For many eyecare providers, the challenge with myopia management in 2026 is no longer awareness. Most practitioners understand the growing prevalence of childhood myopia and are familiar with available treatment options. The bigger hurdle is figuring out how to implement it consistently in a busy practice environment already filled with packed schedules, staffing demands and operational responsibilities.
That reality resonates with Anjali Palvia Shah, OD, of VisionQuest Eyecare. Dr. Shah joined the multi-location practice in 2020, shortly after the practice partnered with Treehouse Eyes. While she had long been interested in specialty care, including pediatrics and dry eye disease, she says myopia management became increasingly important to her as her own children started reading and attending school.
She and her husband are both myopic, and raising three children pushed Dr. Shah to think more deeply about long-term visual outcomes and quality of life. “Offering the best route in all aspects of healthcare is the only thing that makes sense,” she says. “Digging deeper into myopia management has helped me do that.”
UNDERSTANDING (AND MOVING PAST) BARRIERS
Dr. Shah believes most eyecare providers (ECPs) already understand the importance of myopia management. The real challenge is implementation.
“Myopia management is the standard of care in 2026,” she says. “The question is not whether ECPs should offer it—it’s how do you build it into a practice that already has pre-existing systems and operations in place?”
Before joining VisionQuest Eyecare, Dr. Shah would educate parents about progression risks and discuss management options, but there were limited systems for treatment, follow-up or tracking. That experience mirrors what many providers face today. Between staffing challenges, billing responsibilities and full patient schedules, implementing a new specialty service can feel overwhelming.
“In a busy practice, when the day is ending and you’re managing staff and operational issues, it’s hard to feel like you have the time to create an entirely new system from scratch,” she says.
Dr. Shah says working with Treehouse Eyes helped remove much of that uncertainty. Rather than building protocols independently, practices can lean on established workflows, educational tools and a network of providers already offering myopia management.
START SMALL
One misconception Dr. Shah often sees is that practices feel they must fully transform overnight before offering myopia management. Instead, she encourages providers to start with manageable steps that fit naturally into their workflow.
For some practices, that first step may simply involve initiating conversations with parents about childhood myopia progression. Others may begin by prescribing low-dose atropine and increasing follow-up frequency from annual visits to every six months.
“You can just start with having the conversation,” she says. “Then you can figure out what matters most to your protocol and how you want to grow from there.”
Dr. Shah says that gradual approach helped remove much of the decision fatigue she initially experienced. Through the Treehouse Eyes network, providers gain access to communication strategies, protocols and collaboration without feeling like they must reinvent the wheel.
VisionQuest Eyecare now has dedicated myopia management spaces within both office locations, including a Treehouse-branded room in Fishers and a full Treehouse suite in Greenwood. Dr. Shah says those systems and structures have helped make myopia management feel integrated into the practice instead of added on top of it.
BUILDING TRUST THROUGH EDUCATION
Dr. Shah says one of the most important parts of implementation is learning how to frame the conversation with parents. In many cases, families are hearing the term “myopia management” for the first time during the appointment.
“When parents understand we’re talking about lifelong health outcomes and not just different glasses, the conversation changes,” she says.
Rather than positioning treatment as optional, she focuses on education and advocacy. “We explain that myopia management is now the standard of care,” she says. “We talk about reducing the chance of future visual impairment and helping prevent progression before it becomes worse.”
Dr. Shah says transparency also plays a major role in building trust, especially when discussing cost or treatment recommendations. “When you’re open and honest with patients and explain why something is important, the trust comes,” she says. “We trust orthodontists and dentists when they recommend treatment plans for children. Myopia care is the same way.”
She says having consistent educational language and communication support through Treehouse Eyes has also helped make those conversations easier for both doctors and staff members.
THE VALUE OF SHARED SYSTEMS
Another factor that helped Dr. Shah move from awareness into action was access to a broader network of providers focused on the same goals. Her practice collaborates with local primary care doctors through referrals, which she says is “a perfectly acceptable system. The child is taken care of, concerns are addressed and the parent has numerous opportunities to learn about preventing progression.”
“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” she says. “It feels exponential because there are so many people to lean on.”
At the practice level, Dr. Shah has also helped streamline communication, follow-up and documentation processes so myopia management no longer feels like “extra work” for the team.
For providers still hesitant to begin, Dr. Shah encourages focusing less on perfection and more on simply taking the first step. “You don’t have to know everything immediately,” she says. “Just start somewhere.”
This article is sponsored by Treehouse Eyes
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