Although optometry is the kind of hands-on specialty that might not lend itself to telemedicine, Florida Eye Specialists is employing the technology and plans to integrate it permanently into its practice.
While doctors are seeing patients with urgent issues in the office, most everyone else is using telemedicine, said Dr. Rajesh Shetty, a Florida Eye Specialists ophthalmologist.
Since Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order March 20 prohibiting any nonemergency procedure or surgery, the practice’s operations have slowed down.
In an effort to keep safe any emergency patients who come in, Shetty said the practice decided to limit people in the office by keeping other patients at home and see them virtually instead.
It is the first time the practice has used telemedicine in the office, but so far, Shetty said it is going well. Florida Eye Specialists began using the technology at the beginning of April.
For most eye doctors, it is a new way for them to see patients.
“Every day we’re doing a handful and I think as we get more comfortable with it, it will be a tool we use more and more,” Shetty said. “We’re finding unique situations where it seems to be very helpful.”
Patients who typically would come in for a checkup, questions or minor problems can be seen online.
Before a patient’s appointment begins, they are instructed to have a driver’s license, insurance card and list of medications ready, along with something to read, so the doctor can check their vision.
There also is an eye chart they can read on their computer or phone. For dry eye patients, the site provides a questionnaire for them to fill out and send to their doctor.
“A lot of this is still pretty new and is still being researched,” Shetty said. “I see this as pushing us down the road a little faster than we were expecting, but we’re using telemedicine broadly and at our practice, every subspecialist is using telemedicine.”
There are gaps in how doctors treat patients with telemedicine. The patient can tell them there’s pressure in the eye, but without seeing the patient in person, a doctor cannot tell how severe it is.
Much of what an eye doctor does can be done virtually.
“A lot of medicine is reassuring patients, making sure they’re compliant, building a rapport,” he said. “You don’t necessarily need a physical appointment for that.”
Even with the added capability of telemedicine, Shetty said visits across the practice still are down significantly, causing furloughs for most of the staff.
Typically across Florida Eye Specialists eight Northeast Florida offices, it sees around 1,000 patients a week. Since elective surgeries and procedures were banned, that number has dropped to “a handful of patients a day.”
“We think it’s going to be temporary. In the next month or two we’ll be back seeing patients in the clinic,” Shetty said. “I’m hoping we’ll have everyone back working in the next few months.”
