Eyeworld

76 | EYEWORLD | SUMMER 2026 P RACTICE MANAGEMENT by Liz Hillman Editorial Co-Director About the physicians Grayson W. Armstrong, MD, MPH Director, Ophthalmology Emergency Services Instructor of Ophthalmology Massachusetts Eye & Ear, Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts Robert Chang, MD Associate Professor of Ophthalmology Stanford School of Medicine Stanford University Stanford, California John Hovanesian, MD Harvard Eye Associates Laguna Hills, California John Kitchens, MD Retina Associates of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky Tommy Korn, MD Chief Spatial Computing Officer Sharp HealthCare San Diego, California Jennifer Loh, MD Loh Ophthalmology Associates/ Eye Physicians of Florida Miami, Florida Eric Rosenberg, DO SightMD Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology Westchester Medical Center Babylon, New York DIGITAL MOMENTUM is rapidly expanding into personalized treat- ment recommendations, automated after-visit and discharge summaries, predictive analytics, and billing suggestions. Also, Cerner AI agents can automate appointment reminders, verify insurance, and speed up data entry. Ufonia and Assort Health have voice AI automation specific to ophthalmology, at the front desk level, inter- acting directly with patients pre- and post-office appointments over the phone." 'Amazed at … 'off-the-shelf' AI platforms' John Kitchens, MD "We have yet to integrate 'eye specific' AI into our clinic. That being said, I continue to be amazed at the utility of 'off-the-shelf' AI plat- forms and their utility in the clinic. I often will snap a deidentified fundus image or OCT and ask ChatGPT if it agrees with my diagnosis or to give me other potential diagnoses in the dif- ferential. I also use AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to summarize or review papers that have been published. My favorite thing to use these for is to create information sheets that help patients better understand their condition." 'Made a massive impact' Grayson W. Armstrong, MD, MPH "One of the things we implemented that made a massive impact is Dragon Copilot. This AI scribe tool uses ambient listening through my phone and is integrated through my EHR to transcribe clinical notes in the office in real time. This is especially useful for new patients. I can now fo- cus solely on the patient—capturing a thorough history, performing the exam, educating the pa- tient on the findings and the plan verbally—and everything ends up in the note. The platform can tailor the note to my clinical note style. This saves me a ton of time and energy and keeps me from spending time finishing my notes in the evening. The platform is great at making bullet point lists of exam components and man- agement options for every chief complaint and/ or diagnosis discussed in the office. I can also review the actual transcript of the conversation if I need to jog my memory as well. Digital tools transforming ophthalmic practice management W hile digital and AI-driven tools have current and future applica- tions in the clinic and the OR for ophthalmology, many practices are finding efficiencies with new technologies on the management side of things. Members of the ASCRS Digital Clinical Committee were asked about whether they've incorporated a new tool into their practice that may be helping with the business and practice management of ophthalmology. These are their insights and personal experiences. 'One of the 'smartest' AI solutions' John Hovanesian, MD "AmarosEngine [Amaros] has been an incredibly useful AI-driven tool for practice insights. It ana- lyzes a practice's databases, including the ability to read and interpret images from structured, raw data stored on diagnostics, like OCTs and topographers, so you can ask it to 'find me pa- tients with geographic atrophy at least 2.5 mm in area.' It was originally developed to identify patients who met criteria for participation in clinical studies, but it can do so much more. We use it for insights on financial performance, like which payers are providing the timeliest pay- ments. It's also helpful for identifying sub-pop- ulations for outreach, like glaucoma patients whose IOP runs high and might benefit from MIGS, SLT, Durysta [bimatoprost intracameral implant, AbbVie], or iDose TR [travoprost intra- cameral implant, Glaukos]. And of course, we use it for research purposes as well. This is one of the 'smartest' AI solutions I've seen." 'Will improve everyone's practice management' Robert Chang, MD "I think the 'AI scribe' is the biggest tool that will improve everyone's practice management. Large institutions currently can afford to deploy the enterprise versions, such as DAX Copilot [now called Microsoft Dragon Copilot], which is directly embedded into the Epic EHR [Epic Systems] via the Haiku app, making patient visit documentation and response to patient emails faster. The main competitor is Abridge AI, which

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