VAUGHAN, Ontario and MENLO PARK, Calif.—Global eye health company Bausch + Lomb Corporation (NYSE/TSX: BLCO) has announced the creation of Orphia, a brand-agnostic, AI-powered digital health platform that is designed to support eyecare providers and improve patient education. Orphia will serve all eyecare providers, regardless of the products, devices or treatments they choose to use, and it will operate under Digital Health Services, a newly-created platform at Bausch + Lomb, the company said in the announcement. Orphia is not yet commercially available and Bausch + Lomb will be sharing more information in the coming months, a company spokesperson told VMAIL.
The first application of the Orphia digital health platform focuses on pre-surgery cataract education, helping patients understand their condition and treatment options, identifying concerns and preparing them before they meet with their surgeon. The goal is to ensure patients arrive informed and ready, so conversations with their surgeon are more meaningful, allowing physicians to focus on what matters most: achieving the best possible outcome for each patient’s vision, the company noted.
To assist with the development of conversational patient engagement capability, Bausch + Lomb said it has engaged Hippocratic AI, a leader in voice AI agents for healthcare and life sciences, with a proprietary LLM built on more than 200 million real patient interactions, validated by more than 7,500 U.S.-licensed clinicians, and a track record of deployment across major health systems and healthcare organizations nationwide.
“We’ve invested deeply in developing better products, better molecules and better devices, and that work has advanced patient care. But one question has remained largely unanswered: How can we help physicians spend less time on everything around care and more time delivering it?” said Brent Saunders, chairman and CEO, Bausch + Lomb. “Orphia was created to serve every eyecare provider, no matter what they prescribe or what product they use.”
Orphia is designed to integrate with the systems that practices already use, complementing existing workflows and creating actionable insights for clinical teams. Over time, Bausch + Lomb said it plans to expand the platform’s capabilities to support the full patient journey, from care coordination to practice workflow, reducing the operational burden that stands between physicians and their patients.
Vance Thompson, MD, founder of Vance Thompson Vision and a leading cataract and refractive surgeon, said, “For decades, our teams have invested tremendous time educating patients before surgery because informed patients are more confident, more engaged and better prepared to make decisions about their vision. What excites me about this technology is that it allows our teams to focus their energy where it creates the greatest value: empathy, trust and personal connection. AI can handle many of the routine operational tasks like pre-op calls. People remain at the heart of care.”
The engagement of Hippocratic AI brings together Bausch + Lomb’s understanding of eyecare with a technology platform already trusted by many of the world’s leading healthcare organizations, with the goal of creating solutions that support physicians, empower staff and help patients better understand their healthcare decisions, the company said.
“By embedding AI agents into daily workflows and providing the industry with an AI system that understands ophthalmology’s unique care models, we believe we can return valuable hours to physicians and their patients,” said Munjal Shah, CEO and cofounder, Hippocratic AI. “This is what abundance in healthcare looks like: freeing up healthcare professionals to always work at the top of their license.”
The Orphia digital health platform will be led by Manisha Narasimhan, Ph.D., president, Digital Health Services, Bausch + Lomb. Over the past three years, she has helped shape the company’s strategy, AI and digital capabilities. Narasimhan brings nearly two decades of experience spanning biotechnology, strategy, corporate development and digital transformation.
