When dogma
doesn't match data
The ophthalmology department believed call volume was stable. Residents believed otherwise. The data settled it decisively.
At one major academic medical center, the long-held belief among ophthalmology department leadership was that call volume had stayed constant over time. Residents disagreed — the workload felt heavier. But without structured data, the question had gone unanswered for years.
That's where EyeQ stepped in. By structuring and analyzing years of emergency department and consult data, we were able to answer the question definitively.
What the data showed
The numbers were unambiguous. Over a five-year period, ophthalmology emergency room consults increased at an average rate of 15% per year — while total ER visits rose just 3%. Ophthalmology consult volume was growing five times faster than the emergency department overall.
The growth was driven by two concurrent trends: an increase in the sheer number of eye complaints arriving in the ER, and an increased rate at which ER physicians were consulting ophthalmologists — even when eye complaint volume hadn't risen as sharply.
"The increased on-call burden wasn't just perception. It was measurable — and accelerating."
Why this was happening
Several structural factors contributed. Many community hospitals no longer have on-call ophthalmologists, routing more patients to academic centers for urgent eye care. Within emergency departments, advanced practice clinicians are managing a larger share of incoming patients — and are often less comfortable with ophthalmic complaints, leading to higher consult rates.
COVID-19 also played a role. During the pandemic, non-urgent outpatient visits were deferred and emergency pathways became the default for urgent eye concerns. That behavioral shift persisted long after restrictions lifted. The result was a self-reinforcing cycle: more patients, more eye complaints, more consults, and an ever-growing on-call burden.
What leaders can do — and how EyeQ can help
Understanding the reality behind perceived workload is the first step. Once quantified, leaders can begin to redesign systems around actual demand: re-evaluating call coverage models, creating dedicated urgent-care slots, developing weekend and after-hours clinics to offload non-emergent ER visits.
EyeQ helps departments uncover hidden patterns in their own data, translate those findings into realistic solutions, and build the business case for sustainable, high-quality care delivery.
worth solving?
Whether it's a defined project or an early-stage question — let's talk.