VIDEO: Communication between patients, providers key when coordinating DME care

Editor’s note: This is a previously posted video, and the below is an automatically generated transcript to be used for informational purposes. Please notify editor@healio.com if there are concerns regarding accuracy of the transcription.

Communication between the patient's providers is key. It's vital that I report the findings of my exams and my interventions and how things are going with my diabetic patients, back to their referring eye doctor, whether it's optometry or ophthalmology that's the most important person for me to communicate with, since that's usually the source of the referral. Similarly, I always ask the patient to give me contact information for their primary care provider, their endocrinologist, their nephrologist, and I communicate with all members of the care team on at least an annual basis. More frequently if the patient has significant diabetic eye disease and is receiving treatment. Usually not on a monthly basis if I'm seeing the patient very often, but at least every couple of months if the patient has serious treatable diabetic eye disease and no less often than one year. And I'm very, very attuned to keeping those contacts current, keeping their contact phone number for their e-faxes reliable and receivable for the information I'm sending and I have my front desk ask the patient to update these contacts at every single visit, even if I'm only sending out information to them a couple of times a year.