Ophthalmic Transfers and Consultations Increased Across US Academic Hospitals

Academic medical centers provide urgent and complex ophthalmic care, but trends in demand remain poorly characterized. This retrospective longitudinal cohort study examined ophthalmology interhospital transfers and emergency department (ED) and inpatient consultations at 14 hospitals affiliated with 10 US academic medical centers from 2013 through 2024. Participating hospitals had resident involvement in on-call coverage and data extending back to at least 2017. Outcomes included population-adjusted and hospital volume-adjusted service rates.

Across participating hospitals, investigators recorded 32,131 transfer requests, 23,560 accepted transfers, and 139,356 consultations. Transfer requests increased by an aggregate 0.66 per 100,000 state residents annually (95% CI, 0.51–0.81), and accepted transfers increased by 0.34 (95% CI, 0.17–0.51). Among seven institutions providing consultation data, consultations increased by 3.01 per 100,000 residents annually (95% CI, 2.33–3.69). ED and inpatient consultation rates increased by 2.06 and 1.08 per 100,000 annually, respectively. All aggregate trends were statistically significant after false-discovery rate adjustment (P<.001).

The findings suggest growing demand for academic hospital ophthalmology coverage, with implications for staffing and health system planning. However, the retrospective analysis does not establish why demand increased or whether patient outcomes changed. Its focus on large urban academic referral centers limits generalizability to other hospital settings.