Assessment of Low Vision Referrals before and after Establishment of a Low Vision Program at an Academic Medical Center

Abstract

SIGNIFICANCE We assessed the number of referrals for low vision (LV) services to determine if establishing an LV program at a large academic medical center impacted referral rates. Visual acuity (VA), referral outcome, location, and specialty were examined as factors that could impact referrals. PURPOSE This study aimed to identify gaps in the referral process to LV services. METHODS Electronic medical records of patients were reviewed to ascertain the referral rate among those who qualified for services, both before (2014 to 2016) and after (2017 to 2019) the establishment of an LV program. The medical records were further subdivided into two categories based on VA in the better-seeing eye: 20/70 to 20/200 and 20/200 to worse vision. RESULTS A total of 2014 patient records with VA qualifying for LV services were reviewed. The proportion of patients who had a VA of 20/70 to 20/200 inclusive in their better eye was 91.7%. A majority (89.8%) of patients with VA of 20/70 to 20/200 and 74.4% of patients with VA worse than 20/200 were never referred. Before establishing an LV program, only 2.2% of patients with VA of 20/70 to 20/200 were referred for services on their first visit, which improved to 8% after the program was established (odds ratio [OR], 3.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.37 to 6.33; P < .001). Also, before the program's establishment, 12.5% of patients with VA worse than 20/200 were referred on their first visit, which increased to 31.9% after the program's establishment (OR, 3.29; 95% CI, 1.50 to 7.19; P = .002). Patients with VA worse than 20/200 were more likely to be referred (before: OR, 6.34 [95% CI, 3.03 to 13.28; P < .001]; after: OR, 5.38 [95% CI, 3.09 to 9.37; P < .001]). Our data also showed that 10.3% of patients in this study declined referral to LV services. CONCLUSIONS Referral rates to LV services are low among patients who qualify. The establishment of an LV program at the medical center significantly increased referral rates. However, more improvement is necessary to connect patients to LV services.