NOCE Laws and Professional Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act, within how many business days must a prescriber release a contact lens prescription after the fitting is complete?
- 1 business day (Correct answer)
- 3 business days
- 5 business days
- 7 business days
Correct answer: 1 business day
The FCLCA requires prescribers to provide the contact lens prescription to the patient immediately after the fitting is complete, or within 1 business day.
Question 2: Which federal agency primarily regulates the manufacture and labeling of prescription eyeglass lenses and frames as medical devices?
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Correct answer)
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Correct answer: Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The FDA regulates prescription eyeglass lenses and contact lenses as medical devices under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Question 3: A patient requests a copy of their eyeglass prescription but the optometrist's office says they must pay an inflated fee before receiving it. Under FTC rules, this is:
- Permissible if the fee covers administrative costs
- A violation — patients must receive prescriptions at no extra charge (Correct answer)
- Acceptable only if the exam was covered by insurance
- Legal if the patient signed a waiver at intake
Correct answer: A violation — patients must receive prescriptions at no extra charge
Under the FTC Eyeglass Rule, prescribers must provide a copy of the prescription to the patient at no additional charge upon completion of the exam.
Question 4: Which of the following actions by an optician would most likely constitute practicing outside their scope of practice in most U.S. states?
- Adjusting a patient's frame at the nose pads
- Interpreting an optical prescription and fabricating lenses
- Diagnosing a patient with myopia and prescribing corrective lenses (Correct answer)
- Dispensing non-prescription sunglasses
Correct answer: Diagnosing a patient with myopia and prescribing corrective lenses
Diagnosing refractive errors and prescribing lenses is within the scope of optometrists or ophthalmologists, not opticians.
Question 5: A state board of opticianry receives a complaint that a licensed optician altered a patient's prescription without authorization. This would best be described as:
- A civil liability matter only
- An OSHA recordable incident
- Grounds for disciplinary action including possible license revocation (Correct answer)
- A minor infraction requiring only a written warning
Correct answer: Grounds for disciplinary action including possible license revocation
Altering a prescription without authorization is a serious ethical and legal violation that can result in disciplinary action up to and including license revocation.
Question 6: When a dispensing optician sells non-prescription (plano) sunglasses, which labeling requirement enforced by the FDA must still be met?
- The lenses must carry an Rx symbol indicating medical-grade quality
- The lenses must meet impact resistance standards under 21 CFR 801.410 (Correct answer)
- The frames must be labeled with the optician's license number
- Tinted lenses must include a UV protection index of at least 400
Correct answer: The lenses must meet impact resistance standards under 21 CFR 801.410
Under 21 CFR 801.410, all spectacle lenses sold in the United States — including plano sunglasses — must meet impact resistance requirements.
Question 7: An optician in a two-for-one sale advertises 'free lenses' with frame purchase but adds undisclosed charges later. Which regulatory body would most likely investigate this as a deceptive trade practice?
- FDA
- State Board of Optometry
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (Correct answer)
- Department of Labor
Correct answer: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
The FTC enforces consumer protection laws against deceptive advertising and unfair trade practices in the optical retail industry.
NOCE Laws and Professional Standards 2
Under the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act, within how many business days must a prescriber release a contact lens prescription after the fitting is complete?