3 minute read
Increasing Access to Care
While routine eye examinations are vital to preventing vision loss from common, treatable eye diseases, many people in underserved populations don’t receive needed care. Among the reasons: poor access to reliable transportation, lack of local services, and mistrust in the health care system.
To address these issues and roadblocks to care, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded the Michigan Screening and Intervention for Glaucoma and Eye Health through Telemedicine (MI-SIGHT) Program to run between 2019 and 2024. This program is evaluating whether having eye screenings available in community clinics improves the rate of detection of severe eye diseases, including glaucoma, in underserved populations.
The MI-SIGHT PROGRAM enables ophthalmologists from the Kellogg Eye Center to provide care through telemedicine at two Michigan clinics serving low income populations: the Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and the Hamilton Community Health Network in Michigan. The Hamilton Community Health Network is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides medicalcare for people with Medicaid, while the Hope Clinic provides medical care for the uninsured or underinsured.
This network of care is critical, says Paula Anne Newman- Casey, M.D., M.S., Kellogg glaucoma specialist and Principal Investigator for the CDC grant. “Individualswho have poor access to medical care, such as those who live in many inner city or rural areas and those who live in poverty, bear a disproportionate share of vision loss and blindness,” she says.
They often suffer from health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes, which can lead to worse eye health, including cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, among other diseases. “Many of these patients are not getting appropriate eye screening and follow-up,” says Dr. Newman- Casey. She and her colleagues want to help improve these rates by encouraging people to take advantage of the MI-SIGHT Program now offered at the Hamilton and Hope clinics https://sightstudies.org/about/university-of-michigan/
In the MI-SIGHT Program, ophthalmic technicians like Londa Reid-Sanders, BGS, COA, OSC, take measurements and photographs of people’s eyes at the community clinics. Testing information is then sent through electronic health records to Kellogg ophthalmologists for assessment and management decisions. The ophthalmic technicians help those in need of eye glasses choose a low-cost pair. The technician then sees the patient back at a second visit one month later to review the results and doctor’s treatment recommendations. The technician helps patients with severe conditions schedule additional eye care, if required, and can connect them with resources for insurance or charity care through the University of Michigan MSupport program.
Reid-Sanders also serves as clinical research coordinator for the program. She believes MI-SIGHT is important as many people fail to get vision care because of the stigma surrounding a lack of insurance. A significant number of those she tests are diagnosed with eye disease and require ongoing treatment. “This gives people hope that they will be able to get the best vision care they need.”
“We provide the necessary treatment as well as patient education regarding ongoing eye health,” says Dr. Newman- Casey of the services provided at the Hamilton and Hope clinics. “We want to help patients who would otherwise have greater difficulty obtain the needed follow-up care for their chronic disease. We hope that providing education and support to schedule follow-up care will improve people’s ability to get ongoing care. There are so many logistical barriers — the more we can remove, the better.”
Dr. Newman-Casey and her MI-SIGHT team believe establishing patient trust is key to successfully engaging people in eye screening and follow up care. “People are more likely to engage in care when there is trust, and people already know and trust their community clinics,” she says.