Court rules opticians can't prescribe glasses with test ..........................
Originally Posted by edKENdance
interesting .............................
Court rules opticians can't prescribe glasses with test
A Hamilton optician's legal challenge to the way eyeglasses are dispensed has been struck down in court as a threat to public health.
James McLean, who operates Westdale Optical Boutique, wanted to use a computerized device called the Eyelogic System to decide if his clients need glasses. Trouble is, that's illegal in Ontario, where glasses can only be prescribed after the patient has been physically examined by an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
McLean wanted to get around that by faxing test results to an ophthalmologist in Alberta and asked the court for a ruling that nothing in Ontario law prohibited his plan. He was opposed by the provincial attorney general, who argued his business plan was prohibited by the Opticianry Act and the Regulated Health Professions Act.
click link to continue ..........................
Thanks for the double post Chris
Will Big E pick up the tab for Mc Lean. I bet they might have even put him up to it. BUT his reasonimg is correct. Why do optometrist have the right to dispense eyeglasses. Is it not a conflict of interest. Jean Coutu pharmacy had the same conflict...supply medecine to patients for lung cancer while they were selling cigaretts. They decide to not sell cigarettes which was highly reputable. Optometrist ( no offence meant) want it all. When will they butt heads with opthalmologist, for the right to do minor surgery more medical precription dispensing.
While you are busy with your foot in your mouth, there are others just as likely to be happy to fund that lawsuit for a win or at least a legal definition. Stop and think who would be every bit as happy had Jimmy won.
I find it humorous that the province is sticking him with the $23K legal bill. Karma is a female dog!
afghgokjpoiu(y(uh .......Sorry I can't talk properly with a foot in my mouth.
The province is still recoiling from the Bergez affair, the College lawsuits and sending swat teams out to deal with other embarrassments. The province is still wiping egg off their sorry political faces. But they got some satisfaction with their western bag of tricks.
How many optiboard members, spent days and weeks calling for something to be done about Bergez. How many called him out for done everything wrong. Now Mr. Mc lean wants to legalize the same practice as Bergez except adding in the opthalmologist. So what makes that any different from Bergez.
Step back and ask, which eye doctor will sign off on an Rx that has been faxed to him....never saw the patient...full of legal responsability....will he be paid by the optician (they won't do it for free) and you have a situation similar to what we have all screamed at about Coastal Contacts.
Ask yourself again, if it were legal, how far would you take it to make a sale. With no medical parameters and just an Eyelogic Rx print out, where is the difference between ordering online and you making a pair of auto-refracted eyeglasses. There isn't one. You are trying to gain access to a method that will allow ECP's the right to pump out Rx's for the glory of the sale.
And the public. Do you really think they know the difference between a complete eye eaxm and a new fancy, high tech,digital approach to an eye exam. Do you think they will not be more willing to pay $25.00 for a quick refraction rather than $75.00 - $125.00 for a full eye exam. Look at CC in BC with their auto exams.
And how can ECP's possibly believe that when Bergez was doing this, and had so many complaints, that it would be any different for them...just because it was now legal.
Truly, I beleive that the key to this new world of optics is a fair and equal distribution of the professional practices. Each of the 3 O,s is a specialist in their own field. Why do we have to 7/11 each profession. We are not your corner convience store, we are each professional practitioners with a specific skill. If you want a level playing field strive for that.
Opthlmologists.....medial cases, and mediaction etc.....optometrists....IE: like a GP, complete and comprehensive eye exams (glaucoma,fields, etc) and mild medications , contact lenses.....but no eyeglass sales......opticians......eyeglasses and nothing else, no contacts.
But I say to you, until there is a mutual agreement upon the above statement, the optical business wil contiune in a mess. There will be constant fighting and complaing without any sucessfull results. ECP,s need to re-quantify the optical trade and make changes, not trying to find a way to open the backdoor of our profession to irresponsable practices.
Last edited by coupe; 02-07-2015 at 09:47 AM.
Very well said Coupe !
It Is difficult to understand why "the powers that be" have fixated on unbundling the refraction from the health exam.
You are exactly right , the public doesn't know what they don't know and the same is true of opticians.
Beautiful post, however I believe it is a bit late .........as the largest optical corporation has decided to invade the optical ECP retail business even in the European countries which had been properly organized.
Thanks to the internet we can now look at the daily newspapers in localized areas of Europe in different languages and click the button, and get a translation in seconds.
The Coastal advertising s are now all over to see in daily newspapers and can be contacted by phone for orders. Delivery is promised not any later than in Canada while :
Flight time from Vancouver to Zurich is 12 hours 27 minutes according to Swissair.Maybe they have started to produce the jobs in their own local labs in Europe and hide behind the "Coastal" name.
Thanks to Steve and his OptiBoard we have a piece of history and can check back over the feelings of its members in this matter and should not be surprised at the outcome of it.
You could be partially right Chris.
If anyone read the recent press release a couple of weeks ago, E has started a new Canadian holdings company to which all companies owned in part or in whole by E shall now be reporting up to this new company, even E Canada division itself.
Their current president (MT) is now in charge of the new company effective Feb. 1st and his post has been filled by a Canadian employee that was working for E U.S....from what I understand the new guy has very little experience and comes from a marketing background and this isn't sitting well with the board. Very large shoes to fill for sure and is concerning.
Most of the finishing equipment from CC has been shipped to TO, the main hub for all operations and all edge and mount will be performed remotely through trace and edge transmit technology. All remaining E labs shall now act as satellite customer service centres and based on their location will have their work surfaced surfaced and edged in either TO, MTL or VCR.
The affiliate companies (Sham, Nik, IND labs etc.) will continue to operate independently although will still report up to the new mothership. With all of the new synergies and efficiencies created, (amalgamation of HR, accounting etc.) I can only assume that cutting heads will be necessary once the transformation is complete.
We shall see...
Last edited by Lab Insight; 02-08-2015 at 09:26 AM.
ECP's hold on, the coaster cart goes into an eight ........................
Very interesting. So they could also transfer any Rx information to some of their European Labs or anywhere else to provide a faster and smoother service in local areas. So the Coastal becomes a skeleton company.
You're right. It doesn't make a lot of sense that optometrists can dispense. Previous regulations forbid optometrists from working with opticians because of the potential that if they were employed by an optician, they might unnecessarily prescribe glasses in order to benefit their employer. Yet the regulations never took into account whether they'd unnecessarily prescribe glasses in order to benefit themselves.
But although opticians like to complain about optometric dispensing, they really have no one but themselves to blame for the continued practice. Who would/should be the ones to lobby against optometric dispensing? From every conceivable angle, it should be opticians leading the fight. But they choose not to. Ever consider why? Why doesn't organized opticianary condemn and try to revoke optometric dispensing?
Reason is: The day opticians make the case against optometric dispensing, is the day the case for optician refraction ends. How would opticians be able to expand into refraction, if their argument against optometrists is that no one should be permitted to both refract and dispense? Organized opticianry doesn't want to give that potential scope expansion away, and in doing so, optometric dispensing loses its primary opposition.
The result? Status quo, and optometrists continue to prescibe and dispense.
and there is no qualified leadership, plus the flock are willing to be sheep and herded by anyone
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