Oculo's Dr Kate Taylor and Specsavers' Peter Larsen

Oculo says it will now be rolling out its cloud-based secure messaging and clinical communication software, designed to better connect optometrists and ophthalmologists, in New Zealand over the next few of months.

The launch will be kicked-off through Oculo’s agreement with Specsavers, which has signed a multi-year commitment to use Oculo on both sides of the Tasman. But Oculo is keen to sign up as many optometrists and ophthalmologists to its technology as possible to enable consistency in the quantity and quality of data shared.

Oculo’s software provides a secure, online system for optometrists to identify ophthalmologists with particular specialities and to safely share clinical records, including patient data, photos and scans for referrals. The system was the brainchild of Professor Jonathan Crowston, managing director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), and Peter Larsen, director of CERA and Specsavers optometry director. It was spun out from CERA as a standalone company in 2015.

The Australian roll-out began in April 2016 and it’s now employed by more than 1,700 optometrists and 440 ophthalmologists, managing over 200,000 patients across Australia. An agreement with Glaucoma Australia last year also allows eye care professionals to refer patients directly to the charity for help and support.

“Oculo is a fundamental component of our ability to measure clinical activity and outcomes,” said Larsen. “Through Oculo, we can access data on detection, referral and diagnosis rates to further improve clinical standards and contribute to transforming eye health in Australia and New Zealand. For example, Specsavers-wide Oculo data will provide us with the evidence-base to show how we are closing the gap on undiagnosed glaucoma in Australia and New Zealand. That sort of information has not been available before and helps not just us and our optometrists, but also government and other health stakeholders. It adds value because it allows us to specify the impact we are making on patient wellbeing.”

“There is so much innovation in eye care - the technologies available for diagnosis and management are really exciting,” said Dr Kate Taylor, Oculo’s CEO. “So more than ever, it’s important to use technology to enhance clinical communication so that practitioners can share digital information to increase the quality and efficiency of patient care.”

Background

Oculo was developed by CERA, a not-for-profit medical research institute based at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) in Melbourne, in collaboration with Specsavers, OPSM, and Bupa Optical. Its aim is to promote the efficiency and quality of clinical communications to support collaboration to improve eye care; to “be better than a letter,” said Prof Crowston, chair of Oculo, at the company’s launch back in 2016. “The team has invested thousands of hours to develop privacy and data security controls that mean that correspondence by Oculo is indeed better than a letter, and so much more. It has intelligent prompts and other features to enhance the quality of referrals and to create a shared eye e-health record.”

Oculo’s major shareholders are CERA and an angel investor who had a life-changing intervention at the RVEEH and wanted to give back. No other individual or corporate involved in optometry or ophthalmology has any stake.