Systems and methods for enabling customers to obtain vision and eye health examinations
Systems and methods are provided for eye health and vision examinations. A customer diagnostic center is configured to generate customer examination data pertaining to an examination of a customer's eye. The customer diagnostic center provides a user interface for communicating with a customer and ophthalmic equipment for administering tests to the customer. A diagnostic center server is configured to receive the customer examination data from the customer diagnostic center over a network and allow the customer examination data to be accessed by an eye-care practitioner. A practitioner device associated with the eye-care practitioner is configured to receive the customer examination data from the diagnostic center server and display at least a portion of the customer examination data to the eye-care practitioner. Customer evaluation data is generated pertaining to the eye-care practitioner's evaluation of the customer examination data. An eye health report is provided to the customer via the network.
1 . A system for providing a remotely assisted eye examination and for providing evaluation data to a customer including an overview of the customer's eye health, comprising:
a diagnostic center including ophthalmic equipment comprising a set of instruments that are utilized in administering the eye examination, wherein at least a portion of the ophthalmic equipment is coupled to an equipment controller that is configured to receive commands over a network to enable remote control of the ophthalmic equipment by one or more remote individuals during the eye examination, and the ophthalmic equipment located at the diagnostic center at least includes an auto-phoropter and an imaging device;
one or more remote devices operated by the one or more remote individuals;
a second remote device operated by a second remote individual;
a database to store and access various data pertaining to the one or more remote individuals; and
wherein the system is configured to facilitate performance of the eye examination including (i) a first remote analysis portion that enables the one or more remote individuals to remotely conduct or review one or more tests during the eye examination and (ii) a second automated analysis portion that uses image analysis software to assess one or more eye health disorders, and the system is configured to:
establish, during the first remote analysis portion of the eye examination, one or more connections between the diagnostic center and the one or more remote devices during the eye examination, wherein:
the one or more connections provide real-time video conferencing between the one or more remote individuals and a customer located at the diagnostic center;
the one or more connections enable the one or more remote individuals to conduct one or more subjective refraction tests for the customer over the network;
the one or more connections enable the one or more remote individuals to transmit commands over the network to remotely switch one or more lenses of the auto-phoropter;
establish a second connection between the diagnostic center and the second remote device over the network, wherein the second connection provides real-time video conferencing between the second remote individual and the customer, and the second connection enables the second remote individual to transmit commands over the network to remotely control the auto-phoropter; and
facilitate administration of the eye examination to the customer with remote assistance from a plurality of remote individuals, wherein the equipment controller enables a plurality of remote individuals to control the auto-phoropter during the one or more tests and enables a subjective refraction to be administered to the customer located at the diagnostic center;
generate subjective refraction results based on the one or more subjective refraction tests;
receive one or more images of the customer's eye, wherein the one or more images are captured by the imaging device;
execute, during the second automated analysis portion of the eye examination, the image analysis software during the eye examination, the image analysis software being configured to pre-process the one or more images of the customer's eye based on testing analytics data to diagnose or detect one or more eye health disorders;
generate a customer examination data package, the customer examination data package comprising each of a result generated by the image analysis software, the subjective refraction results, and the one or more images of the customer's eye;
transmit the customer examination data package comprising the result generated by the image analysis software, the subjective refraction results, and the one or more images of the customer's eye to the one or more remote devices during the eye examination;
automatically detect a potential disorder or defect based on the customer examination data package by comparison with previous vision examination data; and
generate, using the one or more remote devices operated by the one or more remote individuals, evaluation data including an overview of the customer's eye health associated with the eye examination based, at least in part, on a review of the customer examination data package, including the (1) subjective refraction results obtained during the first remote analysis portion of the eye examination, (2) the result generated by the image analysis software and (3) the one or more images of the customer's eye.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more tests conducted during the eye examination include at least one diabetic retinopathy test; and
the evaluation data comprises results associated with the at least one diabetic retinopathy test.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein:
the diabetic retinopathy test is conducted, at least in part, with the assistance of the one or more remote individuals.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the image analysis software is configured to analyze the one or more images to detect or diagnose a glaucoma condition during the eye examination.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is selected from the group consisting of:
a digital image device;
a biomicroscope;
a slit lamp; and
a fundus or retinal camera.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is further configured to confirm that the one or more tests conducted during the eye examination were administered correctly.
