The legislature is again considering legislation (HB 5612 & SB 483) to effectively ban consumer access to telehealth for eye care. This bill is similar to measures introduced every year since 2017. If enacted, this legislation would ban patients from using online renewal services that they have had access to for the last four years and require consumers to go into an optometrist office for a vision check to renew a prescription every year. It would raise costs for patients, decrease access to care and remove a convenient, safe and effective eye health tool that Rhode Islanders have safely used for the last four years from the Rhode Island marketplace.