With Uber as ubiquitous as it is now, it's funny to look back on a time when media outlets were constantly discussing whether or not the company would get shut down by regulation.
While the idea of a ridesharing shutdown may seem far-fetched now, companies like Uber and Airbnb allocate significant resources toward dealing with regulation. Airbnb has a public policy department with employees all over the world, and Uber hired former Obama strategist David Plouffe to head its government relations efforts back in 2014.
— a Chicago startup that lets consumers in 34 states renew eyewear prescriptions from the comfort of their own homes — is now getting a taste of what it's like to navigate the world of regulation.
The company recently hired a lobbyist to fight a law passed by Georgia legislature that would effectively ban the company from issuing prescriptions to Peach State residents. The law is currently sitting on Georgia governor Nathan Deal’s desk, where Opternative co-founder and CEO Aaron Dallek hopes it will get vetoed.
Bills with strikingly similar wording have been introduced by legislators in Nebraska and South Carolina (both bills are currently still under review). In Indiana, the company’s service will be shut down when a new telehealth bill comes into effect this summer.
The Indiana bill allows providers to issue prescriptions for patients they haven’t seen in person, but carves out exceptions for certain medicines, including controlled substances, abortion inducing drugs — and glasses, contact lenses and other low-vision devices.
“We were expecting that this would happen. I mean, we hired a director of government affairs as a 14-person startup,” said co-founder and CEO Aaron Dallek (pictured right). “We’re disrupting the industry.”
The American Optometric Association, an advocacy group that lobbies on behalf of doctors of optometry, filed an FDA complaint against Opternative on Monday, alleging that the company’s test poses a significant health risk to the public due to the risk of inaccurate prescriptions and the “potential for missed diagnosis of serious eye and general health conditions.”
Dallek, on his end, said that his company has always been upfront about the fact that Opternative is a supplement to, not a substitute for, eye health exams.
“We’ve always recommended patients get an eye health exam every two years, and we make it so that patients have to get an eye health exam every four years, or they can’t continue to use our service,” he said.
Unlike Uber and Airbnb — which openly flouted attempts at regulation for years before entering into the mainstream — Opternative has little choice but to comply with opposing legislation once it goes on the books. But the company is fighting back against attempted bans, and has received support from unexpected quarters including Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who has written several op-ed pieces in opposition to Georgia’s bill.
As legislative sessions across the country are winding down, Dallek said he is looking forward to increasing his focus on expanding Opternative’s customer base in the 46 states where no bans on the service exist, and on expanding the age group served.
“We have very, very happy patients who absolutely love our service,” said Dallek. “We get positive feedback constantly every day, so we are undeterred.”
Images via Opternative.
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