54.1-2914 - Sale of controlled substances and medical devices or appliances; requirements for vision care services.
§ 54.1-2914. Sale of controlled substances and medical devices or appliances;requirements for vision care services.
A. A practitioner of the healing arts shall not engage in selling controlledsubstances unless he is licensed to do so by the Board of Pharmacy. However,this prohibition shall not apply to a doctor of medicine, osteopathy orpodiatry who administers controlled substances to his patients or providescontrolled substances to his patient in a bona fide medical emergency or whenpharmaceutical services are not available. Practitioners who sell or dispensecontrolled substances shall be subject to inspection by the Department ofHealth Professions to ensure compliance with Chapters 33 (§ 54.1-3300 etseq.) and 34 (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.) of this title and the Board of Pharmacy'sregulations. This subsection shall not apply to physicians acting on behalfof the Virginia Department of Health or local health departments.
B. A practitioner of the healing arts who may lawfully sell medicalappliances or devices shall not sell such appliances or devices to personswho are not his own patients and shall not sell such articles to his ownpatients either for his own convenience or for the purpose of supplementinghis income. This subsection shall not apply to physicians acting on behalf ofthe Virginia Department of Health or local health departments.
C. A practitioner of the healing arts may, from within the practitioner'soffice, engage in selling or promoting the sale of eyeglasses and maydispense contact lenses. Only those practitioners of the healing arts whoengage in the examination of eyes and prescribing of eyeglasses may engage inthe sale or promotion of eyeglasses. Practitioners shall not employ anyunlicensed person to fill prescriptions for eyeglasses within thepractitioner's office except as provided in subdivision A 6 of § 54.1-2901. Apractitioner may also own, in whole or in part, an optical dispensary locatedadjacent to or at a distance from his office.
D. Any practitioner of the healing arts engaging in the examination of eyesand prescribing of eyeglasses shall give the patient a copy of anyprescription for eyeglasses and inform the patient of his right to have theprescription filled at the establishment of his choice. No practitioner whoowns, in whole or in part, an establishment dispensing eyeglasses shall makeany statement or take any action, directly or indirectly, that infringes onthe patient's right to have a prescription filled at an establishment otherthan the one in which the practitioner has an ownership interest.
Disclosure of ownership interest by a practitioner as required by § 54.1-2964or participation by the practitioner in contractual arrangements withthird-party payors or purchasers of vision care services shall not constitutea violation of this subsection.
(Code 1950, § 54-317; 1954, c. 627; 1958, c. 161; 1966, cc. 166, 657; 1968,c. 582; 1970, c. 69; 1973, c. 529; 1975, c. 508; 1978, c. 622; 1979, c. 727;1980, c. 157; 1985, c. 96; 1986, c. 86; 1988, cc. 765, 904; 1989, c. 510;1994, c. 70; 1998, c. 580; 2001, cc. 268, 858; 2005, c. 163.)