Eye on Health in 2021

Your role in the connection of diabetes, eye health, and overall health.

Eye on Health in 2021

Your role in the connection of diabetes, eye health, and overall health.

November is American Diabetes Month

It’s the perfect time to promote your valuable role as part of your patients’ overall healthcare team. And with more than 90% of vision loss being preventable with early diagnosis and treatment¹, OD’s have an opportunity to slow the impact diabetes has on the American population.

Check back here throughout the month of November for tools and resources to help you and your staff share this important month with your patients and educate them on the crucial role of optometry in managing and preventing diabetes.

Find additional resources and information to help you manage patients with diabetes and prediabetes at vspeyeondiabetes.com.

Learn more about Online Diabetes Educational and Badging Opportunities, Including the ADA Risk Test here.

Learn more about education for you and your staff to further support your patients living with or at risk for diabetes here.

Finish off American Diabetes Month strong with staff education offered thrrough Premier Academy360^TMavailable here.

^{¹ National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine}

August is Children's Eye Health and Safety Month

It’s no secret diabetes is on the rise in the U.S.¹, and it’s not just adults who are impacted. In fact, there are approximately 210,000 children in the U.S. with type 1 diabetes² and more than 5,000 people under 20 are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes each year³. For Children’s Eye Health & Safety Month, we’re raising awareness about the prevalence of diabetes amongst children and adolescents and the value of early detection and management of the disease.

The good news is that the risk of complications from diabetes can be significantly reduced when starting at a young age with actions like keeping glucose levels in the target range, regularly seeing an eye doctor and your diabetes care team, and wearing sunglasses to prevent cataracts.²Watch Matt’s story as he shares how being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a young child led to a long relationship with his eye doctor to manage his condition, maintain healthy sight, and be able to continue with his passion—fighting fires and helping people.

Myth-Busting Social Toolkit

Promote Children’s Eye Health & Safety Month to your patients with a new Myth-Busting Social Toolkit with messaging created in partnership with the ADA. Your practice can leverage these tiles on your practice’s social channels to engage your patients and encourage them to schedule an eye exam for themselves and their children.

Download and Share

Download

^{1. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine

2. American Diabetes Association

3. Centers for Disease Control and prevention}

May is Healthy Vision Month

With 79% of Americans not knowing that diabetic eye diseases have no visible symptoms and more than half who don’t know diabetes¹ can be detected through an eye exam, take the next step for your practice to reach the next level.

In collaboration with the American Diabetes Association (ADA), here are some ways you can support maintaining healthy vision year-round and be that trusted patient resource.

Access diabetes educational resources for you and your staff through Premier Academy360^TM and earn your ADA badge for the vsp.com Find A Doctor directory listing. Find additional resources for you and your patients on vspeyeondiabetes.com .
Differentiate your practice by leveraging diabetes-related education resources, like the ADA Diabetes Risk Test, to help educate and empower your patients to take control of their health, which could help save their vision.
Integrate tools into your in-office process, like our sticky notes to track patient health conditions during their eye exam, making it easy to enter patient health condition codes on the claim form. You can also leverage the Primary Care Provider (PCP) Communication Form to encourage continuum of care. These resources and more that elevate the way you care for your patients with diabetes are available on VSPOnline at eyefinity.com.
Encourage your patients to think of every month as healthy vision month. Schedule their annual eye exam and have them take the ADA Diabetes Risk Test and share with their PCP any eye exam findings, further integrating yourself as part of their overall healthcare team.

As we promote National Healthy Vision Month throughout May, email us at providernetworkdevelopment@vsp.com with your patient stories of how you’ve impacted the health of your patients with diabetes through the care you provide.

Encourage your patients to think of healthy vision beyond this month, and even this year, and instead embrace it for a lifetime. #HealthyVisionMonth

Myth-Busting Social Toolkit

To help you promote Healthy Vision Month with your patients, especially for those living with, or at risk of diabetes. As the month kicks off, we have a Myth-Busting Social Toolkit for you with messaging created in partnership with the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Your practice can leverage these tiles on your social channels to engage your patients and encourage them to schedule their eye exam today.

Download and Share

Download

^{1. 2016 American Eye-Q® Survey conducted by the American Optometric Association (AOA)}