NEW ORLEANS — The American Academy of Ophthalmology and DigiSight Technologies, Inc. today announced a collaboration agreement to operate the world’s largest database of ophthalmic clinical information. As part of the agreement, the Academy is licensing commercial application of its IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight) to DigiSight. Terms were not disclosed.
The arrangement enables DigiSight to build new analytic applications and user interfaces to enhance the IRIS Registry, which will be marketed to pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers, health systems, payers and other customers that can benefit from the vast database to innovate ophthalmic patient care.
The IRIS Registry was developed to improve patient care, enable clinical discovery and simplify federal government and commercial payer quality reporting. It is a centralized collection and analytic software tool that compiles and processes data from electronic health records and other sources to enable ophthalmologists to analyze patient outcomes, benchmark to their peers and pinpoint opportunities for improvement.
The database also facilitates analytics of eye care issues at a population level including disease natural history, impact of comorbidities, comparison of therapies, outcomes of care, and support of clinical research human trials. Launched in 2014, it is the largest specialty-based clinical data registry in all of medicine, with more than 41.2 million unique patients in its database, representing 166.2 million patient visits.
“The IRIS Registry has had a tremendous impact in advancing the quality of care for patients in need of medical and surgical eye care,” said David W. Parke II, MD, CEO for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “Academy member physicians and their practices are benchmarking their care to the highest standards, they’re implementing quality improvements and more efficient workflows and they’re efficiently and effectively reporting outcomes in accordance to federal government mandates. Our relationship with DigiSight enables the same evidence-based analysis to support less costly and more rapid development of new pharmaceuticals and devices as well as to dramatically speed the clinical trial process. It fully supports the vision of the IRIS Registry and the mission of the Academy to protect sight and empower the lives of patients.”
Founded by renowned eye physicians and surgeons, DigiSight is led by a team of health care and technology veterans and backed by blue-chip investors. Through the creation of a segregated commercial focus for the IRIS Registry, DigiSight will be able to deploy the resources needed to quickly respond to the demands of industry partners that can utilize the aggregate, de-identified data set to create innovative new solutions for patient care.
“DigiSight Technologies draws upon years of experience working with ophthalmic datasets and looks forward to leveraging new data in order to advance patient care and outcomes,” said Doug Foster, CEO for DigiSight Technologies. “Our company is dedicated to advancing the field of ophthalmology through advanced data analytics and mobile interfaces. We’re excited to partner with the American Academy of Ophthalmology to accelerate ophthalmic innovation and create deeper insights for the ophthalmic community at-large.”
The Academy noted that its relationship with its member physicians participating in the IRIS Registry is unchanged. Access remains available to all members in good standing. The same protections for individual data and dissemination of that data continue as before.
About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world’s largest association of eye physicians and surgeons. A global community of 32,000 medical doctors, we protect sight and empower lives by setting the standards for ophthalmic education and advocating for our patients and the public. We innovate to advance our profession and to ensure the delivery of the highest-quality eye care. Our EyeSmart® program provides the public with the most trusted information about eye health. For more information, visit aao.org.
About DigiSight Technologies
DigiSight Technologies, Inc., a leading digital health company in ophthalmology, is committed to using ophthalmic data to provide better care for patients, enable efficient workflows for providers, and create deeper insights for the entire ophthalmic community. DigiSight’s cloud-based Paxos platform integrates mobile technologies, imaging modalities, and data analytics to create a first-of-kind, HIPAA-compliant care coordination tool for ophthalmology. DigiSight is partnering with the American Academy of Ophthalmology to enhance and commercialize the world’s largest ophthalmic database to accelerate ophthalmic innovation, advance scientific knowledge, and deepen clinical and business insights. Learn more at www.digisight.net.
# # #