The delivery of eyecare has expanded to include remote care services delivered by providers that are not in the same location as the patient. These “telemedicine” services have become engrained in the eyecare delivery model, although their use is still relatively limited. In October 2025, the American Optometric Association (AOA) published a position paper titled, “Position Statement Regarding Telemedicine in Optometry.” In this article, we highlight key points from the AOA paper, and explain how its content will impact Eye Care Professionals (ECPs) as they push forward toward a new paradigm of “tele-eyecare.”
Key Findings
- Telemedicine is expanding into eyecare and changing the care delivery model for ECPs.
- The AOA supports tele-eyecare under the direction of the eye doctor in consultation with the patient.
- Tele-eyecare benefits both patients (less travel, efficient care) and doctors (better productivity, scheduling).
Background
For broad background, the US Health Resources & Services Administration explains that, “Telehealth – sometimes called telemedicine – lets you see your health care provider without going to their office,” with one benefit (of many) being that “it saves time because you don’t need to travel, take time off, or find someone to watch your kids.”1 Since the pandemic lockdown of 2020, reasonably large numbers of US health care consumers have utilized telehealth services to receive health care services via live, online sessions while many more have benefitted from asynchronous remote monitoring services.
Mayo Clinic does an excellent job in distilling the many telehealth service deliverables available to their patients2:
Virtual Visits – see a health care provider via online video or phone chats
Remote Monitoring – allows the provider or health care team to check remotely
Provider to Provider Consults – provider using technology to give people better care
Patient Portal – online tool for provider messaging, reviewing test results or summaries, etc.
Personal Health Apps – made to help people better organize their medical information
Personal Health Records – collection of information about health maintained by the patient
The AOA Position Paper outlines the types of clinical care that may be offered: “Patient management, including triaging to identify emergencies or need for immediate in person care; Remote patient monitoring for previously diagnosed conditions; Clinical cases that require straightforward medical decision making are most typical.”3
Their specific definition used for “Telemedicine in optometry” is: “The American Optometric Association defines telemedicine in optometry as the remote provision of eye, adnexa, visual system and related systemic health care services (collectively ‘eye, health, and vision services’). Asynchronous and synchronous technologies can be used to provide this type of care including videoconferencing, internet-based services, store-and-forward imaging, streaming media, and terrestrial and wireless communications.” This definition is certainly a modern way to look at tele-eyecare as all ECPs head into 2026 and beyond.
Digging in on the AOA’s Position
For the first time since the pandemic’s influence on increased telehealth services, the AOA has brought to the profession a clear message of support for tele-eyecare. They note that some of the values of such care include expanded access to care and improved coordination of care. They also point out the need for an evidence basis for the care, and that there is a criticality to demanding that such services are focused on the highest quality of care that can be delivered.
AOA states that the decision to use telemedicine in optometry should be made by the doctor in consultation with the patient so they understand that at any time they can transfer to in-person service delivery. It’s also reasonably noted that both doctor and patient should understand that there are limitations to telemedicine and that in-person care is always considered the gold standard for doctor-patient interactions.
The final and most strongly-stated points made by the AOA relate to direct-to-patient applications as well as any technology that screens for eye conditions, either of which might attempt to “replace or replicate a comprehensive eye exam provided by a doctor of optometry.” This is all tied to the concept that these sorts of applications may look at data in separate pieces which, “delivered independently, is deleterious and deceptive to patients.” Without doubt, ECP care in-clinic is foundational to the delivery of eyecare and tele-eyecare will be an adjunct, perhaps a critical one, to maintaining patient wellness.
What “Tele-eyecare” might look like in 2026 and beyond
The concept of tele-eyecare isn’t being broadly discussed in the industry, leaving ECPs with an absence of clear indications of what it means. A subset of the broader telehealth concept, tele-eyecare can be applied to the specific services that are delivered by ECPs to their patients. This list certainly can include:
Tele-eyecare Comprehensive Eye Examinations: Performed and overseen by a remote provider via a remote examination technology. Patients sit in an optometric clinic and are seen for an examination via a provider that is at a different location. These are complete examinations and result in the provision of an eyecare plan that could include prescriptions for eyeglasses, contact lenses, medications, or consults and referrals to specialty providers.
