Revision: Nov. 17, 2021, 9:33 a.m.
HB 1139 - AS INTRODUCED
2022 SESSION
22-2226
11/10
HOUSE BILL 1139
AN ACT relative to ophthalmic prescription requirements.
SPONSORS: Rep. Veilleux, Hills. 22; Rep. Petrigno, Hills. 23; Rep. Labranche, Hills. 22
COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
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ANALYSIS
This bill requires prescriptions for eyeglasses to contain interpupillary distance.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
22-2226
11/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Two
AN ACT relative to ophthalmic prescription requirements.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Ophthalmic Dispensing; Definitions; Prescription for Spectacle Lenses. Amend RSA 327-A:1, I-III to read as follows:
I. "Ophthalmic dispensing" means the design, verification, and delivery to the intended wearer of lenses, frames, and other specially fabricated optical devices upon prescription. It includes, but is not limited to, prescription analysis and interpretation; the taking of measurements to determine the size, shape, and specifications of the spectacle lenses, frames, or lens forms best suited to the wearer's needs; the preparation and delivery of work orders to laboratory technicians engaged in grinding lenses and fabricating eyewear; the verification of the quality of finished ophthalmic products, the adjustment of lenses or frames to the intended wearer's face; the delivery of such ophthalmic products including instruction in hygiene and insertion and removal of contact lenses; and the adjustment, replacement, and reproduction of previously prepared ophthalmic lenses, frames, contact lenses, or other specially fabricated ophthalmic devices. It does not include the alteration without permission of the prescriber of [any prescriptions] the refractive power, cylinder axis, and prism prescribed, nor does it include the fitting of contact lenses which may only be performed by ophthalmologists or optometrists pursuant to law regulating such practices, unless the ophthalmic dispenser is in possession of a statement of delegation authorizing the fitting of contact lenses.
II. "Fitting contact lenses" means measurement of the shape of the eye, as well as determining the lens specifications, including base curve, size, shape, thickness, color, and material composition.
III. "Prescription for spectacle lenses" means a dated and signed, written or oral direction not more than 24 months old from an ophthalmologist or optometrist for therapeutic or corrective lenses which states the prescribed refractive power, interpupillary distance, and when necessary, the vertex distance, cylinder axis, and prism. The oral prescription must be recorded and kept on file for one year by the ophthalmic dispenser.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.