LASIK patient counselling and cataract enquiry follow-up for eye hospitals

Good LASIK patient counselling and cataract follow-up run as two separate tracks. LASIK enquirers are mostly young, compare hospitals online and decide for themselves, so book the eligibility check quickly and follow up in short, spaced calls. Cataract decisions often rest with the patient's children, so reach that decision maker, send details the family can share, and leave medical questions to the doctor and policy questions to the insurance desk.

This guide is for the people who run that desk: owners, counsellors and marketing managers at eye hospitals and eye clinics. The two tracks use different words, different timing and often different staff. The scripts below are templates. Replace the brackets with your hospital's details, and have your doctors approve every line that touches on the eye itself.

Two different buyers: LASIK enquirers and cataract families

Put a LASIK enquiry next to a cataract enquiry and they have almost nothing in common apart from the department.

One script can't serve both. A LASIK script that asks "who else will decide?" sounds odd to a 26-year-old in Pune paying from their own salary. A cataract script that pushes for a booking in the first two minutes feels pushy to a 68-year-old in Indore who is waiting for his daughter in Bengaluru to call back.

The simplest fix is to route the two to different people from the start. If you run separate ad campaigns and forms for refractive surgery and cataract, the source already tells you which track a lead belongs to. Send LASIK leads to the counsellors who are quick on WhatsApp, and cataract leads to the senior counsellor who is patient with elders on the phone.

LASIK patient counselling: booking the eligibility check (script)

The first call has one goal, a booked eligibility check. It is not the call to sell surgery, explain procedures in detail or promise results. A young enquirer may well have filled forms at other hospitals the same evening, so the hospital that calls first and offers a clear slot starts ahead.

Opening
"Hi, am I speaking with Rohan? This is Priya from [Hospital], [area]. You asked about
LASIK on our Instagram form a few minutes ago. Do you have two minutes?"

Four questions (write the answers on the lead)
1. "Do you wear glasses, contact lenses, or both?"
2. "Has your number changed in the last year or so? The doctor will ask, so it helps to know."
3. "Have you had any eye treatment or surgery before?"
4. "What made you look into this now? Work, sports, a wedding, or just tired of glasses?"

If they ask the price
"The final cost depends on which procedure the doctor recommends after your tests.
Our packages start at [₹ amount]. I'll WhatsApp you the full list right after this call.
The eligibility check itself is [₹ amount / free]."

Booking
"I have Saturday at 11 am or Sunday at 10 am. Which works better for you?"

Before you hang up
"If you wear contact lenses, the doctor wants you off them for [X] days before the check.
The check takes about [X] hours."
[If your check uses dilating drops: the doctor-approved line about blurred vision and
not driving afterwards.]
"I'm sending the address, map pin and these instructions on WhatsApp now."

Unless the enquirer has messaged you on WhatsApp in the last 24 hours, this first message has to be a Meta-approved template, so keep one ready with the price list, address and map pin. The same goes for every later WhatsApp step in this guide. Once they reply, you can write freely for 24 hours from their last message.

Three lines a counsellor should never say on this call:

• "You'll definitely be eligible." Only the tests and the doctor decide that.
• "You'll never need glasses again." Results are a conversation for the doctor.
• Anything about another hospital's outcomes or safety. Compare what your package includes, not someone else's results.

If the first call doesn't connect, don't wait until tomorrow. Try again within the hour, and send an approved WhatsApp template with the two slot options so they can reply when they're free.

Following up after an eligibility check

Once the check is done, the lead falls into one of three groups, and each needs a different follow-up.

Eligible and keen

Try to fix the surgery date before they leave the hospital. If they need to check leave with their manager, set a callback for the day they said they would know, and send the available dates on WhatsApp that evening.

Eligible but comparing

This is where most of your follow-up effort goes. Keep each call short and give the person a reason to pick up.

Day 1 (call)
"Hi Rohan, Priya from [Hospital]. How did you find the check yesterday? Did the doctor's
explanation make sense, or is there anything you'd like me to get answered by the doctor?"

Day 3 (call, if they said they are comparing)
"It's sensible to compare. When you do, check you are comparing the same things: which
procedure, which tests are included, how many follow-up visits, and the medicines after
surgery. Shall I send you our inclusions list so you can put it side by side?"

