The Regional Eye Center Selects Optivate as Its Practice Management and EHR Platform

Leading Tennessee-Virginia eye care group chooses Optivate for its flexible deployment options, including on-premise hosting, ahead of a forced vendor migration

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Aug. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Optivate, the all-in-one AI-powered software platform built exclusively for ophthalmology and optometry practices, today announced that The Regional Eye Center (REC), one of the largest eye care groups in the southeastern United States, has selected Optivate as its new EHR and Practice Management platform.

Based in Kingsport, Tennessee, and serving patients across northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia for more than 30 years, The Regional Eye Center sees more than 600 new patients per month across a multi-location practice that includes a dedicated ambulatory surgery center. The decision followed REC's incumbent vendor mandating a disruptive migration to a new platform version, prompting the practice to evaluate its options in the market.

"Being forced into a migration by our previous vendor gave us a reason to take a hard look at what else was out there, and Optivate stood apart," Chris Martin, CEO of Regional Eye Center said. "The flexibility of Optivate's deployment model, including the ability to self-host, gave us a level of control over our own data and infrastructure that we simply couldn't get anywhere else."

Unlike many EHR and practice management vendors that lock customers into a single, vendor-hosted environment, Optivate offers practices the choice of deployment models, including cloud-hosted and self-hosted, on-premise options. For organizations like REC that place a premium on data ownership and infrastructure control, that flexibility was a decisive factor.

"Regional Eye Center is exactly the kind of high-performing, patient-focused practice we built Optivate for," said Brad Caldwell, CEO of Optivate. "They were being pushed into a migration on someone else's timeline, and instead of accepting that, they took the opportunity to find a partner who would give them real choice and control over their own systems. That's the difference between a vendor and a true technology partner, and we're proud REC chose us."

The announcement comes as Optivate continues to be recognized as a top-performing vendor in ophthalmology by KLAS Research. In KLAS's 2026 Ophthalmology performance data, Optivate rated highest among leading EHR vendors in the specialty, with top marks in Loyalty, Relationship, and Operations — reflecting consistently high user satisfaction and strong customer support.

About The Regional Eye Center

The Regional Eye Center has been serving patients in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia for more than 30 years, offering comprehensive ophthalmic care including cataract surgery, LASIK and laser vision correction, cornea, retina, and glaucoma treatment, and general ophthalmology. Learn more at www.regionaleye.com.

About Optivate

Optivate is an all-in-one AI-powered SaaS platform built exclusively for ophthalmology and optometry practices, offering EHR, Practice Management, Patient Engagement, Revenue Cycle Management, Optical, and ASC modules in a single, integrated solution. Optivate is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Learn more about us at www.optivatehealth.com.

Media Contact

Gus Savloff
Chief Growth Officer
Optivate
Gus.Savloff@optivatehealth.com  
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