New Jersey Law

[wmcdonald]

HIPAA does not address this at all, and as no affect on it. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guards a patients privacy and allows for portability of insurance coverage if a person changes or loses their employment. Providing a PD is a personal choice, not mandated by anyone or any law as of yet. It may be required of ODs when an exam is completed at some point, but not Opticians. There are different reactions to giving PDs across the industry. Some do so in hopes patients will return to them for other services (see above). Some feel it does not work that way for and refuse to provide measurements unless they provide eyewear. NJ has some rather strict laws but I do not think that is covered at all.

[batmannorm]

As I mentioned in my previous post, New Jersey does not require opticians to give the pd to the patient regardless if the patient purchased glasses or not. The FAQ page of both the Board of Optometry and Board of Ophthalmic Dispensers address this issue. Therefore, absent of a regulation, the O's are not required to release or take a pd to give to the patient. That choice is left to the O's to determine, and consider the risks if they believe there may be. Refunds have a similar absent of regulation. Although there are certain consumer regulations that speak to custom made items that eyeglasses would fall under. It is a "seller" beware situation. Your stated, posted or printed refund policy is what you may be bound to. Actually, you would be best not to post one, otherwise you will be stuck with it. Without one, the glasses are a custom made item and you are then given the option of issuing a refund or not.

[Barry Santini]

The only risks in the giving-out-the-PD question are about the resultant optix.

B