Abstract
Purpose :
To quantify and compare primary clinic diagnoses at the Henry Ford Health System Ophthalmology Department over a 6-year period for designing outreach tools and allocating resources.
Methods :
Retrospective chart review of Health Maintenance Organization health plan patients (n: 99,418) seen between 2012-2017 was established through the Epic electronic medical record system. Diagnostic codes were recorded by ophthalmologists using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). Diagnoses were further analyzed by ophthalmic subspecialty; demographics; frequency of office visits; time between appointments; and missed appointment rates.
Results :
The most common diagnoses within each subspecialty were collected. Clinical diagnoses varied between races, with our patient population predominated by African American, Asian, and Caucasian races. Differences in frequency of office visits; days between appointments; and missed appointment rates were seen when comparing same diagnoses of other races with African American patients. After adjusting for patients’ races, diagnoses varied minimally by gender and clinical location.
Conclusions :
Within ophthalmic subspecialties at the Henry Ford Health System, clinic diagnoses vary by ophthalmic subspecialty and race. For the same diagnosis, measurable inequalities are present between African Americans and other races, including frequency of office visits; days between appointments; and missed appointment rates. Less variability is evident between patients’ gender and clinic location. This study demonstrates how health care systems can perform population based analyses to better serve their patient population for designing outreach tools and allocating resources.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.