This Just In - Eye Exams Stop Amputations (Seriously!)
by KDunn
If I asked you to list 5 things you could do in your benefit programs to identify disease and reduce avoidable costs, I’m guessing most of you would stay on the medical insurance front.
Would anyone think of Vision Care? Not me.
Good thing I took in a session at the World Health Care Congress led by Rob Lynch, President and CEO of VSP (Vision Service Plan). As most of you know, VSP has the largest network of providers under contract in the vision field. Their network and systems are so strong that even if you choose to contract with another provider (like Guardian, who’s been in a dental and vision care market share push as of late), odds are those other providers are simply “reselling” the VSP network.
VSP is rapidly becoming the “Kleenex” of Vision Care.
But back to how VSP is linked with identifying disease and reducing cost. In a strange benefit twist, only 14 percent of Americans with funded health insurance will get a physical in a given year. But, as it turns out, almost 61% of those covered by a funded VSP plan will get an eye exam. Nice stat.
Eye exams are key to catching one key disease early - diabetes. Lynch quoted the cost savings associated with early detection of diabetes at $4,300 per year, per diabetic. As horrific as it sounds, there are hundreds of serious procedures daily in the US related to diabetes, including unthinkable items like amputations…
If that’s not a call for multiple insurance providers sharing information with each other toward the common good, I don’t know what is.
