Not all corporate opticals operate on a side by side basis. The majority do as was stated earlier because of state regulations limiting who can employ medical professionals. In the case of ODs it is a matter of professional ethics. The legislature was concerned about ODs being told what to prescribe by non medical professionals.
You will also find that there are side by sides and wholey owned offices in the same company. Such as Lenscrafters who operates side by side in most states except California where the ODs are employees of the company and operate under Exam2000.
Other restrictions are in some states such as TN the OD has to have an entrance to the office that doesn't require the patient to go through the dispensary.
There is pros and cons to the side by side. The company can limit its liability for anything the doc does since they are a "seperate" business. They sublet the space so they can collect rent, advertising fees, and other misc expenses. They aren't responsible for staffing issues either. The cons for the company are that they do not have absolute control over the office. While they can hold the lease agreement over your head, they still have to let you have some slack in how you want to run your business. Things such as work hours, what products you recommend, if you want to do pre and post op care, who will handle contact sales, etc...
If the optometrist is the owner of the dispensary, he/she can employ other doctors, opticians, COTs, are whomever they desire. In stattes the require a licensed optician, they should have one for every 3-5 unlicensed (apprentice opticians) and the doc or the license
holder must be present during working hours.
They must also follow any local laws regarding the number of entrances, releasing rxs, and all that fun stuff. They are normally considered one and the same business unless it is a partnership with an optician or they took special care to seperate the two...
Cassandra