Coinciding with AAO 2026, the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s annual meeting, the company debuts AI Agents for research and datasets for exclusive real-world insights from 90 million+ de-identified patients

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Verana Health^®, a digital health company dedicated to revolutionizing patient care and clinical research through real-world data (RWD), revealed several new enhancements to data and software solutions designed to enhance real-world insights and expedite treatment options in ophthalmology.

The announcements come ahead of AAO 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 9-12. Verana Health is the exclusive data curation and analytics partner of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy) IRIS^® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight), the largest specialty society clinical data registry in all of medicine.

“At Verana Health, we are relentless in our dedication to providing innovative technology and data-driven solutions for advancing ophthalmic research and patient care,” said Sujay Jadhav, CEO of Verana Health. “Our latest advances give clinicians and life science companies the precise tools they need to accelerate discoveries and elevate patient outcomes.”

New Verana Health product and service enhancements include:

• Collaboration with Bitfount Simplifies Prescreening for Ophthalmic Clinical Trials: Multimodal approach combining ophthalmic imaging and EHR data improves speed and accuracy of identifying eligible patients for studies.

  Under the collaboration, patients at participating sites can be evaluated for clinical trial eligibility based on integrated patient imaging and EHR data compared to the study’s protocol inclusion and exclusion criteria. Bitfount contributes an imaging eligibility flag (generated via AI analysis of OCT or fundus scans) alongside EHR-derived criteria. The combined prescreening results, viewable in the HIPAA-compliant Verana Trial Connect and within Bitfount’s on-premise application, improve ophthalmic study efficiency and expedite enrollment by providing a pre-validated patient pipeline.

• New datasets and variables for Qdata: As part of its Ophthalmology Qdata collection— fit-for-purpose modules that utilize RWD from the IRIS Registry to provide a comprehensive view of the patient journey—Verana Health has launched two datasets: Retinal Vein Occlusion and Stargardt Disease and new variables: visual field for Glaucoma, and other variables developed and validated that are available on request including; macular telangiectasia (MacTel) and atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC).
• Agent Claire for Life Sciences: Provides conversational access that ranges in sophistication to real-world patient data for disease-specific datasets (e.g., nAMD, Diabetic retinopathy), without needing programming skills or analyst assistance.

  Beyond time-saving benefits, Agent Claire enables transparency and ensures scientific rigor because it is built on high-quality, robust datasets and every answer includes the underlying query logic. This gives teams the confidence to act on results and share them internally.

  For research organizations where real-world evidence increasingly drives commercial strategy, medical planning, and launch decisions, greater access means more people can ask better questions, faster.

• Advancing Ophthalmic Imaging: Verana Health continues to advance its ophthalmic imaging initiative through the Imaging Consortium, progressing the infrastructure needed to securely integrate imaging with the rich clinical data of the IRIS Registry. Building on its collaboration with leading academic medical centers, Verana is also exploring opportunities to broaden image contributions across community-based ophthalmology practices, laying the foundation for a more diverse and scalable multimodal data resource.

Verana Health at AAO 2026

Verana Health will present a range of new enhanced products, services, and research during AAO 2026, the Academy’s annual meeting in New Orleans, October 9-12:

• An overview of MIPS Advisory Services will be available to ophthalmologists and their teams
• Joint Verana Health and Amgen research will be available on demand: “Treatment Patterns in Thyroid Eye Disease before and after Teprotumumab: Findings from Linked KOMODO Claims and IRIS Registry” examines real-world TED treatment patterns before and after teprotumumab availability.
• “How AI is Streamlining Everyday Clinical Operations,” – Saturday, October 10, 9:30 a.m. in the Academy Theater (located in booth #2437, the Academy Hub). This presentation showcases how AI represents a shift away from task-based automation. For MIPS, keeping current requires more than access to information; it requires the ability to apply it quickly and consistently. Participating in the IRIS Registry can help clinicians free more time for patient care, while still meeting MIPS requirements.

To learn more, visit veranahealth.com or the Verana Health Booth 2301. To schedule a meeting in advance of the event, click here.

About Verana Health 

Verana Health, Inc.^® is a digital health company revolutionizing patient care and clinical research by utilizing physician expertise and artificial intelligence to unlock the true potential of real-world data. With exclusive access to the world’s largest patient data sources in ophthalmology, urology, and neurology. Verana Health is powering real-world evidence generation. Clinicians utilize these insights to improve the quality of care and quality of life for patients, and life sciences companies rely on the insights to accelerate the development of new therapies. For more information, visit www.veranahealth.com.

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SOURCE Verana Health