Request By:
Randel C. Gibson, D.O.
President, Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
Opinion
Opinion By: ANDY BESHEAR,ATTORNEY GENERAL;Marc G. Farris,Assistant Attorney General
Opinion of the Attorney General
The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure has requested an Opinion from this Office concerning a perceived conflict in statutes concerning how long contact lens prescriptions are valid. We do not believe that the statutes conflict.
Under KRS 367.682, a contact lens prescription expires no later than "twelve (12) months after the date of authorization by a licensed optometrist, osteopath, or physician." Separately, KRS 367.6802(2)(f) imposes restrictions on when a licensed optometrist, osteopath, or physician may use an "assessment mechanism" to generate a prescription for contact lenses. 1 Specifically, it states that such doctors may:
Utilize an assessment mechanism to generate a prescription for contact lenses only if:
KRS 367.6802(2) (f). The request suggests that there is a conflict between the 24-month provision in KRS 367.6802(2)(f)2.b. and the 12-month limit on contact lens prescriptions in KRS 367.682.
We do not believe that these statutes present a conflict. When interpreting statutes, our duty "is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the General Assembly." Beckham v. Bd. of Educ. of Jefferson Cty., 873 S.W.2d 575, 577 (Ky. 1994) (citing Gateway Const. Co. v. Wallbaum, 356 S.W.2d 247 (Ky. 1962)). Statutory provisions that may appear to be in conflict, however, are to be read in harmony "so as to give effect to both sections or statutes if possible." Ledford v. Faulkner, 661 S.W.2d 475, 476 (Ky. 1983). Moreover, we apply "the rule of statutory construction that the more specific statute controls over the more general statute." Bevin v. Beshear, 526 S.W.3d 89, 91 n.6 (Ky. 2017) (citation omitted).
Here, KRS 367.682 speaks specifically to the expiration of contact lens prescriptions, while KRS 367.6802(2)(f) is silent on the subject. While the former statute directly limits the length of time during which contact lens prescriptions are valid to twelve months, KRS 367.6802(2)(f) sets forth only the conditions under which a doctor may generate a prescription using an "assessment mechanism." Nothing in KRS 367.6802(2)(f) requires that the patient have a valid prescription at the time the assessment mechanism is used - only that the patient has previously received in-person comprehensive eye examinations. Moreover, we are not aware of any other statute that would require that the patient have a valid prescription at the time that an eye doctor utilizes an assessment mechanism to generate a new prescription.
In sum, the statutes do not conflict. KRS 367.682 provides, in pertinent part, that a prescription for contact lenses must expire twelve months after its authorization. Nothing in KRS 367.6802(2)(f), which provides the conditions under which an assessment mechanism - can be utilized to generate a prescription for contact lenses, alters that time period.
Footnotes
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