To facilitate screening for diabetic retinopathy, Health Insurance allows patients to go to the orthoptist, who will then request the ophthalmologist’s expertise.
To check the health of their eyes, diabetic patients will no longer need to return to the ophthalmologist. Patients know it: excess sugar in the blood weakens the small blood vessels that supply the retina. Over time, this alteration of the retina, called diabetic retinopathy, causes a significant visual deficit. In France, nearly 50% of type 2 diabetic patients suffer from this complication. It is the leading cause of blindness before the age of 65, hence the importance of going for a fundus examination every year to detect it as soon as possible. But unfortunately, this recommendation is not always applied: problem of adherence to treatment, problem of access to the ophthalmologist because waiting times discourage – several months of delays according to surveys -, or for financial reasons …
To facilitate the implementation of this recommendation, the Health Insurance has entered into an agreement between ophthalomologists and orthoptists (published in the Official Journal on November 30). Thanks to telemedicine, patients will be able to go directly to an orthoptist. The orthoptist will take a fundus photograph. This will be sent to the ophthalmologist who will carry out a deferred reading without having to receive the patient in his office. This remote examination will be chargeable but the text signed between the medical unions and the health insurance specifies that the ophthalmologist must allow the patient to benefit from the exemption of advance fees (third party payment) and that he cannot invoice overrun of fees. More than 1 million patients under the age of 70 could benefit from this remote screening.
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