INNOVATION in eye care seems to continue to speed up. New lenses, materials, and solutions for treating contact lens patients become available, as do new technologies for diagnosis and management of patients. However, the exam room is stagnate: the exam chair, slit lamp, and phoropters, not to mention the Snellen chart—which is more than 160 years old. Over the last year, the authors have been testing an innovation that just might save time and money while providing a more personalized patient experience.

Scribing for our patients is not new. A technician or dedicated scribe works in the exam room, manually entering notes into the electronic health record (EHR). What if, instead, the scribe was remote, lifting some of the burden from clinicians? Enter the era of a clinician’s virtual assistant.

HOW IT WORKS

Currently, Dr. Kading’s clinics employ 10 remote team members doing all aspects of eyecare management. Consider starting with a remote assistant who can be with you virtually in the exam room. Tasks delegated could include entering data captured on devices to the EHR, documenting patient intake information, reaching out to referring or prior clinicians to get past exam records, confirming that the patients’ new scleral lenses are working for them, ordering lens modifications with a lab as specified during the exam, doing application and removal with a patient, and sending a letter back to a referring clinician.

In the past three years, various companies have started to coordinate and source remote talent. Create a job description and connect with one of these agencies to find candidates. It’s recommended to interview at least three or four applicants for each job; consider hiring two people at the same time. Training new people can be expensive, and training two people at once will help you pass off more tasks quickly. Additionally, if a new remote team member does not work out, the next employee can be at least partially trained by an existing remote team member.

Training a remote team can be tough. When an employee is not in the same room, some eyecare practitioners (ECPs) may not be as apt to speak to them. ECPs tend to ooze knowledge onto the team rather than having sit-down meetings. Remote employees should be no exception. Consider carrying handheld tablets with a videoconferencing app so the virtual employee travels around the office with you. Between patients, it is good to speak with the virtual employee, explaining what happened in the exam room and then asking him or her to accomplish a task for you, such as ordering contact lenses. Have them watch you first, but then allow them to do it. Check their work as you would do with any other team member, and then let them shine.

THE VERDICT

While it’s not common yet, having a remote employee creates incredible opportunities. It can free ECPs up to spend more one-on-one time with patients. It allows for better recordkeeping, patient communication, and patient care. If you want to experience the new normal, consider the incredible world with a remote team. 

Mile Brujic, OD, FAAO, is a partner of Premier Vision Group, a four-location optometric practice in Northwest Ohio. He is a stock shareholder or owner in EyePromise, Percept, and Radius XR. He has received remuneration from Apellis, ABB Optical, Aldeyra, Allergan, Art Optical, Avellino, Bausch + Lomb Health, Contamac, CSEye, Dompé, Horizon Therapeutics, Notal Vision, Quidel, Radius XR, RVL, Sun Pharma, Tarsus, Visus, Visionix, Walman Optical, Thea, Viatris, and ZeaVision. He has an educational grant or contract with Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Dompé, Lumenis, Thea, and Trukera Medical.

DAVID L. KADING, OD, FAAO, is an advisor and consultant to many health care companies and owns several practices in the Seattle area. He has consulted, performed research, and spoken and/or written for Alcon, Allergan, Avellino, Bausch + Lomb, BioTissue, CooperVision, Dompe, Eyevance, Eye Promise, Euclid, Horizon, Lumenis, Oculaphire, Orasis, Oculus, Medmont, Novartis, Sun Pharma, JnJ TearScience, Thea, Trukera Medical, Valley Contax, Visus Therapeutics, and Zeiss.