Tele-eyecare Screening Services: Select eye or vision assessment services are accomplished by non-doctor personnel with equipment at a location that is not staffed with an ECP. Patient data is collected and read by an ECP for purposes of making recommendations for care. These services might be delivered in the office of a patient’s PCP, or at a general location in their community, and serve to provide outreach to underserved or at-risk populations.
Tele-eyecare Remote Monitoring Services: An emerging capability that can help an ECP ensure optimal patient outcomes is remote monitoring services. Delivered through software applications, patients deliver updates on their condition progress for purposes of increasing data available to their doctor and reducing travel and clinic time and overhead. These may include tracking progress of myopia management, reviewing progress on binocular vision therapies done at home, or the improvement or worsening of ocular health conditions.
Clear Benefits to Patients of Tele-eyecare
Eyecare patients commonly endure substantial travel time, office processing protocols, inefficient clinical scheduling, and doctors delayed by other patient care responsibilities in order to receive the care that they have come to appreciate to protect their vision and eye health. With “consumerism” continually impacting healthcare delivery, eyecare services delivered via tele-eyecare can bring patients a substantial benefit.
Patients can become intolerant of in-clinic care in a number of scenarios. For example, consider the patient that is asked to return for a “short” check-up for recurrent corneal erosion might result in two hours of total time spent – traveling to (and, later, from) the doctor’s clinic, repeating intake paperwork, and sitting in a waiting area or dark exam room, all to be greeted by a very busy doctor who only needs four minutes of quality examination and education time to provide service. Another example would be a follow up on a convergence insufficiency patient, whose parent needs to leave work early to meet the doctor’s last exam time of the day at 4:30 pm. These are classic cases that frustrate patients.
Obviously, at no time should tele-eyecare be used to provide services that can only be properly rendered in-clinic. But technologies are giving doctors a reach outside of the walls of their clinics, and the patients are increasingly understanding that there can be a balance between the quality care delivered in-clinic and the ability of technology to expand the doctor’s quality care to wherever they are. Patients will increasingly benefit from their doctors’ use of remote care, tele-optometry services – less travel time, less process time, and increasingly positive outcomes.
Is it OK to Talk about the Tele-eyecare Benefits to Doctors?
In virtually all circumstances, the broader discussions of tele-health/tele-medicine are based upon the benefit to the patient. It’s as though it’s unscrupulous to discuss any provider benefits. Clearly, doctors are increasingly interested in various tele-eyecare services because they stand to gain from better productivity, clinic and staff utilization, and scheduling enhancements.
Tele-eyecare can give a practice a chance to reduce process time for in-person visits that take a substantial amount of human resources. From scheduling to reminding to receiving to examining a follow-up patient, countless hours are committed to assure the best outcome. But when all things are equal and a condition can be remotely monitored, it seems that the practice may prefer to see a new patient visit or a critical consultation in a time slot otherwise saved for a routine follow-up.
While patient portals in hospitals and large medical systems have become common patient-provider communication channels, very little such adoption has happened by ECPs. Utilization of apps and technology that enhance doctor-patient connectivity would serve to lessen the phone call load, improve patient understanding of the doctor’s diagnosis and plan, and give the doctor more time to focus on larger clinical or business issues.
Conclusion
Eyecare services are critical to the quality of life of an ECP’s patients, because clear vision and good ocular health are amongst their most important considerations. Technology has aided the delivery of eyecare services in a way not imagined at the turn to the 21st century, including video streaming and smartphones in the hands of nearly every American. As ECPs develop a clear understanding of how to use these technologies, they can serve their oath to serve the wellness of their patients via a combination of in-clinic and tele-eyecare delivery models. We are on the cusp of a new era of eye care delivery, and ECPs who embrace tele-eyecare services and offer them broadly and appropriately to their patients are likely to gain and maintain more patients than they could have with prior technological advancements to their practice.
In 2026 and beyond, Optometrists and Ophthalmologists would be wise to use the AOA’s Position Paper on Telemedicine in Optometry as a framework for building an eyecare practice that can actually enhance their patients’ outcomes beyond what can be accomplished by delivering care only through in-clinic appointments.