Senate Bill 2777 Amends the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act
Changes verification process from "passive" (vendor can fill if we don't answer in 8 hours) to "active" (vendor MUST wait on us to answer).
https://legiscan.com/US/bill/SB2777/2015
I always go for an annual CL exam. My employer covers it in full and so I have very little incentive not to do it. However, my employer does not cover the cost of my lenses in full - they will give me $225 and that's it. My OD charges over $800 for a full year's supply of the lenses I use.
Online, I pay about $685 for the same lenses. If my OD was at least somewhat competitive, I'd buy through them. But as it is, the money is coming out of my own pocket and if I can save $175, I'm going to do it.
What does this have to do with passive/active verification? Well, my OD's staff always gives me attitude when I ask for my prescription. It's never handed over automatically as the law suggests it should be. So this year, instead of going through the awkwardness and asking for the actual script, I just bought the lenses online after my exam and asked the company to call my OD's office, so they could deal with the awkwardness.
Well, the OD never replied, despite my prescription being issued the same day. And so, my order was automatically shipped under the passive provision of existing law.
I guess I am saying that I understand why this is being done, as patients do abuse the system. At the same time, there are certain ODs that employ various tactics to try to capture sales which are hardly consumer or patient friendly.
The funny thing is that I think the OD himself is great at what he does. I'd pay additional out of pocket for his exam. But, I'm sorry, boxes of contact lenses are commodities and I'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars more for the "convenience" of ordering through an OD's office during business hours when I can buy online 24x7x365 and get my order shipped whenever and wherever I want, including overnight situations when luggage is lost, I rip a lens, I forget them, whatever.
all excellent points and there is no perfect system. FTR I absolutely despise it when OD's act like that. I make it a point to release all Rx's w/o scorn and instruct our staff to do the same.
Let me give the patient's perspective here.
ReplyDeleteI always go for an annual CL exam. My employer covers it in full and so I have very little incentive not to do it. However, my employer does not cover the cost of my lenses in full - they will give me $225 and that's it. My OD charges over $800 for a full year's supply of the lenses I use.
Online, I pay about $685 for the same lenses. If my OD was at least somewhat competitive, I'd buy through them. But as it is, the money is coming out of my own pocket and if I can save $175, I'm going to do it.
What does this have to do with passive/active verification? Well, my OD's staff always gives me attitude when I ask for my prescription. It's never handed over automatically as the law suggests it should be. So this year, instead of going through the awkwardness and asking for the actual script, I just bought the lenses online after my exam and asked the company to call my OD's office, so they could deal with the awkwardness.
Well, the OD never replied, despite my prescription being issued the same day. And so, my order was automatically shipped under the passive provision of existing law.
I guess I am saying that I understand why this is being done, as patients do abuse the system. At the same time, there are certain ODs that employ various tactics to try to capture sales which are hardly consumer or patient friendly.
The funny thing is that I think the OD himself is great at what he does. I'd pay additional out of pocket for his exam. But, I'm sorry, boxes of contact lenses are commodities and I'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars more for the "convenience" of ordering through an OD's office during business hours when I can buy online 24x7x365 and get my order shipped whenever and wherever I want, including overnight situations when luggage is lost, I rip a lens, I forget them, whatever.
all excellent points and there is no perfect system. FTR I absolutely despise it when OD's act like that. I make it a point to release all Rx's w/o scorn and instruct our staff to do the same.
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