7 . A method for providing a remotely assisted eye examination and for providing evaluation data to a customer including an overview of the customer's eye health, comprising:
administering an eye examination at a diagnostic center including ophthalmic equipment comprising a set of instruments that are utilized in administering the eye examination, wherein at least a portion of the ophthalmic equipment is coupled to an equipment controller that is configured to receive commands over a network to enable remote control of the ophthalmic equipment by one or more remote individuals during the eye examination, a database to store and access various data pertaining to the one or more remote individuals; and the ophthalmic equipment located at the diagnostic center at least includes an auto-phoropter and an imaging device; and
wherein administering the eye examination includes:
enabling the one or more remote individuals to remotely conduct or review one or more tests during the eye examination, wherein (i) a first remote analysis portion of the eye examination enables the one or more remote individuals to operate one or more remote devices, wherein the one or more remote devices includes a second remote device operated by a second remote individual and (ii) a second automated analysis portion that uses image analysis software to assess one or more eye health disorders;
establishing, during the first remote analysis portion of the eye examination, one or more connections between the diagnostic center and the one or more remote devices during the eye examination, wherein:
the one or more connections provide real-time video conferencing between the one or more remote individuals and a customer located at the diagnostic center;
the one or more connections enable the one or more remote individuals to conduct one or more subjective refraction tests for the customer over the network;
the one or more connections enable the one or more remote individuals to transmit commands over the network to remotely switch one or more lenses of the auto-phoropter;
establishing a second connection between the diagnostic center and the second remote device over the network, wherein the second connection provides real-time video conferencing between the second remote individual and the customer, and the second connection enables the second remote individual to transmit commands over the network to remotely control the auto-phoropter;
facilitating administration of the eye examination to the customer with remote assistance from a plurality of remote individuals, wherein the equipment controller enables a plurality of remote individuals to control the auto-phoropter during the one or more tests and enables a subjective refraction to be administered to the customer located at the diagnostic center;
generating subjective refraction results based on the one or more subjective refraction tests;
receiving one or more images of the customer's eye, wherein the one or more images are captured by the imaging device;
executing, during the second automated analysis of the eye examination, the image analysis software during the eye examination, the image analysis software being configured to pre-process the one or more images of the customer's eye based on testing analytics data to diagnose or detect one or more eye health disorders;
generating a-customer examination data package, the customer examination data package comprising each of a result generated by the image analysis software, the subjective refraction results, and the one or more images of the customer's eye;
transmitting the customer examination data package comprising the result generated by the image analysis software, the subjective refraction results, and the one or more images of the customer's eye to the one or more remote devices during the eye examination;
automatically detecting a potential disorder or defect based on the customer examination data package by comparison with previous vision examination data; and
generating, using the one or more remote devices operated by the one or more remote individuals, evaluation data including an overview of the customer's eye health associated with the eye examination based, at least in part, on a review of the customer examination data package, including the (1) subjective refraction results obtained during the first remote analysis portion of the eye examination, (2) the result generated by the image analysis software and (3) the one or more images of the customer's eye.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the one or more tests conducted during the eye examination include at least one diabetic retinopathy test; and
the evaluation data comprises results associated with the at least one diabetic retinopathy test.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the diabetic retinopathy test is conducted, at least in part, with the assistance of the one or more remote individuals.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the image analysis software is configured to analyze the one or more images to detect or diagnose a glaucoma condition during the eye examination.
11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the imaging device is selected from the group consisting of:
a digital image device;
a biomicroscope;
a slit lamp; and
a fundus or retinal camera.
12 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
confirming that the one or more tests conducted during the eye examination were administered correctly.