Digital EyeCon 2026 Showcases How AI and Virtual Care are Transforming Medicine
Hosted by Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Digital EyeCon explores how artificial intelligence, remote patient monitoring and virtual care are reshaping ophthalmology and health care overall.
As artificial intelligence accelerates change across medicine, ophthalmology has emerged as a leading specialty for real‑world digital innovation. Digital EyeCon 2026, hosted by the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, part of UHealth – University of Miami Health System, brings together clinicians, researchers, students and health care professionals, in ophthalmology and beyond, to examine how AI‑enabled tools, remote patient monitoring and virtual care models are reshaping eye care while offering insights relevant to health care more broadly.
Framed around the theme “Tomorrow’s Care, Today: AI & RPM in Focus,” the April 17-18 conference addresses a health care transformation driven by data analytics, automation, customer relationship management (CRM) and connected care systems. Rather than focusing solely on virtual visits, the program highlights how artificial intelligence increasingly underpins diagnosis, monitoring and operational decision‑making across clinical environments.
“Ophthalmology, like all of health care, is being transformed through advances in technology, including digital innovation, artificial intelligence and data analytics,” said Eduardo Alfonso, M.D., director and chair of Bascom Palmer. “I am proud to say that the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is at the forefront of virtual health care transformation.”
Artificial Intelligence at the Core of Digital Care
A central emphasis of Digital EyeCon is the expanding role of AI in contemporary clinical and academic medicine settings. Program content examines how algorithm‑driven technologies can support image analysis, clinical triage and longitudinal disease monitoring. These applications reflect broader trends in medicine, where AI is becoming integral to fields that rely on complex imaging, pattern recognition and large‑scale data interpretation.
Sessions will encourage participants to consider how artificial intelligence can augment clinical expertise rather than replace it, improving efficiency while maintaining high standards of patient care.
From Virtual Visits to Continuous Care
While virtual care remains an important component of the conference, Digital EyeCon broadens the conversation to include remote patient monitoring and hybrid care models. Program sessions explore how RPM technologies enable clinicians to track patient data beyond traditional encounters, supporting earlier detection of clinical changes and more proactive intervention.
This shift reflects a growing movement away from episodic care toward continuous, data‑driven management. By examining RPM alongside virtual platforms and AI tools, Digital EyeCon emphasizes how these technologies intersect to create scalable, responsive systems that can adapt across specialties and care settings.
Operational Strategy and System Design
Digital innovation does not exist in isolation from clinical operations. Digital EyeCon addresses the infrastructure, workflows and governance models required to integrate AI‑enabled tools into real‑world practice. Program sessions examine how health systems can design digital strategies that complement existing clinical environments rather than disrupt them.
“We emphasize real-world use cases and discuss how virtual platforms can support chronic disease management, improve triage and surveillance and extend specialty expertise to underserved populations,” said Giselle Ricur, M.D., M.B.A., the Digital EyeCon course director and executive director of virtual care at Bascom Palmer. “The program also addresses the operational and cultural shifts required to integrate technology into busy clinical environments, ensuring innovation enhances, rather than disrupts, patient care.”
This operational focus underscores the understanding that successful digital transformation requires alignment among technology, people and processes. Participants are encouraged to assess how AI, virtual care and remote monitoring fit within their organizational goals, patient populations and regulatory responsibilities.
Ethical, Legal and Professional Responsibilities
As AI becomes more embedded in clinical decision‑making, Digital EyeCon dedicates attention to the ethical and professional considerations that accompany technological adoption. Program discussions address issues such as accountability, oversight and equitable access, reinforcing the importance of responsible implementation.
By embedding these conversations within a broader digital health program, the conference highlights the shared responsibility health care professionals have when deploying AI‑driven tools. Innovation, the program suggests, must advance patient care while preserving trust, transparency and professional standards.
Preparing the Workforce for an AI‑Enabled Future
Education is a recurring theme throughout Digital EyeCon. The conference emphasizes the need for clinicians, trainees and administrators to develop digital fluency as AI and connected technologies become routine components of care delivery.
By engaging a multidisciplinary audience, the program reflects the reality that AI in health care is not limited to technical specialists. Effective adoption depends on clinicians who understand how to interpret AI‑supported insights, integrate digital workflows and lead cultural change within their organizations.
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Tags: AI, artificial intelligence, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Dr. Eduardo Alfonso, Dr. Giselle Ricur, ophthalmology, technology