Ophthalmic Devices, Drugs, and Prescribing Authority
This domain covers what you may prescribe, how prescriptions must be handled, and the device rules that generate complaints.
Prescribing authority
Indiana optometrists hold therapeutic authority for legend topical and oral medications for conditions of the eye and adnexa, within the statute and Board rules. Prescribing outside that authority, or for a non-ocular purpose, is a scope violation rather than a judgment call.
Controlled substances
A controlled-substance prescription requires both a DEA registration and an Indiana Controlled Substance Registration. Indiana prescribers must register with INSPECT, the state prescription monitoring program, and check it before prescribing opioids or benzodiazepines, subject to limited exceptions. Federal law requires a legitimate medical purpose and a valid prescriber-patient relationship, and Schedule II prescriptions cannot be refilled.
Devices and prescriptions
- Spectacle prescriptions must be released after the exam; you may not charge separately to release them or condition release on buying eyewear.
- Contact lens prescriptions must be released at completion of a successful fitting with the parameters the FTC Contact Lens Rule requires; patients may buy lenses elsewhere, and fax or telephone orders require a signed acknowledgment or documented verification.
- Device use must match FDA labeling; off-label use is a clinical and documentation risk.
Worked example
A patient says the optical is holding her glasses prescription until she pays for the exam. That is a violation. Release the prescription and pursue the debt separately.
Traps
Self-prescribing or prescribing for family outside a genuine emergency; skipping an INSPECT query; writing a contact lens prescription with incomplete parameters; assuming a DEA number alone authorizes controlled substances in Indiana.