Start a Teleophthalmology Screening Service

1. 1

   Design the clinical reading model

   Screening images must be interpreted by qualified eye care clinicians, or by FDA-cleared autonomous AI systems used within their cleared indications with appropriate physician workflows. Decide your model (remote optometrist and ophthalmologist readers, cleared AI plus clinician oversight, or both), and have a healthcare attorney confirm licensure, supervision, and telehealth rules for each state you touch.

2. 2

   Assemble the camera and workflow stack

   Compact non-mydriatic retinal cameras suitable for primary care commonly run in the five figures each (with leasing and per-study pricing available from vendors), plus image transfer, reporting templates, and integration light enough that a medical assistant can run the whole capture in minutes. The clinic-side simplicity is the product.

3. 3

   Sell to the people graded on this exact gap

   Primary care groups, FQHCs, and health plans are scored on diabetic eye exam completion in quality programs, which means your service directly moves a metric they are paid on. Pitch per-screening or per-month placement economics against the care-gap revenue and penalties they already track.

4. 4

   Run the follow-up loop or the mission fails

   A positive screen only matters if the patient reaches an eye doctor, so build the referral hand-off: results back to the ordering physician fast, a partner network of local eye practices for treatment, and tracking of screened-positive patients through to appointment. That closed loop is also what health plans want to buy.

5. 5

   Get the billing right

   Retinal imaging and remote interpretation have established billing pathways that vary by payer and setting, and clinics need clarity on who bills what. Offer clean models: you bill globally where allowed, or the clinic bills and pays you per study. Ambiguity here kills deals; a one-page billing brief closes them.

6. 6

   Expand modality by modality

   Diabetic retinopathy is the anchor; glaucoma monitoring support and other tele-eye services can follow once the camera fleet and reader network exist. Each new clinic placement compounds the platform, and the aggregate detection data (honestly and compliantly reported) becomes the case study that wins the next health system.

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