Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A) Fraud or misrepresentation: No
audiologist shall misrepresent the facts or commit fraudulent acts before,
during or after the sale of a hearing aid or assistive listening device, and
neither shall he/she use either means to obtain any fee. Any of the following
representations may be considered as fraudulent or a misrepresentation:
(1) That the hearing aid or assistive
listening device has sponsorship, approval, performance characteristics,
accessories, or uses it does not have;
(2) That the hearing aid or assistive
listening device will provide benefits it will not provide;
(3) That the hearing aid or assistive
listening device is of a particular brand, model, engineering design or
prescription if it is not;
(4)
That the hearing aid or assistive listening device is new or reconditioned if
it is not;
(5) That a hearing aid
or assistive listening device is in need of extensive repairs or is in need of
replacement if it is not;
(6) That
the hearing aid or assistive listening device is available to the purchaser for
a reason that does not exist; and
(7) That the hearing aid or assistive
listening device may be purchased below the dealer's regular price because of a
special price advantage, if it does not.
(B) In determining whether an act or practice
is fraudulent or constitutes misrepresentation, the following circumstances
shall be considered, but not exclusively. Whether the licensed audiologist:
(1) Took advantage of the inability of the
purchaser reasonably to protect his/her interests because of his/her physical
or mental infirmities, ignorance, illiteracy or his/her inability to understand
the language of an agreement either verbal or written;
(2) Did not fully inform the purchaser of a
hearing aid or assistive listening device with obviously poor discrimination
for speech of his/her inability to obtain a reasonable benefit;
(3) Made statements to mislead the purchaser
into believing his/her hearing will suffer if he/she does not purchase either
one or two aids or assistive listening devices;
(4) Required the hearing aid or assistive
listening device purchaser to agree to contract terms which were substantially
one-sided in favor of the audiologist;
(5) Made a false statement of fact on which
the hearing aid or assistive listening device purchaser was likely to rely, to
his/her detriment; and
(6)
Informed the person(s) served that his/her present hearing aid or assistive
listening device was beyond repair or inappropriate for the type or amount of
loss when there was no evidence to support these statements.
(C) By reason of the authority of
section 119.061 of the Revised Code, the
board may in addition to those reasons enumerated in Chapter 4753 of the
Revised Code, also reprimand, place on probation, suspend, revoke, refuse to
issue or renew license if the holder thereof engages in a deceptive trade
practice as defined under section
4165.02 of the Revised Code;
and, as provided by section
4165.02 of the Revised Code, the
licensee will be considered to have engaged in a deceptive trade practice if,
in the practice of dealing in or fitting of hearing aids or sale of assistive
listening devices as defined by Chapter 4753 of the Revised Code, that
licensee:
(1) Passes off goods or services as
those of another;
(2) Causes
likelihood of confusion or misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship,
approval, or certification of goods or services;
(3) Causes likelihood of confusion or
misunderstanding as to affiliation, connection, or association with, or
certification by another;
(4)
Represents that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics,
ingredients, uses, benefits, in quantities that they do not have or that a
person has sponsorship, approval, status affiliation, or connection that he/she
does not have;
(5) Represents that
goods are original or new if they are deteriorated, altered, reconditioned,
reclaimed, used, or secondhand;
(6) Represents that goods or services are of
a particular standard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a particular
style or model, if they are of another;
(7) Disparages the goods, services, or
business of another by false representation of fact;
(8) Advertises goods or services with intent
not to sell them as advertised;
(9) Makes false statements of fact concerning
the reasons for existence of. or amounts of price reductions; and
(10) Advertises goods or services with intent
not to supply reasonable expectable public demand, unless the advertisements
discloses a limitation of quantity.
Five Year Review (FYR) Dates:
9/25/2017 and
09/25/2022
Promulgated
Under: 119.03
Statutory
Authority: 4753.05
Rule
Amplifies: 4753.05,
4753.12(K),
4753.14
Prior
Effective Dates: 11/16/1992 (Emer.), 02/09/1993, 06/27/1997,
12/10/2007
