Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are quickly becoming a larger part of the patient health care journey. As highlighted in Part 1 of this series, a recent report from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America found that one in four Americans now use AI tools for health guidance, often before or after seeing a provider.
As these tools become increasingly integrated into the lives of everyday information seekers, technology companies are positioning their AI chatbots as trusted support tools for health information. For example, OpenAI recently introduced initiatives designed to improve how ChatGPT handles health-related questions, emphasizing medically informed responses, safety guardrails, and partnerships with healthcare organizations.
For eye care professionals (ECPs), this shift in patient behavior presents both challenges and opportunities. Here, we unpack five ECP expert-served strategies for practitioners to remain the most-trusted source in a fast-changing, AI-infused vision care landscape.
Strategy 1: Reinforce Personalized Care + Human Relationships
Patients who use AI chatbots may arrive with more information—and, in some cases, more anxiety—than ever before. However, this provides a chance to reinforce the eye care practitioner’s role as the trusted expert—and the value of personalized care, patient education, and human connection.
As patients increasingly seek answers online or through AI chatbots, Kimberly Darke, OD, MPH, FAAO, believes ECPs should lean into what technology cannot replicate: personalized care and human relationships.
“Optometry is an inherently human profession,” she says. “Every patient encounter is individualized, and the nature of our examinations depends on a genuine dialogue, including input from the patient and responses from the provider.”
Ukti Vora, MBA, M. Optom, FAAO, senior product marketing manager at Topcon Healthcare and host of the Nerdy Optometrist podcast, notes that while chatbots can provide general guidance based on symptoms patients describe, they lack access to diagnostic findings such as testing that shape individualized care decisions. By proactively walking patients through imaging results such as optical coherence tomography or fundus photography, for example, ECPs can help patients better understand how their specific diagnosis was made.
“Patients need to understand that our expertise is coming from reports and testing that are specific to them—not generalized information,” she says. “We are customizing care for each patient. That personalized care is what differentiates an eye care provider from a chatbot.”
“As much as you want to be there to answer all the questions, practitioners only have so much time in a day. Having resources that can answer questions asynchronously can really help.”
Ukti Vora, MBA, M. Optom, FAAO
Strategy 2: Take Patient Education Beyond the Exam Room
In the West Health-Gallup report, 59% of respondents said they research with AI before seeing a doctor, and another 56% research after the appointment. This makes providing patients with trusted sources of information pre- and post-appointment as important as ever, so they don’t have to rely solely on online searches.
Vora believes that a continuous education model should extend beyond the exam. Rather than discouraging AI use, she recommends guiding patients toward practice-curated, reputable sources of information curated by the practice itself. That could include sources for videos or even AI-powered chat tools integrated into a practice website, or other content that the clinic has developed.
“As much as you want to be there to answer all the questions, practitioners only have so much time in a day,” she says. “Having resources that can answer questions asynchronously can really help.”
ZEISS VisioGen is one example of an AI tool that can integrate with a practice website. This human-verified, AI-powered platform is built for ophthalmology practices and integrates directly with the clinic websites to answer common patient questions and guide interest toward scheduled evaluations.
Strategy 3: Create a More Comfortable Environment for Questions
The West Health-Gallup report also found that some of the top reasons that patients turn to AI include feeling dismissed, ignored, or embarrassed to ask questions in person. An open, welcoming environment can help reduce those barriers.
To help remove this discomfort, Vora suggests ending appointments with an invitation for questions and making it clear that patients are welcome to follow up after the visit if concerns arise later.
“Once they’re done with the consultation, giving them another opportunity to ask any other questions and making it clear that if you have any more questions, even if it might sound very basic, please feel free to ask,” she says. “Adding that additional closing question that gives them room for maybe one other question might be useful and make them feel less intimidated.”
Beyond that, Dr. Darke recommends building multiple opportunities for questions throughout the exam to avoid putting too much pressure on the patient at a single moment in time.
“If we weave question invitations in throughout the visit, it gives the patient more opportunities to ask questions,” she says.
Dr. Darke also emphasizes reassurance and validation, encouraging ECPs to normalize uncertainty by using phrases such as, “I get asked about this all the time.”
“As we learn how to best utilize AI, we need to be ready to adapt to changes in how patients gain their information. Staying dedicated to the mission of patient education will solidify optometrists as eye and vision experts within our community.”
Kimberly Darke, OD, MPH, FAAO
Strategy 4: Bring AI Conversations into the Exam Room
Rather than avoiding discussions about AI, both experts encourage ECPs to proactively bring them into patient conversations.
Asking “Did you look this up online or through AI?” may become an increasingly valuable opening question, according to Vora, so they won’t hide what is on their mind after their online searches.
“If you make it a conversation starter, that makes the patient very comfortable to talk about it,” she says.
Strategy 5: Underscore When AI Isn’t Enough
One concerning finding from the West Health-Gallup report was that 14% of respondents skipped a provider visit based on AI-generated information or advice.
Dr. Darke believes this highlights the growing need for patient education around symptoms and conditions that require immediate professional attention.
“I believe all patients should know what ocular and visual signs and symptoms warrant an urgent visit to an ECP,” she says. “This education should occur at each encounter with the patients. The more we remind patients that we are available for urgent and chronic needs, the more they will turn to a trusted source of care.”
Vora notes that it’s important for practices to provide a checklist of the symptoms that require early intervention, including flashes, floaters, blurred vision, or losses in peripheral vision. This could be through your website, a practice’s website chatbot, or clinic-provided materials or videos.
As AI tools continue evolving, Dr. Darke believes these advancements in technology can be exciting—albeit potentially concerning as well. “As we learn how to best utilize AI, we need to be ready to adapt to changes in how patients gain their information,” she says. “Staying dedicated to the mission of patient education will solidify optometrists as eye and vision experts within our community.”