FTC Staff Urges Washington Legislature to Consider Effects of Proposed Eye Care Measure on Competiti
Federal Trade Commission press release ----------- Federal Trade Commission staff submitted a comment to the Washington State Legislature concerning proposed legislation that would, among other things, restrict the use of telehealth eye care in which a practitioner distant from a patient uses data received by telecommunications as the basis for a prescription for corrective lenses. The proposed legislation would require ophthalmologists and optometrists to conduct complete and comprehensive in-person eye exams prior to providing corrective vision prescriptions. In response to a request by Washington State Representative Paul Graves seeking FTC staff comments on the likely impact Substitute Senate Bill 5411/H.B. 1473 will have on Washington state consumers and the market in general, staff of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning and its Bureaus of Economics and Competition stated that the Bill, if adopted, may reduce competition, access, and consumer choice in eye care services, and might also raise costs for consumers. To learn more click on the picture below to read the release.