Teleretinal Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy in Central Texas

Teleretinal imaging for diabetic retinopathy is an effective screening program in urban and rural populations. This screening modality began in Central Texas in 2015 and has expanded to include 12 cameras located at primary care offices in the region. Year after year trending of diabetic retinopathy rates, calculated via teleretinal screening, at individual camera locations has not been well documented in the United States. This report studied the teleretinal screening detection rate of diabetic retinopathy at 12 Central Texas camera locations over 2-4 years of camera usage. The rate of detected retinopathy statistically significantly decreased over the years. This suggests the effectiveness of the telemedicine program in removing diabetic retinopathy patients from the screening population and into a retina physician’s care, reducing the number of diabetics with retinopathy in the screened population.Dell Medical Schoo