Section 944 - Rebates, kickbacks, etc. - Permitting solicitation - Acts as employee or associate - Renting space or subleasing departmentsA. It shall be unlawful for any optometrist, physician or other person doing, or purporting or pretending to do eye examination or visual correction to receive or accept any rebate, kickback, reward or premium from any optical company or any other person, firm or corporation dealing in optical goods, appliances or materials, or knowingly allow or permit any person engaged in or interested in the sale of such optical goods, appliances, or materials, to solicit business for any person licensed under the provisions of Chapters 11 or 13 of this title. It shall be unlawful for any optometrist, physician, or other person to make an eye examination, or do visual correction in any manner, either directly or indirectly as an employee or associate of a person, firm, corporation, lay body, organization, group or lay person and it shall be likewise unlawful for any corporation, lay body, organization, group or lay person in any manner to make an eye examination or perform any visual correction through the means of engaging the services on a salary, commission or any other compensatory basis of a person licensed under the provisions of Chapters 11 or 13 of this title, provided that this sentence shall not apply to the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine and Hospitals, OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine or to a bona fide resident physician of a licensed hospital, and provided further that renting a separate area or room and practicing optometry within or adjacent to a retail store shall not be considered a violation of this section.B. A person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of retailing merchandise to the general public may rent a separate area or room within a retail store to an optometrist or optometric professional corporation for the practice of optometry in the following counties: 1. For the period beginning November 1, 2019, through October 31, 2024, in counties having a population of three hundred thousand (300,000) or more persons according to the latest Federal Decennial Census or most recent population estimate; 2. For the period beginning November 1, 2024, through October 31, 2029, in counties having a population of one hundred thirty thousand (130,000) persons or more according to the latest Federal Decennial Census or most recent population estimate;3. For the period beginning November 1, 2029, through October 31, 2036, in counties having a population of one hundred thousand (100,000) persons or more according to the latest Federal Decennial Census or most recent population estimate; 4. For the period beginning November 1, 2036, through October 31, 2042, in counties having a population of fifty thousand (50,000) persons or more according to the latest Federal Decennial Census or most recent population estimate; and5. For the period beginning November 1, 2042, and for all periods thereafter, all counties of the state.C. For separate areas or rooms rented for the practice of optometry pursuant to subsection B of this section, the area or room rented for the practice of optometry must be definite and apart from space used by other occupants of the premises. Solid, opaque partitions or walls from floor to ceiling, which may contain doors and windows, must separate the area or room rented for the practice of optometry from space used by other occupants. The area or room rented for the practice of optometry must have a patient's entrance opening on a public thoroughfare, such as a public street, hall, lobby or corridor; provided that the space rented for the practice of optometry can also be accessible for a patient from the retail store if the access is through a second room with a door such that the patient does not have access to the space rented for the practice of optometry directly from the general retail area of the retail store. Renting a separate area or room and practicing optometry within or adjacent to a retail store shall not be considered a rebate, kickback, reward or premium.D. No lessor shall include a requirement in any lease of real property pursuant to which an optometrist or the professional business entity owned by the optometrist is required to maintain specific hours of operation or which provides for payment of rent or reduction of rent based on the gross revenues of the optometrist or the professional business entity, whether characterized as production goals, patient visits or similar economic metrics or that requires or provides any type of incentive through the lease terms based on referrals by the optometrist or the professional business entity owned by the optometrist for purposes of the sale of any form of tangible personal property sold by the lessor, including, but not limited to, eyeglasses, frames, eye care products, eyeglass accessories or similar tangible personal property related to care of the human eye.E. A person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of retailing merchandise to the general public may sell optical goods, appliances or materials and function as an optical supplier in a retail store, regardless of whether a majority of the retail store's income is derived from the sale of prescription optical goods, appliances and materials or whether an optometrist is practicing optometry in such retail store.F. Optical goods, appliances or materials shall be subject to all provisions regarding below cost sales set forth in the Unfair Sales Act created in Section 598.1 et seq. of Title 15 of the Oklahoma Statutes.G. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person licensed under Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 of this title from organizing or maintaining a professional association with other persons so licensed.Okla. Stat. tit. 59, § 944
Amended by Laws 2019 , c. 427, s. 3, eff. 11/1/2019.