Remote Eye Exams

The question that comes up a lot these days, especially after Covid, is can't we do an eye exam by not actually coming into the office? People are now calling it remote eye exams or another word that's been brought up is tele-optometry as such. Can I do a complete eye exam by sitting in front of my computer? The simple answer is no.

Remote is in reference to the doctor. The doctor is remote. The patient still has to come into an eye clinic because we have so many complicated, large machines that we need to be able to test your eyes thoroughly. If you are just having yourself read letters from a screen, you're not actually doing a thorough eye exam, you're just testing your visual acuity. In a remote eye exam, you, the patient would come into our clinic. A technician that is trained to handle remote eye exams runs an array of tests that are very similar to the tests you would have in a regular eye exam, except they're connected to a centralized system that all uploads onto a chart that then your remote doctor would look through and be able to read all of your records and see all of the images and all of the testing that tech ran on you.

Benefits of a remote eye exam

What would be the benefit of a remote eye exam for a particular patient? The number one by far, and it may be really the primary, is the availability and access to care. Particularly in rural areas that may only have a doctor a day or two a week available or maybe even a month. Or, they may have to drive so far that people will think, I see pretty well, I am going to skip it. So, access to care is very, very critical. A doctor, even though physically not present in the facility, is on a screen, real-time conversing with the patient, observing what the technician is doing. Also, the most important part of an eye exam is really the assessment and the plan of care and walking that patient through that and allowing the patient the opportunity to ask questions so that we can make sure that they understand not only what the treatment is going to be, but what's expected of them in some of the applications and being compliant with the treatment that's prescribed for them.

Is a remote eye exam right for everyone?

It is great for routine exams. As long as things are relatively healthy. Just where the technology is today, it is not quite there for treating a lot of disease or those diagnostics because the quality of the cameras when we're trying to look inside of the eye is just not as good as being in person.

The growth and future of remote eye exams

These remote eye exams are expanding in the marketplace, and I would say that it's not always access to care that they're trying to solve. We actually have a little bit of a shortage of optometrists in the marketplace today. These remote eye exams can facilitate an organization that wants to have multiple locations to give the coverage that they need without having doctors drive long distances. The systems themselves are not inexpensive, but they're not prohibitive. The cost of the care is essentially the same from an overall perspective. The exams don't cost more.

If we take a look into the future, what will we see as far as the expansion of capabilities of remote eye exams? I think we're a long way away from cutting the doctor, if you will, completely out of the equation or limiting their participation. Will we see some improvements, potentially better screenings that can be done at the home and things? I believe that will be done. Where will we be in 10 years from this standpoint? I'm not sure we know that, but I do think we'll make some improvements.

About EyeMed

EyeMed Vision Care is a leader in vision benefits.¹ We deliver stand-out vision benefits, and an outstanding member experience across America’s largest vision network.² EyeMed is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Learn more at eyemed.com.

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