round in the Ninth Circuit, the court...again upheld the ban on co-location by out-of-staters. Cato now joins the Opticians Association of America and five individual optometrists on an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to take the case...We argue that California's laws are unconstitutional because their true purpose...was merely to protect in-state business interests." Read more.

California Not to Accept Stand Alone Vision Plans

Ten days ago, "the California Health Benefits Exchange board voted to exclude stand-alone vision plans from offering coverage in the California Health Benefits individual exchange," reports the Sacramento Business Journal. "The reasons given were that these plans are “not allowed” to participate and because of administrative complexity and cost." Read more.

Texas and California Toughen Priacy Rules

Health care practitioners in Texas and California should review their privacy protection programs to ensure compliance with new laws in those states, according to the AOA Advocacy Group.Both of the new state laws establish privacy standards stricter than those outlined in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Read more.