The Optical Lab, El Centro: NPI Registry Record and Eye Exam Cost Context
What the registry record says
- NPI number
- 1578337713
- Legal business name
- Jose Torres Inc.
- Registered trading name
- The Optical Lab
- Primary registered specialty
- Optometrist (152W00000X)
- Practice location
- 126 N 5TH St
El Centro, CA 92243-2404 - Phone on the record
- (760) 604-5670
- NPI issued
- November 8, 2023
- Record last updated by the practice
- December 20, 2023
- Registry status
- NPI registry record, active as reported by CMS August 2026
- Metro area
- El Centro, CA
- County
- Imperial County
- Location precision
- Street address matched by the US Census geocoder
Reading this record
The practice bills under the legal name Jose Torres Inc. and registered The Optical Lab as its trading name, so an insurance statement may show a name that does not match the sign on the door. The entry was last refreshed in December 2023. That is neither fresh nor ancient by the standards of this metro, where 4 of 18 records were updated in 2024 or later and 12 predate 2020.
For local context: El Centro holds 11 registered eye care practices in this snapshot, 9 of them optometry and 2 ophthalmology, in ZIP codes including 92243. 9 of them took an NPI before this practice did. The closest is Dr. William F. Middleton, Jr., Inc in El Centro, 0.0 miles away.
None of this is a licensing check. CMS issues an NPI so a provider can be identified in billing transactions, and states plainly that issuance does not ensure or validate that the holder is licensed or credentialed. The California boards hold the licensing record, and the practice itself is the only source for what it charges today.
Nearest registered practices
17 other registered eye care practices sit within 25 miles of this address, a radius that does not stop at the metro boundary. Inside the El Centro metro itself there are 18, 10 of them elsewhere in El Centro. The closest 5 are below, measured straight line between registered addresses.
| Practice | City | Registered as | Distance | Phone on record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. William F. Middleton, Jr., Inc | El Centro | Optometry | 0.0 mi | (760) 353-1190 |
| Valley Vision Care Center Optometry | El Centro | Optometry | 0.5 mi | (760) 352-4361 |
| Cesar T. Chavez MD, Inc. | El Centro | Ophthalmology | 0.5 mi | (760) 335-3737 |
| Desert Eye Institute Medical Group, Inc. | El Centro | Ophthalmology | 0.9 mi | (760) 352-6234 |
| Optom-Eyes Vision Care | El Centro | Optometry | 1.0 mi | (760) 352-7460 |
Distances are straight line between registered practice locations, not driving distance. Records placed at a ZIP centroid rather than a matched street address are excluded from this comparison.
What to expect to pay at an optometry practice like this
The NPI registry holds no prices, so nothing here is a quote from The Optical Lab. Based on this site's own price research, an independent optometry practice typically charges $120 to $200 for an exam without insurance, against a national average of about $136 and roughly $25 once a vision plan pays its share.
Ask two things when you call: whether the quoted fee includes the refraction, and what a contact lens fitting adds if you wear lenses, since that takes a visit to $150 to $370. A comprehensive exam is $100 to $250. If price is the deciding factor, the 18 practices on the El Centro page give you the full local field to call around.