Day 7 (call)
"I wanted to check whether you've picked a date. We have slots on [dates]. If you still
have medical questions, I can book a 10-minute call with the doctor."

After day 14 with no decision, stop calling every few days. Move the lead to a monthly WhatsApp message (an approved template, because the 24-hour reply window will have closed) and set a callback before the times people tend to plan around, such as year-end leave or a bonus month.

This group is where leads get lost, because nobody owns the next date. Give every lead in it one callback date and one named counsellor. When someone says "too expensive" or "I'm scared", write it in the call comment in their words rather than "not interested". atomcrm.ai reads call comments for intent, objections and urgency (AI lead scoring), and the next callback card shows that last comment, so the next call starts from the real objection.

Not suitable

If the doctor says LASIK isn't right for them, close the lead kindly and stop the LASIK follow-up. Don't let a counsellor try to rescue it with a sales pitch. Any alternative the doctor mentioned is the doctor's recommendation to explain, not the counsellor's.

Cataract: talking to the family decision maker

A cataract enquiry often starts with someone who isn't the patient. Say a daughter in Bengaluru sees your ad, fills the form for her father in Nagpur, and goes back to work. If the counsellor only ever calls the father, the lead stalls, because the person who will pay, take leave and bring him in is the daughter.

So the first job is to map the family. On the first call, record four things: the patient's name and age, who enquired and their relation, who will decide, and who will bring the patient for the consultation and on the surgery day.

"Hi, is this Sneha? This is Anil from [Hospital]. You enquired about cataract treatment.
Is this for yourself or someone in the family?"

"Has an eye doctor already said it is cataract, or would this be the first check?"
(If there is a report: "Could you WhatsApp me a photo? The doctor will go through it at
the consultation.")

"Apart from you, who else in the family will be part of the decision? Would it help if I
spoke to them too, or should I keep you updated?"

"Who would bring your father for the consultation? We are open on [days]. Would a
Saturday work for both of you?"

"Can I also have your father's number, so we can confirm the appointment with him directly?"

When the patient calls themselves, slow down. Speak in their language, repeat the date and time twice, and ask who will come with them. With their permission, send the details to that person's WhatsApp as well. Before discussing clinical details with relatives, follow your hospital's privacy policy on patient consent.

Some questions sound simple but belong to the doctor. Two replies worth teaching every counsellor:

• "Which lens is best?" Reply: "The doctor chooses the lens with you after the tests, because it depends on the eye. I can send the price of each lens option today, so the family can think about budget before the consultation."
• "Is my mother fit for surgery with her sugar and BP?" Reply: "That is exactly what the doctor checks at the consultation. Please bring her reports and a list of her current medicines."

Cataract follow-up is slower and tied to family calendars. Ask directly: "When is someone free to be with him for the surgery day and the check-up after?" Then set the callback a week before that date instead of calling every three days. Families plan around festivals, school holidays and a child's visit home, and a counsellor who calls in the right week gets further than one who calls often.

Avoid urgency built on fear. Lines like "if you wait, it will get worse" are for the doctor to say with the reports in front of them, never for a counsellor to use as a closing tactic.

If your cataract leads come from screening camps, import the registration sheet as its own source, so camp leads are tracked separately from ad enquiries (importing your leads). Every row needs a phone number or an email. An import doesn't check for repeat enquiries the way form captures do, so remove people already on your list before you upload.

Insurance and cashless questions: what a counsellor should and shouldn't answer

Insurance comes up on most cataract calls and on some LASIK calls. The risk is a counsellor saying "yes, it's covered" to be helpful, and the family arriving on surgery day to find a gap between the bill and the approval. Set a written rule: the counsellor answers process questions, the insurance desk answers cover questions, and the doctor answers medical ones.

A follow-up calendar to start with

For the reminder rows, the steps in reducing patient no-shows apply to eye checks too.

Stages and fields for an eye hospital

Use one pipeline for both tracks and a field to tell them apart. Reports then compare like with like, and in a small team the same counsellor can work both.

