On February 9th, I had an appointment with Dr. Hustava at Flower Mound Eyecare Associates because I had been experiencing headaches, dizziness, and difficulty driving at night, and I needed updated glasses and contact lenses. I went in for both an eyeglass exam and a contact lens fitting. A refraction was performed during my visit but I did not receive a copy of my eyeglass prescription at the conclusion of the appointment. During that same visit, I was given two trial daily lenses of each strength to compares.
At checkout, I asked about saline solution for my daily lenses. Ileana initially stated that because they were dailies, I did not need solution. Tammy (office manager) said I should use the liquid from the individual blister packaging instead of bottled saline and stated that bottled saline contained "chemicals."
When I later called and attempted to finalize my fitting, there was a dispute because the specific strengths were not clearly written in my chart in a way that resolved the confusion. During a phone call, Tammy stated "that's not what the doctor gave you." The situation escalated to the point that I had to return to the office in person to resolve it.
Because I had only been given two of each trial strength, Dr. Hustava later reordered additional daily trial lenses so I could properly compare them. On February 19th the dailies arrived and I was notified by text that they were ready. I responded asking when Dr. Hustava would be back to sign off on the prescription. I did not receive a response, so I called. During that call, Tammy said Dr. Hustava did not need to sign off on the prescription, that she could do it herself. I explained that I had not yet picked up the additional trial lenses and therefore could not confirm which strength was better but that I wanted the strength that allowed me to see nearsighted. At that point, the tone of the conversation changed, and I asked to speak with someone else and the phone call ended. Tammy later returned the call and stated, "No one here wants to talk to you." I was then told the office did not "owe" me anything because my contact lens fitting had not been finalized, and I was released as a patient. Within two minutes, my VSP authorization was reversed. Tammy stated I would receive documentation as to why I was released but I never received anything.
Under the FTC Eyeglass Rule (16 CFR Part 456), patients are entitled to receive a copy of their eyeglass prescription upon completion of the exam. I acted in good faith and waited one week from the phone call where I was dismissed as a patient to get my prescription. Because I had not received my eyeglass prescription from the visit on February 9th, I reached out to VSP for assistance on February 26th. The first time VSP contacted the office, Tammy answered and the conversation was redirected to contact lenses, which was not the purpose of the call. A second call was made, and Donna informed VSP that my eyeglass prescription would be emailed to me that same day. It was not received. The following day, (February 27) I emailed Dr. Hustava directly and asked to have my prescription sent to me the same day but did not receive a response.
What should have been a routine eye exam and fitting under a physician's care turned into weeks of unnecessary escalation. read more
