Laws, Regulations, and Standards Flashcards
7 cards from real NOCE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Laws, Regulations, and Standards flashcards as text
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an optical dispensary open to the public must:
Answer: Ensure physical accessibility and reasonable accommodations
Title III of the ADA requires places of public accommodation, including optical shops, to be physically accessible and provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities.
Which organization publishes the voluntary standards most commonly referenced for ophthalmic lens tolerances in the United States?
Answer: ANSI, often adopted by state boards
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) publishes the Z80 series of voluntary ophthalmic standards, which are widely adopted by state boards and the industry.
A patient's eyeglass prescription reads: OD -2.00 -1.00 x 090. The optician measures the finished lens and finds -2.00 -1.25 x 090. Under ANSI Z80.1, this lens:
Answer: Fails because cylinder power exceeds the ±0.13 D tolerance for this power range
ANSI Z80.1 allows a cylinder power tolerance of ±0.13 D for powers up to 2.00 D; a 0.25 D deviation exceeds this tolerance, so the lens fails.
Which of the following actions by an optician would constitute practicing outside their scope of practice in most US states?
Answer: Diagnosing a patient's refractive error
Diagnosing refractive errors constitutes the practice of optometry or ophthalmology; opticians are licensed to dispense and fit but not to examine or diagnose.
The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (FCLCA) requires contact lens prescribers to do which of the following?
Answer: Verify or deny third-party seller requests within 8 business hours
The FCLCA requires prescribers to verify or deny a contact lens seller's verification request within 8 business hours, after which passive verification (no response = confirmed) applies.
When a contact lens prescription expires and the patient requests a supply to last until their next appointment, what should the optician do?
Answer: Refuse to dispense and direct the patient to obtain a current prescription
Dispensing contact lenses on an expired prescription is prohibited under federal law; the optician must direct the patient to obtain a valid, current prescription.
A patient brings a handwritten prescription on plain paper with no letterhead. Under the FTC Eyeglass Rule, the optician should:
Answer: Fill it if it contains all required elements: patient name, prescriber info, issue date, power, and prescriber signature
The FTC Eyeglass Rule does not require letterhead; it requires the prescription to contain specific data elements, and a handwritten version meeting those requirements is valid.