(a) When expending public money for any purpose involving human eye examinations or the care of vision or examinations for the correction or relief of any visual or muscular anomaly of the eye, any state board, agency, commission, department, or political subdivision, or any employee or member thereof, created or existing under the Arkansas Constitution or by act of the General Assembly, including public schools or other state agencies and their employees or any governmental employees who, in the performance of duty, are responsible for such expenditures, when informing a person eligible for an eye examination or a vision examination or for an examination for the correction of any visual or muscular anomaly of the eye, shall under no circumstances give, tell, or inform the eligible person by direct or indirect reference or suggestion, the name, address, or classification of any ocular practitioner, except that the eligible person shall be furnished one (1) printed list only of all ocular practitioners, with the office address of each, practicing within the State of Arkansas.
(b) The list shall be broken down by counties and shall list ocular practitioners in alphabetical order by county and shall show the county in which the ocular practitioner designates that he or she maintains his or her principal office.
(c) The name of the ocular practitioner shall appear only one (1) time on the list and shall show only his or her name, principal office address, and the classification or designation M.D. or O.D. or D.O., as the case may be, after each name and nothing else.
(d) (1) It shall be the duty of the Department of Human Services or its successors to prepare and revise the list from time to time but not less often than each six (6) months.
(2) The revised list shall be filed with the Secretary of State on March 31 and September 30 of each year.
(3) No public employee shall furnish any list or inform any person who is eligible for public money by direct or indirect reference or suggestion the name, address, or classification of any ocular practitioner until the list is on file with the Secretary of State and then only in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter.
(e) The list shall show only the names of those ocular practitioners who request the department to place his or her name upon the list. Once the name of the ocular practitioner is upon this list, no further request from the ocular practitioner shall be necessary. The name of any ocular practitioner shall be removed from the list upon his or her written request to the department.
(f) The eligible person shall be free to choose any ocular practitioner from the list regardless of the person's place of residence or the location of the office of the ocular practitioner.
Section: Previous 20-77-502 20-77-503 20-77-504 20-77-505 20-77-506 20-77-507 20-77-508 NextLast modified: November 15, 2016