Bausch + Lomb is debuting a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital health platform designed to support eyecare providers (ECPs) in patient care.
… and its name?
That would be Orphia.
Tell me more!
We’ll start with the basics: The brand-agnostic platform will operate under a new platform B+L has developed, dubbed Digital Health Services.
Its purpose: To reduce operational burden between ECPs and their patients—regardless of their chosen products, devices, or treatments.
But more specifically, B+L noted that Orphia was built with the thought that ECPs “should spend less time managing disconnected tools and technologies and more time caring for patients.”
And how, exactly, is it doing this?
Per the company, the platform can be integrated with pre-existing systems of clinical practices and will complement existing workflows to create actionable insights for clinical teams.
Give me an example of how this works.
Orphia's first application will focus on pre-surgery cataract education by helping patients:
- Understand their condition and treatment options
- Identify concerns and prepare them ahead of meeting a surgeon
The goal: To not just answer patients’ questions, but ensure they’re prepared for the surgery process.
So where does the AI component come in?
With developing the platform’s “conversational patient engagement capability,” according to B+L.
But to be more accurate: Orphia utilizes Hippocratic AI and its proprietary large language model (LLM) to generate those realistic patient conversations.
Give me the rundown on this Hippocratic AI.
This generative AI agent is the namesake product of a company known for building the first safety-focused LLM for healthcare.
- In fact, the company was co-founded in 2023 by its current CEO alongside a group of physicians, hospital administrators, healthcare professionals, and AI researchers from El Camino Health, Johns Hopkins, Stanford University, and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri as well as Google and NVIDIA.
- Its first U.S. patent was issued in 2024 covering the Polaris system, its initial safety-focused LLM “constellation architecture.”
The company’s purpose: To overcome clinician shortages by augmenting practices’ staff with “extra eyes, ears, and a voice.”
And what do these agents do, exactly?
Built on +200 million clinical patient interactions and tested by over 7.5K U.S. licensed clinicians, the Hippocratic AI agents engage in real-time voice conversations and handle patient-facing tasks more traditionally done by clinical staff—including post-discharge follow-ups, appointment scheduling, and medication adherence.
- Check out all their capabilities on a specialty-by-speciality basis.
- See here and here for examples of their utilization in other healthcare settings.
- And get a look at the five-step approach used for certifying its safety for patients.
Important to note: Hippocratic AI’s agents are not built to diagnose or prescribe.