Can There Be Home Eyecare?

I’ve mentioned Jay Parkinson, M.D. before, and in fact, he has left a comment on this blog before.

Now he is transitioning into kind of a franchise system.

When we think of traveling outside the office, its usually just to do screenings at the old folks home, but I’m not talking about that. What if the industry made available light, portable and cost-effective exam equipment in a nice kit? What if you kept your Wal-Mart job 4 days a week but provide home eyecare one day a week? Would you want to provide home eyecare full-time?

I’m just thinking out loud here. Does anyone think there is a way optometrists can deliver home eyecare? If we can, should we?

**Update: I saw in Review of Optometry’s edition of Women in Optometry June 2008, that Dr. Tamara Hill-Bennett, O.D. makes house calls 80% of her practice. Since I couldn’t find a link to the article, here is a copy (PDF, 490 KB).