Digital Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy — Screening From an American Perspective

13.11 Summary

For many health care consumers, on-demand screening in the primary care clinic saves weeks or months of waiting for an appointment at an eye care facility for a traditional physician-provided dilated eye examination; indeed, for some, digital imaging is their first experience obtaining ophthalmic health care. For those patients found to have vision-threatening disease, digital screening brings them one step closer to obtaining the expert ophthalmic treatment they require to preserve their vision and to remain productive members of society.

We believe that every patient screening encounter represents an improvement in health care delivery. Each screening can overcome racial, ethnic and economic disparities. Each contributes to equity of care. Each is a victory over apathy, ignorance, and lack of access to high quality health care — barriers that far too often lead to blindness for people with diabetes.