Professional Conduct Rules

PURPOSE: This rule explains the professional conduct required of licensed optometrists. (1) Every licensed optometrist whose name, office address, phone number, or place of practice appears or is mentioned in any advertisement of any kind or character is presumed to have caused, allowed, permitted, approved, and sanctioned the advertisement and is personally and professionally responsible for the content and character of the advertisement. (2) The term advertising, as used in section 336.110, RSMo and this rule, includes, but is not limited to, advertising by means of any of the following media: (A) Newspapers, magazines, periodicals, programs, circulars, handbills, stationery, web pages, Internet communications, or any other forms of printed, mimeographed, offset, typewritten, or otherwise reproduced material; (B) Motion pictures; (C) Broadcasts by radio, television, or public address systems; and (D) Signs of every kind and description including billboards, posters, building signs, corridor signs, stair signs, and window signs. (3) Advertisements which will be deemed to violate section (3) include, but are not limited to, those which: (A) Use words that are apt to be misunderstood or qualifying references in smaller type which are apt to be overlooked by a casual reader; (B) Exaggerate the quality of goods or services; (C) Contain any promise of improved condition; (D) Contain self-laudatory statements or claims of superiority over other licensed optometrists or other health care professionals or any reference to the quality of care provided; or (E) Fail to identify the optometrist’s profession by not including the word optometrist, doctor of optometry, or O.D. following the optometrist’s name. (4) Advertising concerning the cost and availability of ophthalmic goods and services is deemed to be misleading unless it contains the following disclosures: (A) Whether an advertised price includes single vision, multifocal lenses, or both; (B) Whether an advertised price for contact lenses refers to soft or hard contact lenses, or both; (C) Whether an advertised price for ophthalmic goods includes an eye examination; (D) Whether an advertised price for ophthalmic goods includes all dispensing fees; and (E) Whether an advertised price for eyeglasses includes both frames and lenses. (5) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require that the optometrist advertise the price of particular goods or services. (6) It shall be considered dishonesty in the practice of optometry for an optometrist to permit, allow, or cause a person who is not a licensed optometrist or a licensed physician or surgeon to use the optometrist’s prescription or optometric findings to fit a contact lens upon a patient or member of the public. (7) It shall be considered misconduct in the practice of optometry to— (A) Write or allow to be written any prescription for ophthalmic materials or pharmaceutical agents which does not legibly include on the face of the prescription the license number of the optometrist, the full name of the optometrist (printed or typed), the optometrist or the initials O.D., and the signature of the prescribing optometrist; or (B) Verbally communicate or allow to be communicated to the individual or business who will be filling the prescription any prescription for ophthalmic materials or pharmaceutical agents without communicating or causing to be communicated the full name and license number of the prescribing optometrist. (8) It shall be considered dishonesty in the practice of optometry for an optometrist to enter into an agreement or arrangement where s/he permits, allows, or causes a person who is not a licensed optometrist or a licensed physician or surgeon to do any of the following acts upon a patient or member of the public: (A) Examine the eye to ascertain the presence of defects or abnormal conditions of the eye; (B) Determine the corrective qualities to be incorporated in a contact or spectacle lens; or (C) Adjust or fit a contact lens to the eye. (9) Every licensed optometrist providing optometric services prominently shall display his/her name and identify his/her profession by including the word optometrist, doctor of optometry, or O.D. at the entrance of his/her office(s) any times during which these services are offered. (10) An optometrist is associated in business if s/he is a partner or if s/he is an employee or the holder of ten percent (10%) or more of the stock in a corporation or an officer or director of a corporation, or is guaranteed, promised, or paid a commission, repayment of expenses, or other remuneration. (11) An optometrist who is associated in business with a person, firm, or corporation which deals in optometric goods shall disclose this business relationship to his/her patients prior to the formation of an expressed or implied contract for optometric services. This disclosure shall include the name of the employer of the optometrist or state the name of the business in which s/he holds an interest or of which s/he is a member, officer, or director and shall take the form of a sign posted in clear public view or a printed statement delivered to each patient in his/her care. (12) Sections (10) and (11) of this rule shall not apply to an optometrist who is associated in business merely by being a member or an employee of a professional corporation lawfully organized and registered pursuant to the provisions of Chapters 336 and 356, RSMo and the rules of the board applicable to those chapters, or by being a member or salaried employee of a health services corporation lawfully organized and registered in accordance with Chapter 354, RSMo. (13) An optometrist who rents or leases office space on the premises of a business which deals in optometric goods and who is not associated with that business shall disclose that fact in the manner described in section (11) of this rule. AUTHORITY: section 336.110, RSMo 2016, and section 336.160.1, RSMo Supp. 2018.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 210-2.060. Original rule filed Dec. 19, 1975, effective Dec. 29, 1975. Amended: Filed March 10, 1977, effective Aug. 11, 1977. Amended: Filed Aug. 30, 1979, effective Feb. 11, 1980. Rescinded and readopted: Filed Oct. 14, 1981, effective Jan. 14, 1982. Amended: Filed Oct. 27, 1983, effective March 11, 1984. Amended: Filed Aug. 4, 1986, effective Nov. 13, 1986. Amended: Filed Aug. 13, 1991, effective Jan. 13, 1992. Moved to 20 CSR 2210-2.060, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Amended: Filed Dec. 5, 2007, effective June 30, 2008. Amended: Filed Aug. 23, 2018, effective Feb. 28, 2019. *Original authority: 336.110, RSMo 1939, amended 1947, 1978, 1981 and 336.160.1, RSMo 1939, amended 1947, 1963, 1981, 2007, 2008, 2018.