The rising trend in academic ophthalmology urgent care
When dogma doesn’t match data
At one major academic medical center, the long-held belief by the ophthalmology department leadership was that ophthalmology call volume had stayed constant. While the residents complained that the workload “felt heavier,” nobody had been able to examine the numbers. That’s where EyeQ stepped in. By structuring and analyzing years of emergency department and consult data, we were able to answer a question that had lingered for years: was the call truly heavier, or did it just feel that way? When the numbers were finally revealed, the long-standing dogma didn’t hold up.
What the data showed
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%. Put simply, ophthalmology consults grew five times faster than the emergency department overall.
The growth was coming from two trends, 1) an increase in the sheer number of eye complaints showing up in the emergency room, and 2) an increased rate of emergency room doctors consulting ophthalmologists – even if the number of eye complaints hadn’t increased. Overall, the increased on-call burden wasn’t just perception, it was measurable…and accelerating.
Why was this happening
Several factors contributed to this trend. Many community hospitals no longer have on-call ophthalmologists, siphoning more patients to academic centers for urgent eye care. Within emergency departments, advanced practice clinicians are taking a larger share of incoming patients, and are often less comfortable managing ophthalmic complaints, resulting in more consults. The COVID pandemic may have shifted patient and provider behavior. During the pandemic, non-urgent and outpatient cases were deferred, while emergency pathways became the default for urgent eye concerns. That pattern persisted, creating a long-term change in where and how patients seek care. Finally, as departments grow, so does the patient base. At this institution, an expanding ophthalmology faculty and referral footprint likely increased awareness and traffic through the ER. The result is a self-reinforcing cycle: more patients, more eye complaints, more consults, and greater 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. That may mean re-evaluating call coverage models, creating dedicated urgent-care slots, or developing weekend and after-hours clinics to offload non-emergent ER visits. Some institutions are piloting ophthalmic hospitalist roles or shift-based call systems to distribute workload more sustainably. Others are leveraging teleophthalmology for initial triage. Each solution requires clear data, buy-in, and an operational roadmap. That’s where EyeQ adds value. We help departments uncover hidden patterns in their own data, translate those insights into realistic solutions, and build business cases for sustainable, high-quality care delivery.
