Section 73B. No person shall practice optometry on premises not separate from premises whereon eyeglasses, lenses or eyeglass frames are sold by any other person; nor shall any person practice optometry under any lease, contract or other arrangement whereby any person, not duly authorized to practice optometry, shares, directly or indirectly, in any fees received in connection with said practice of optometry. For the purposes of this section, any room, suite of rooms or area in which optometry is practiced shall be considered separate premises if either (a) it has a separate and direct entrance from a street, public corridor or area available to the public, whether or not it has an entrance from any other room or area in the same building; or (b) (i) the space is definite and distinct from space occupied by other occupants of the premises, (ii) all signs and displays concerning the optometric office are separate and distinct from that of the other occupants of the premises and have the name of the doctor of optometry and the words ”doctor of optometry” prominently displayed in connection therewith, and (iii) a written notice, of a size and type reasonably expected to attract the attention of the public, shall be put in a conspicuous place where the public will be exposed to it, prior to or upon entrance thereto, which states that the doctor of optometry is independent from other occupants of the premises and identifies the location of the optometric office, if such office is not clearly visible by the public from such entrance.

Terms Used In Massachusetts General Laws ch. 112 sec. 73B

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • practice of optometry: shall mean the diagnosis, prevention, correction, management or treatment of optical deficiencies, optical deformities, visual anomalies, muscular anomalies, ocular diseases and ocular abnormalities of the human eye and adjacent tissue, including removal of superficial foreign bodies and misaligned eyelashes, by utilization of pharmaceutical agents, by the prescription, adaptation and application of ophthalmic lenses, devices containing lenses, prisms, contact lenses, orthoptics, vision therapy, prosthetic devices and other optical aids and the utilization of corrective procedures to preserve, restore or improve vision, consistent with sections 66A, 66B and 66C. See Massachusetts General Laws ch. 112 sec. 66

Whoever violates any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.

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