By now, most web-savvy individuals with less than perfect vision know they can get an eye exam and prescription from a local provider, then use that prescription to purchase cheaper glasses or contact lenses online.
By now, most web-savvy individuals with less than perfect vision know they can get an eye exam and prescription from a local provider, then use that prescription to purchase cheaper glasses or contact lenses online.
That's been a threat to brick-and-mortar eye doctors for years. Two major retailers, Warby Parker and 1-800-CONTACTS have poached at least 59,000 potential sales from Connecticut eye doctors, according to the companies' own numbers.
Now, local doctors face another challenge. The more recent advent of companies offering refractive eye tests through websites or kiosks threatens another key revenue source for optometry and ophthalmology practices.
Companies offering such telemedicine eye tests include Opternative, which partners with in-state doctors who issue the actual prescription to the patient, as well as EyeNetra, Blink and MyVisionPOD.
But a bill progressing through the state legislature could throw a wrench into the at-home eye exam business model.
House Bill 6012, which was approved by the Public Health Committee late last month, would forbid optometrists and ophthalmologists from issuing a prescription without first performing an in-person eye exam — a service for which patients would have to pay.
Proponents of the bill — mostly eye doctors — argue that refraction tests alone are not enough to assess eye health and that the technologies are unproven — something online retailers dispute. However, even supporters of the bill admit that the risk of harm from incorrect prescriptions is rare.
Meanwhile, internet companies and several out-of-state eye doctors testified that telemedicine eye exams are safe and that the bill would limit innovation and could deprive low-income residents of lower-cost options.
Connecticut wouldn't be the first state to restrict online ocular exams. Just last year, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Oklahoma all passed laws with similar provisions. In addition, Michigan banned refraction kiosks in 2014.
– Matt Pilon
