Charlotte Endocrinologist Improving Diabetic Patient Care With Preventive Vision Loss Technology

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Also Included In: Diabetes
Article Date: 11 Sep 2008 - 13:00 PDT

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Digital Healthcare, a Wake Forest, NC company specializing in risk assessment for diabetics, recently announced that Carolina Diabetes and Endocrine Clinic, based in Charlotte, NC have selected the Retasure™ solution to provide retinal imaging risk assessment.

Retasure™, a telemedicine solution developed by Digital Healthcare, can detect early damage to the retina caused by diabetes, glaucoma and other conditions.

"We are pleased to have Retasure™ available for Charlotte-area diabetics," said Scott Sanner, Senior Vice President, North American Operations of Digital Healthcare. "Carolina Diabetes and Endocrine Clinic is a leader in providing excellent services for diabetic patients. Now, they can also provide diabetic retinopathy risk assessments using the Retasure™ solution."

Dr. Alfred Okeke directs the Diabetes and Endocrine Clinic. He is a fellow of the American College of Endocrinologists and is board certified in Internal Medicine, as well as Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. "Retasure™ is one more tool that we have in our effort to better diagnose and treat the effects of this serious disease."

The FDA-approved and HEDIS compliant Retasure™ solution provides a simple, affordable, and non-invasive solution that allows physicians to capture their patients' retinal images during a three to five minute procedure. Images are transmitted over a secure, HIPAA compliant network to an accredited reading center. A state-licensed and board-certified ophthalmologist reviews the images and results are returned to the original physician within 72 hours.

There are an estimated 20 million diabetic patients in the US, but only about half have any retinal assessments, despite a high risk of diabetic retinopathy. The National Eye Institute indicates diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among working age American adults. More than a million patients around the world have received a retinal risk assessment using Digital Healthcare software.

About Digital Healthcare

Digital Healthcare is the global leader in retinal risk assessment. They are the world's leading provider of care management programs for diabetic retinopathy. Their award-winning MS-HUG technology is used by leading hospitals and research centers including University Hospitals Case Medical Center at Case Western Reserve University, The Wilmer Eye Institute at The Johns Hopkins University and the United States Military. Digital Healthcare's Retasure solution offers several advantages for primary care and endocrinologist physicians and their patients: It can be operated by non-clinicians; it is non-invasive and requires no dilation; it obtains exceptionally high-quality digital images of the retina using a simple-to-operate fundus camera; it returns results quickly to the ordering physicians; and it encourages patient compliance for retinal evaluation and comprehensive eye examinations.

Digital Healthcare