A new telehealth program that checks diabetic patients for signs of eye damage has resulted in 35% more screenings over a three-year period, helping to increase the likelihood that patients screened at the Mile Bluff Medical Center in Mauston, Wisconsin will receive vision-saving eye care. Project lead Yao Liu, MD, MS, an assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, says teleophthalmology — the process of taking retinal photos, sending them to eye specialists (in this case, to UW Health in Madison) and flagging them for follow-up care — is “highly effective” for preventing blindness. A grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program supports Liu’s research in advancing the use of teleopthalmology in rural Wisconsin.
Read more about how telehealth makes teleopthalmology possible for rural patients