Statewide access to ophthalmologic care in South Carolina: A cross-sectional evaluation of appointment availability

To characterize ophthalmologic appointment availability in South Carolina for selected office-based services and to assess practice responsiveness to referring providers. Cross-sectional secret-shopper telephone survey. All identifiable ophthalmology practices in South Carolina were contacted (n=156); 111 practices provided usable scheduling information for at least one procedure. From January 1 to June 30, 2025, investigators anonymously contacted practices as either new patients or calling on behalf of a referring provider to request the next available appointment for YAG capsulotomy, YAG iridotomy, selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT), lid lesion evaluation, and intravitreal injection. Scheduling estimates provided in categories (e.g., same day, 1 week, 2–4 weeks) were standardized for descriptive analyses. During referring-provider calls, practices were also asked about the availability of same-day clinician-to-clinician communication. Next-available appointment timing by procedure and caller type, reported as standardized wait-time summaries and availability categories; same-day communication pathways for referring providers. Across responding practices, routine laser procedures were typically scheduled within several weeks (YAG capsulotomy and SLT averaged 19 days), with slightly shorter scheduling for referring-provider calls. Procedures commonly requiring expedited scheduling were typically available within 1–2 days (YAG iridotomy 1 day; intravitreal injection 1 day; <1 day for referring-provider calls). Appointment availability patterns were generally similar across regions, though interpretation of regional comparisons is limited by uneven regional sample sizes. In this statewide secret-shopper sample, ophthalmology practices in South Carolina generally reported short wait times for next-available appointments for selected procedures prioritized for expedited scheduling and routine office-based services. These findings describe scheduling availability and do not capture downstream clinical triage, insurance-related barriers, travel burden, or actual time to treatment.