Walmart’s embrace of vision-testing kiosks prompts massive student protest

With the rallying cry that “kiosks don’t care,” optometry students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Optometry and several other schools showed that they most certainly do, especially when they see patient eye health and safety potentially placed at risk. 

Led by the American Optometric Student Association’s (AOSA’s) executive leadership and citing an active state optometric association public health alert and detailed complaints filed with federal agencies by the AOA, the student mobilization generated petitions, sign-on letters and calls for optometry schools to carefully assess the impact of Walmart’s shocking embrace of virtually unregulated vision check kiosks in their optical retail settings. To date, 1,678 students at 15 optometry schools are questioning the gap between Walmart’s claims to support quality eye health and vision care with the reality of its recent decision to place dozens of prescription renewal kiosks in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania with planning underway for a possible nationwide deployment.   

“We care about patients and public health and want to do our part to protect the standard of care,” says AOSA President James Chung. “Any company—no matter how big or powerful—that would undermine quality care, confuse the public about eye health or seek to create device-based loopholes in care delivery must be held accountable.”  

Accountability is the main result of the successful month-long, rapid-response student mobilization, according to Tad Kosanovich, O.D., AOA trustee.  

“Concerned, advocacy-minded students from across the country are taking a firm stand in support of public health. Our profession has a historic commitment to quality care and a strong record of challenging special interests that are seeking to undermine patient-doctor decision-making,” Dr. Kosanovich says. 

Students mobilize 

In December, Eyebot vision-testing kiosks were placed in 16 Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in Pennsylvania. Since then, the AOSA Board of Trustees has taken action, mobilizing optometry students nationwide to initiate dialogue with their school administrators regarding Walmart’s use of Eyebot kiosks. 

“We are encouraging student leaders to engage their institutions’ administrations, urging them to ensure that students are advised of this current Walmart initiatve prior to any Walmart presentations to students on patient care and other issues," says AOSA Secretary Natalie Nell, a fourth-year student at the Southern California College of Optometry. 

To date, 1,567 students at 13 optometry schools in the U.S. and Puerto Rico have sent letters to their deans and presidents, questioning whether Walmart understands and values doctors of optometry education, skills and command of clinical care as well as seeking transparency regarding Walmart’s partnership. 

The mobilization has led to forward-looking student and faculty discussions about the implications of Eyebot for patient care and the profession. 

This student activism is building upon the efforts of the AOA and the Pennsylvania Optometric Association, which are working to safeguard patient health by maintaining patients’ access to optometrists for in-person comprehensive eye care. 

Concerns about lowered health care standards 

Walmart’s Eyebot kiosks offer a vision check aimed at generating a prescription but do not assess patients’ eye health. Patients relying on such a device may miss important details about their health.  

Their deployment, announced in a Dec. 11, 2025, Walmart-Eyebot joint press release, marks a notable shift away from previously observed health and care delivery standards.    

Although both companies are citing access to care claims, kiosks have been placed in areas without any documented gaps in patient access to doctors of optometry or other physicians, raising additional immediate credibility concerns.  

“An automated vision test risks giving patients a false sense of security and may delay the diagnosis of serious, often asymptomatic, eye diseases,” Nell says. “As future primary eye care providers, we have a responsibility to uphold the highest standard of care and advocate for systems that prioritize patient safety.” 

Optometry’s next gen commits to quality care standards and patient-doctor decision-making 

Some Eyebot kiosks have been placed at locations that previously had in-person optometric care, raising concerns that the technology could be used to replace trained professionals. 

By voicing their concerns, students and the AOSA hope to protect patient safety in the long run. 

“Optometry students have a unique responsibility to speak up, because we are the future of the profession and the generation that will inherit the standards of care being shaped today,” Nell says. “If we do not advocate for patient-centered, evidence-based eye care now, we risk normalizing practices that fall short of the very principles upon which our education is built.”