Use status, not stage, to record why a lead is stuck, such as "Not responding", "Switch off" or "Budget issue". A status explains the delay without moving the lead in your funnel. Keep the eye-specific reasons, like waiting for a son to visit or waiting for insurance approval, in the one-line comment on each call.

Then add these custom fields:

• Procedure interest (dropdown): LASIK or refractive, Cataract, Other
• Enquired by (dropdown): Self, Son, Daughter, Spouse, Other
• Decision maker's phone (text)
• Patient age (number)
• Insurance (dropdown): Cashless wanted, Reimbursement, No insurance, Don't know
• Insurer or TPA (text), shown only when Insurance is Cashless wanted or Reimbursement
• Preferred month (date)
• Package or lens quoted (currency)

Running both tracks in atomcrm.ai

Here is the setup above inside atomcrm.ai, in the order you would build it.

1. Map each lead form to its track. Connect your Facebook and Instagram lead forms and map each one to its own source and starting stage, so a LASIK form and a cataract form never land in the same place. The campaign, ad and form answers are stored on the lead, and leads missed during setup can be backfilled for up to 90 days.
2. Route by source. Set the LASIK source to bypass the assignment rules and go straight to the LASIK counsellor team, and the cataract source straight to the senior counsellor. Anything that matches no rule stays unassigned and visible, never dropped. The CRM for hospitals page shows how this fits a hospital with several departments.
3. Put the key fields on Quick Update. Place Procedure interest, Enquired by and Insurance on the Quick Update panel, so the counsellor fills them during the call along with the stage, status, one-line comment and next callback. A conditional rule shows Insurer or TPA only when it applies. Field and stage setup is in lead fields and stages.
4. Make the stages ask for the next step. Set "Contacted, check not booked" and "Seen, thinking" to require a next-callback date, so a lead can't be moved into either without one. Set the two booked stages to require an appointment. A patient has only one pending callback at a time, so a new date replaces the old one instead of piling up.
5. Work the callback queue. Counsellors start on the Overdue and Due today tabs, oldest first, with the last comment on every card. A reminder arrives 15 minutes before each callback, and a comment written on the due day completes it. The telecalling CRM page shows the queue and Quick Update together.
6. Track every visit. Appointments move through scheduled, confirmed, attended and no-show (or cancelled), in a table or a calendar view, which gives the day-before reminder calls a ready list.

Frequently asked questions

What should a counsellor say on the first call with a LASIK enquiry?

Confirm who they are and where they enquired, ask four short questions (glasses or lenses, whether their number has changed recently, any previous eye treatment, why now), then offer two specific slots for the eligibility check. If they ask, give the starting price, and send the full package list on WhatsApp rather than reading every figure out. Don't tell them they are eligible or promise results, because only the tests and the doctor can decide that.

How many times should an eye hospital follow up a LASIK enquiry?

Follow the calendar above until day 14, then drop to one approved template a month. When you stop the regular calls, write the reason in the comment (price, leave, fear, another hospital) so whoever picks the lead up later knows what to address. Call the same day they reply to a monthly message or fill another form. After two months, adjust the gaps to what your own patients actually respond to.

Should we call the cataract patient or their son or daughter?

Both, for different things. The child who enquired is often the one who pays, takes leave and brings the parent in, so keep them updated on dates, costs and insurance. Call the patient to confirm appointments and instructions, slowly and in their language. Record both numbers on the lead and note who decides, so every counsellor calls the right person for the right conversation.

Can a counsellor tell a patient whether insurance covers cataract surgery?

No. A counsellor can say whether the hospital works with the patient's insurer or TPA and explain how cashless pre-authorisation works. Whether a particular policy covers the surgery, the chosen lens or the full bill depends on its terms, so the insurance desk should check the policy document and call the family back with an answer.

Should counsellors quote LASIK prices on the phone?

Yes, as a package list or a starting price, not a final figure. The final cost depends on the procedure the doctor recommends after the tests. Sending the list on WhatsApp gives the enquirer something to compare, and the conversation at the check then starts with their questions rather than a surprise about price.

Put the two tracks live this week

This week, set up the two tracks with the stages and fields above and run every new enquiry through them for a month before you change the gaps. The callback management page shows the queue your counsellors would work from each morning. If you'd like to see it built in atomcrm.ai with your own stage names and lead forms, book a demo.