Barry Barresi (l) and Elias Vamvakas.
SAN DIEGO, Calif.— TearLab Corporation (Nasdaq:TEAR) (TSX:TLB) today announced it has signed a non-binding term sheet to purchase the assets of the OcuHub business unit from AOAExcel, Inc., the for-profit subsidiary of the American Optometric Association (AOA).

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close in March.

OcuHub, powered by AT&T and Covisint, is an established compliant technology platform designed to securely connect eye doctors, patients, health care organizations and payers.

"The OcuHub network will allow optometrists and ophthalmologists to provide quality eyecare in a cost effective and efficient environment," said Barry Barresi, OcuHub CEO and former executive director of the AOA. "In addition, the OcuHub ‘app store’ will provide access to cloud based IT tools to improve clinical work flows, yield better clinical outcomes, lower practice costs and introduce new revenue streams. The OcuHub platform will be a competitive advantage for EHR incentive payments, access to insured patients, participation in ACOs and other new payment systems."

Barresi stepped down from his role at AOA to pursue the development of OcuHub, as previously reported.

Elias Vamvakas, TearLab's chief executive officer, commented, "OcuHub's single sign-on portal allows for the free flow of information and serves as a standard entry point for new technology and collaboration. This acquisition is consistent with our growth strategy and represents another important step toward TearLab creating an unprecedented partnership within the eyecare community."

TearLab Corporation develops and markets lab-on-a-chip technologies that enable eyecare practitioners to improve standard of care by objectively and quantitatively testing for disease markers in tears at the point-of-care.