How do ophthalmology practices keep up with call volume?

Ophthalmology practices keep up by handing the calls that follow clear rules to a voice agent, such as booking the next step on a cataract pathway or the next visit in a retina injection series. A PolyAI voice agent routes each caller to optometry, comprehensive or subspecialty care, books inside your EHR while they're on the line, and sends anything clinical to a person.

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Eye care calls split by who the patient needs to see, and each track books differently. You set the rules in Dialog Studio (formerly Agent Studio), and the agent applies them on every call. These are examples of the rules ophthalmology teams build in.

Optometry, comprehensive and subspecialty routing

A caller who says "I need new glasses" belongs on a different schedule from someone due for a glaucoma check or a patient referred to your retina service. The agent asks what the visit is for and who referred them, then books the track and visit type your rules match.

Cataract surgery, one step at a time

Cataract patients move from evaluation to measurements, surgery and post-op visits, and your surgeons set the order and the provider for each step. When a patient calls, the agent books the next step on that path. Questions about lens options or the procedure go to your surgical coordinator.

Retina injections on your intervals

Patients on a retina injection series come back at intervals their retina specialist sets. The agent books the next injection inside the window your rules give, and passes the call to your team when no slot fits. Your clinicians define which symptoms are urgent, such as a sudden change in vision, and a caller who describes one reaches a person at once instead of a booking.

Diabetic eye exam reminders

Patients with diabetes need regular eye exams, and health plans track them through HEDIS quality measures. From a list your team provides, the agent sends reminders by voice or SMS and books or rebooks on the same call.

Real-time booking in the system you run

For your IT team: when we built our ModMed integration, we chose real-time booking over overnight batches, so the agent offers slots that are open right now and the visit shows on your calendar as it's booked. PolyAI also connects to Epic through SMART on FHIR and to athenahealth. Patient data runs under HIPAA Security Rule controls examined within our SOC 2+ report, and a business associate agreement (BAA) is available for eligible healthcare deployments.

Results from a high-volume patient line

SafeRide Health is a non-emergency medical transport company serving Medicare and Medicaid members in all 50 states. Its calls are about rides to appointments rather than eye care, and the number to watch is whether callers stay with the agent. Since its PolyAI agent went live, the share of callers asking for a human has fallen from 55% to 2 to 3%.

Your clinical team stays in charge

The agent does not diagnose or give medical advice. It works from what the patient tells it and what your schedule shows, and anything outside your rules goes to a person with the details already captured. Wren, the agent inside Dialog Studio, reviews live calls and drafts a fix when a booking goes wrong, and a person approves every change.

Questions ophthalmology teams ask

Can the agent book cataract surgery?

It books the steps your rules allow, such as the evaluation or a post-op check. Steps your surgical coordinator handles stay with them, and the agent passes those calls along with the patient's details.

What happens when a patient reports a sudden change in vision?

You define which symptoms are urgent. When a caller describes one, the agent transfers them to your clinical team at once.

Does it work with ModMed?

Yes. PolyAI finds the patient by name and date of birth, checks live slots by provider and location, and creates the appointment inside ModMed during the call.