As used in this section, “office” means any office or other place for the practice of optometry.
(a) No person, singly or in combination with others, may have an office unless he or she is licensed to practice optometry under this chapter.
(b) An optometrist, or two or more optometrists jointly, may have one office without obtaining a branch office license from the board.
(c) On and after October 1, 1959, no optometrist, and no two or more optometrists jointly, may have more than one office unless he or she or they comply with the provisions of this chapter as to an additional office. The additional office, for the purposes of this chapter, constitutes a branch office.
(d) Any optometrist who has, or any two or more optometrists, jointly, who have, a branch office prior to January 1, 1957, and who desire to continue the branch office on or after that date shall notify the board in writing of that desire in a manner prescribed by the board.
(e) On and after January 1, 1957, any optometrist, or any two or more optometrists, jointly, who desire to open a branch office shall notify the board in writing in a manner prescribed by the board.
(f) On and after January 1, 1957, no branch office may be opened or operated without a branch office license. Branch office licenses shall be valid for the calendar year in or for which they are issued and shall be renewable on January 1 of each year thereafter. Branch office licenses shall be issued or renewed only upon the payment of the fee therefor prescribed by this chapter.
On or after October 1, 1959, no more than one branch office license shall be issued to any optometrist or to any two or more optometrists, jointly.
(g) Any failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter relating to branch offices or branch office licenses as to any branch office shall work the suspension of the optometrist license of each optometrist who, individually or with others, has a branch office. An optometrist license so suspended shall not be restored except upon compliance with those provisions and the payment of the fee prescribed by this chapter for restoration of a license after suspension for failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter relating to branch offices.
(h) The holder or holders of a branch office license shall pay the annual renewal fee therefor in the amount required by this chapter between the first day of January and the first day of February of each year. The failure to pay the fee in advance on or before February 1 of each year during the time it is in force shall ipso facto work the suspension of the branch office license. The license shall not be restored except upon written application and the payment of the penalty prescribed by this chapter, and, in addition, all delinquent branch office fees.
(i) Nothing in this chapter shall limit or authorize the board to limit the number of branch offices that are in operation on October 1, 1959, and that conform to this chapter, nor prevent an optometrist from acquiring any branch office or offices of his or her parent. The sale after October 1, 1959, of any branch office shall terminate the privilege of operating the branch office, and no new branch office license shall be issued in place of the license issued for the branch office, unless the branch office is the only one operated by the optometrist or by two or more optometrists jointly.
Nothing in this chapter shall prevent an optometrist from owning, maintaining, or operating more than one branch office if he or she is in personal attendance at each of his or her offices 50 percent of the time during which the office is open for the practice of optometry.
(j) The board shall have the power to adopt, amend, and repeal rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this section.
(k) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, neither an optometrist nor an individual practice association shall be deemed to have an additional office solely by reason of the optometrist’s participation in an individual practice association or the individual practice association’s creation or operation. As used in this subdivision, the term “individual practice association” means an entity that meets all of the following requirements:
(1) Complies with the definition of an optometric corporation in Section 3160.
(2) Operates primarily for the purpose of securing contracts with health care service plans or other third-party payers that make available eye/vision services to enrollees or subscribers through a panel of optometrists.
(3) Contracts with optometrists to serve on the panel of optometrists, but does not obtain an ownership interest in, or otherwise exercise control over, the respective optometric practices of those optometrists on the panel.
Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to exempt an optometrist who is a member of an individual practice association and who practices optometry in more than one physical location, from the requirement of obtaining a branch office license for each of those locations, as required by this section. However, an optometrist shall not be required to obtain a branch office license solely as a result of his or her participation in an individual practice association in which the members of the individual practice association practice optometry in a number of different locations, and each optometrist is listed as a member of that individual practice association.
(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 473, Sec. 10. (SB 821) Effective January 1, 2014.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018