Clinical

PCS Compliance and OBS Billing Services from Joe Deloach, O.D.

Presbyopia is Expected to Impact Billions Worldwide

Presbyopia affects nearly 1.7 billion people worldwide today, and that number is expected to soar to 2.1 billion by 2020.1 In the U.S., this population…

Today, optometrists are licensed and capable of diagnosing and treating patients with glaucoma in all fifty states.

A protocol must be established for glaucoma suspects and those with glaucoma. In most cases, patients with glaucoma will undergo a variety of different examinations and tests, including a comprehensive examination, visual field examination, gonioscopy, fundus photography, nerve fiber analysis and corneal pachymetry. Here is my patient protocol, as an example:

Glaucoma suspects:
Visit 1

Comprehensive, dilated exam
Gonioscopy
Corneal pachymetry (if not done before)
Fundus photography

Visit 2

Intermediate exam/IOP check
Nerve fiber analysis

Visit 3

Intermediate exam/IOP check
Visual field analysis

For initial work ups, some O.D.s separate the visits by three or four weeks each.