Rhode Island General Laws 5-35.1-9. Acts constituting unlawful practice of optometry
No optometrist licensed by and practicing in this state may:
(1) Use or occupy space for that practice under any oral or written lease, contract, arrangement, or understanding with anyone (other than with another optometrist licensed by, and practicing in this state) by which the rent paid by that licensed optometrist for that use or occupancy or any element of the expense of practicing his or her profession varies according to his or her gross receipts, net profit, taxable income, numeral volume of the patients examined by that licensed optometrist, or any combination;
(2) Use or occupy space for that practice in any building where more than fifty percent (50%) of the remaining space is used or occupied by tenants or a tenant of that building or the owner of that building and those tenants, tenant, or owner is engaged in the business of selling merchandise to the general public, if those tenants, tenant, or owner:
(i) Uses, or occupies that space under any oral or written lease, contract, arrangement, or understanding with anyone by which the rent paid by those tenants or tenant for that use or occupancy or any element in the cost of doing business varies according to the gross receipts, net profit, taxable income, numerical volume of sales or customers of those tenants or tenant or any combination;
(3) Advertise by written or spoken words of a character tending to deceive or mislead the public; or
(4) Practice his or her profession under any oral or written contract, arrangement, or understanding where anyone, not licensed to practice optometry practicing in this state shares, directly or indirectly, in any fees received by that licensed optometrist.
History of Section.
P.L. 2008, ch. 305, § 2; P.L. 2008, ch. 433, § 2.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-35.1-9
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Optometrist: means a person licensed in this state to practice optometry pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-35.1-1
- Optometry: means the profession whose practitioners are engaged in the art and science of the evaluation of vision and the examination of vision and the examination and refraction of the human eye that includes: the employment of any objective or subjective means for the examination of the human eye or its appendages; the measurement of the powers or range of human vision or the determination of the accommodative and refractive powers of the human eye or the scope of its functions in general and the adaptation of lenses, prisms, and/or frames for the aid of these; the prescribing, directing the use of, or administering ocular exercises, visual training, vision training, or orthoptics, and the use of any optical device in connection with these; the prescribing of contact lenses for, or the fitting or adaptation of contact lenses to, the human eye; the examination or diagnosis of the human eye to ascertain the presence of abnormal conditions or functions; and the application of pharmaceutical agents to the eye, provided, that no optometrist licensed in this state shall perform any surgery for the purpose of detecting any diseased or pathological condition of the eye. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-35.1-1