DocGo Inc. and Spect teaming up to bring vision screening to the people
The companies are teaming up to reduce care gaps and improve eye and vision health by bringing diabetic retinopathy and other eye disease screening services to patients in their own homes and workplaces.
(Image credit: AdobeStock/HelenP)
DocGo Inc. announced its partnership with Spect, a provider of digital services for eye exam screenings, including diabetic retinopathy.
Leveraging Spect’s hand-held retinal cameras, DocGo’s mobile health clinicians now have a scalable and cost-effective way to bring diabetic retinopathy and other eye disease screening services to patients in their own homes and workplaces.1
James Powell, MD. CEO of DocGo, pointed out that annual and bi-annual diabetic eye exams are extremely important for people living with diabetes to ensure necessary treatment is received to protect their vision.
“Unfortunately, this exam is often skipped or delayed,” he said in a news release. “It’s also one of the hardest HEDIS quality measures for health plans to close.”
By integrating Spect’s scalable and portable technology into DocGo’s technology and services, Powell said the company can increase the number of eligible members screened, and help improve patient care and health plan quality ratings.
“Our focus is to maximize the results of each patient interaction we have,” Powell added. “By integrating this technology, we can offer in-home diabetic eye exams as part of our comprehensive Annual Wellness Visit or together with other screenings personalized for that patient.”
According to the news release, Spect’s solution was selected as DocGo’s preferred solution primarily due to its ease of use, ability to integrate seamlessly into clinical workflows, minimal training curve and availability of a remote Spect specialist to help facilitate the exam. Spect’s platform identifies diabetic retinopathy as well as numerous other eye diseases, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration.1
Michael Leung, COO and co-founder of Spect, noted the company is pleased to work with DocGo to provide dilated eye exams for diabetic retinopathy in the home.
“With Spect, patients have the added convenience of receiving their necessary annual eye exam where they are, to prevent unnecessary blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy”, Leung said in the news release. “In as little as 3 minutes, we have been able to identify diabetic retinopathy and other eye diseases.“
Leung noted that diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in adults aged 20 to 74 and early detection can help reduce a person’s risk by 95%.
“For patients with diabetes, it's a matter of when – not if,” he concluded. “After 15 years, 80% of such patients will have retinopathy, yet it's treatable if caught early.”
According to the news release, the partnership will support DocGo’s health plan partnership offerings, with a focus on HEDIS Stars improvement, and mobile primary care. Health plans already contract with DocGo to address gaps in care with in-home medical visits scheduled by DocGo’s in-house patient engagement team.
Going forward, DocGo noted in its news release it plans to expand its use of Spect devices to help address this critical care gap, as well as explore other opportunities to utilize Spect’s solution as part of a comprehensive eye disease screening program.
Reference:
DocGo and Spect Partner to Reduce Care Gaps and Improve Eye and Vision Health. Businesswire.com. Published July 9, 2024. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240709347327/en/DocGo-and-Spect-Partner-to-Reduce-Care-Gaps-and-Improve-Eye-and-Vision-Health
