The research behind Eyenamic

Sources reviewed October 2026

Eyenamic is built around a simple idea: in an eye-care practice, technician time is scarce, so where technicians are placed relative to providers matters. This page summarizes the published work that informs that idea, what each study actually found, and where its limits are.

What this research does and doesn’t show

• Scheduling and staffing are repeatedly identified as sources of inefficiency in ophthalmology clinics, and changes to them have been associated with shorter visits and more patients seen.
• Aligning staff schedules with provider schedules has been part of a successful efficiency intervention in a retina practice.
• Ophthalmology clinic operations can be modeled with real scheduling data, rather than relying on intuition alone.
• None of these studies evaluated Eyenamic. They are small, mostly single-site studies, and several interventions were applied together. We cite them as context for the problem, not as proof of any result you should expect.
• We are not aware of published research on optimizing technician assignments from provider schedules, technician skills and availability together. Most work optimizes patient appointments or describes staffing shortages. That gap is the space Eyenamic works in.

The studies

Using Lean Six Sigma techniques to improve efficiency in outpatient ophthalmology clinics

Kam AW, Collins S, Park T, et al. BMC Health Services Research. 2021;21:38. PubMed

What it found. At a publicly funded tertiary eye clinic, staff interviews and a time-in-motion study traced 77% of the problems encountered to four root causes: scheduling, staffing, patient communication and inefficient clinic processes. After changes that included amended clinic schedules, median in-clinic time fell from 131 to 107 minutes and patients seen per 240-minute session rose from 19.4 to 21.1.

Limitations. A single site, comparing two five-month audits before and after. Several changes were made together, so the effect of any one of them cannot be isolated.

Successful interventions to improve efficiency and reduce patient visit duration in a retina practice

Lin CC, Li AS, Ma H, et al. Retina. 2021;41(10):2157–2162. PubMed

What it found. In an academic retina practice (19,550 visits analyzed; baseline average 87 minutes), photography was found to be a bottleneck. The team cross-trained technicians in fundus photography, moved equipment next to exam rooms, added imaging units and shifted staff schedules to better align with the providers. Four weeks later, average visits for the two targeted providers had fallen from about 80 minutes to about 60 and 57 minutes.

Limitations. Two providers and four weeks of follow-up. The four interventions were applied together, so the contribution of schedule alignment alone is unknown.

Data-driven scheduling for improving patient efficiency in ophthalmology clinics

Hribar MR, Huang AE, Goldstein IH, et al. Ophthalmology. 2019;126(3):347–354. PubMed

What it found. Researchers at the Casey Eye Institute built a simulation from electronic health record timestamps and used it to design a scheduling template based on predicted appointment length. After the template was adopted by five pediatric ophthalmologists (172 clinic sessions before, 119 after), all five saw more patients per session, by about one to three on average, and four of five had shorter patient waits.

Limitations. Pediatric ophthalmology at one institution. The work optimizes the patient appointment schedule, not technician assignments.

Evaluating and improving an outpatient clinic scheduling template using secondary electronic health record data

Hribar MR, Read-Brown S, Reznick L, Chiang MF. AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings. 2017:921–929. PubMed

What it found. A discrete-event simulation of ophthalmology clinic workflow was used to test new scheduling templates, with the aim of reducing patient wait time and improving clinic efficiency. It is an earlier step in the same research program as the 2019 study above.

Limitations. A conference paper from a single institution; it focuses on templates for patient appointments.

Using technology to address ophthalmic technician shortages in glaucoma clinics

Mai AP, Wirostko B, Fitch S, et al. Ophthalmology Glaucoma. 2023;6(6):567–569. PubMed

What it found. An editorial on the shortage of ophthalmic technicians and on how technology might ease its effect on glaucoma clinics.

Limitations. An editorial, not a primary study, so it offers perspective rather than measured results.

Questions or sources to add

If you know of research we should include, or spot something we’ve described inaccurately, email hello@eyenamic.com.