Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Rates in Family Practice: A Quality Improvement Initiative

Abstract

The American Diabetes Association recommends that all diabetic patients be screened annually for retinopathy, since undiagnosed and untreated diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness. Despite the recommendations, the rural primary care clinic continued to show a disproportionately low screening rate. To address this gap in care, a quality improvement initiative was undertaken to improve how screenings are addressed with patients, the workflow for scheduling screenings, and processes for retrieving documentation of retinopathy status post-screening. These workflow improvements increased the number of patients scheduled for screenings but revealed a significant barrier to completing documented retinopathy status due to a lack of screening results from specialists.