The legislation targeted services offered by Opternative and other firms.
The governor of Kentucky has signed into law a bill regulating online eye exams, Berea Online reports.
The news organization quoted Dr. Ben Gaddie, legislative liaison for the Kentucky Optometric Association, saying: “The goal was to create reasonable consumer protection standards for Kentucky families while allowing for the continued use and growth of telehealth.”
An early version of the bill would have required patients to interact with an eye doctor in real time. The bill targeted services provided by Opternative, Simple Contacts and other companies that offer mobile eye exams via smartphone app; several states have already passed legislation regulating such services.
But the Courier-Journal of Louisville reported in mid-March that the bill had been scaled back to no longer include the requirement for a real-time visit.
The version that Gov. Matt Bevin signed into law included provisions such as a requirement that patients be at least 18 to use technology and a bar on using it for an initial contact lens prescription, according to Berea Online. It also prohibits prescriptions for patients who haven’t, at some point in the past two years, had an in-the-flesh eye exam.
Read more at Berea Online