Telemedicine shows promise in ocular oncology if barriers are addressed
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SAN FRANCISCO — Telemedicine has the potential to drive ocular oncology forward, but there are barriers that must be addressed first, according to a speaker here.
“Ophthalmology is a digitally-driven specialty, and within the realm of ophthalmology we’ve already seen successes,” Matthew W. Wilson, MD, said at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
According to Wilson, some research has shown positive success rates for surveilling small ocular pigmented lesions with digital photography.
“However, if we look within the U.S. healthcare system, is that feasible? The answer to this is it currently is probably not because of jurisdiction,” he said.
Wilson explained that ophthalmologists are unable to bill across state lines unless licensed and credentialed to perform telemedicine in a particular state.
“Additionally, we all review photos and consult with colleagues, but we don't bill those photos,” he said. “There can only be one key reimbursement for diagnostic interpretation, which represents a barrier to implementation of teleoncology.”
Wilson also addressed barriers to treating patients from middle- and low-income countries, where survival rates for children with retinoblastoma are significantly lower compared to high-income countries. For this reason, Wilson said that it is important to train more ophthalmologists from low- and middle-income countries in ocular oncology.
Wilson also suggested that ophthalmologists can utilize social media and non-government organizations to spread educational campaigns internationally and work to provide international access to recently developed screening technologies, some of which are available on smartphones.
“Our greatest opportunities in this space are global capacity building in low- and middle-income countries to develop the necessary infrastructure to help patients improve outcomes,” Wilson said.
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Wilson MW. Teleoncology current trends. Presented at: American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting; Nov. 3-6, 2023; San Francisco.
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