Press Release

 

The CLEVER Eye Institute Telemedicine Initiative Serves the Gulf South

 

SLIDELL, Louisiana, July 19, 2013 - The CLEVER Eye Institute announces the establishment of a new business service in the healthcare field of ophthalmic telemedicine. Using automated telemedicine fundus camera technology, digital photographs of the retina at the back of the eye can be taken at a remote location, such as the clinical office of a primary care physician in another city, and transmitted electronically using a secure, cloud-based Internet service to the CLEVER Eye Institute in Slidell, Lousiana. Within two minutes, the photographic images are available for interpretation by board-certified eye doctors. After the images are read, a report is automatically generated, and the results sent back to the primary care physician.

 

CLEVER telemedicine technology reduces the cost of healthcare in multiple ways, including time and cost savings for the patient. According to the Director of Research at CLEVER, Michael K. Smolek, PhD, FARVO, the technology also ensures that more people are tested for early signs of blinding eye disease, such as diabetic retinopathy. Patients with diabetes should have annual eye examinations to screen for the presence of diabetic retinopathy, a disease that causes leaking of the blood vessels in the back of the eye. With the availability of telemedicine technology, it is believed that more cases of blindness can be prevented through early detection.

 

For additional information about ophthalmic telemedicine, visit the CLEVER Eye Institute website at www.clevereyeinstitute.com.