Clock Ticking Down for Opternative in Indiana

Hoosier State to soon join two other states to ban the online eye exam company.

A new Indiana law taking effect on July 1 will prohibit Opternative, the Chicago-based online eye exam company, from operating in the state, Indiana Public Media writes. The article says that the new law “allows doctors to write some prescriptions without seeing a patient in-person” but “prohibits the prescription of contacts, glasses or low-vision devices through telemedicine.”

Indiana will soon join Georgia and South Carolina as the other states to ban the controversial company, which still operates in 33 other states. Charging $40 for an eye test that produces a prescription for contacts or glasses, Opternative CEO Aaron Dallek says that its smartphone testing app increases access to eyecare, while the American Optometric Association is pushing the FDA to remove the app from the market.

Read more at Indiana Public Media