(a) The licensure requirements of this act shall not apply to optometry officers in the medical service of the armed forces of the United States, the United States Public Health Service, the Veterans' Administration or optometrists employed in Federal service, while in discharge of their official duties.
(b) The board shall permit externs, who are optometric students, to perform procedures and tests for the sole purpose of instruction and experience under the direct supervision and control of an optometrist licensed in this Commonwealth if the procedures and tests are within the scope of practice of the optometrist. Nothing contained in this act shall be construed to entitle an extern to practice optometry.
(c) The board may, upon written application and payment of the regular examination fee, issue a license without an examination to any applicant who:
(1) is at least 21 years of age; and
(2)(i) has passed a standard examination in optometry in any other state or all parts of the examination given by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, provided that the standards of the other state or the National Board are equal to or exceed the standards of this Commonwealth; or
(ii) is licensed in another state and has practiced in that state for a minimum of four years immediately preceding application.
(d) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the board from imposing additional uniform educational requirements as a requisite for licensure.
(e) Nothing in this act shall prohibit the sale, duplication and reproduction or dispensing of frames, lenses, spectacles or eyeglasses and related optical appurtenances by any person provided that no such person shall change or modify an original lens power except on a signed written order of a licensed doctor of optometry or licensed physician and surgeon. The sale or manufacture of ready-to-wear spectacles and eyeglasses does not constitute change or modification of an original lens power within the meaning of this act.
(f) The provisions of this act shall not apply to physicians licensed under the laws of this Commonwealth.
(g) Nothing in this act shall prohibit the fitting of contact lenses by a person acting under the direction, personal supervision and control of a physician or an optometrist within the standards of practice of his or her respective profession.
(h) Nothing in this act shall prohibit any individual from fitting an appropriate contact lens for a specific intended wearer and the complete assisting of such wearer in the use of the contact lens, provided that:
(1) The individual who fits the contact lens successfully passed the examination administered by the National Contact Lens Examiners as of July 14, 1986, and is currently certified by the National Contact Lens Examiners.
(2) The fitting is based on prescription of a licensed physician or optometrist.
(3) The wearer is informed, in writing, to return to the prescribing physician or optometrist for periodic evaluation during the fit, at intervals not to exceed three months or whenever the fitter feels professional judgment is needed.
(4) The individual who passed the examination administered by the National Contact Lens Examiners as of July 14, 1986, submitted evidence of such successful examination to the board by September 12, 1986.
(5) The board shall compile and publish a list of individuals who meet the requirements of this subsection and shall enforce the provisions of this subsection.
(i) Nothing in this act shall prohibit any optometrist from leasing space from an establishment or from paying for franchise fees or other services on a percentage of gross receipts basis.
