The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (Eye and Ear), has become the first public hospital in Australia to integrate with iCare Oculo, an eye care platform that connects ophthalmology, optometry, primary care, emergency rooms, and patients to share e-referrals, imaging, and other clinical correspondence.
The e-referral system uses the VicKey platform, a digital platform that supports inter-service referrals across several public health services in Victoria.
As part of the partnership, iCare has updated the Oculo platform to adhere to the Victorian State Referral Guidelines, including adding new functionalities for Aboriginal, non-English speaking and patients with disabilities.
Brendon Gardner, Chief Executive Officer at the Eye and Ear, said integrating with Oculo would enhance the hospital’s commitment to inclusive and accessible care. “iCare has further developed Oculo so that referrers can note if patients identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and if patients have accessibility requirements. Connection to community-based optometrists and ophthalmologists is a critical part of our commitment to a patient-centred care.
According to Leanne Turner, Executive Director Operations and Chief Nursing Officer at the Eye and Ear, integration with Oculo generated positive results within the first month. “We have already had feedback from our triage team that the increased quality of diagnostic imaging from the Oculo platform e-referrals results in more accurate triage. In addition, fewer referrals are rejected due to incomplete clinical information needed for efficient and accurate decision making, including poor quality imaging.
“Already in the first month, 74% of our referrals are coming through OCULO – 516 referrals in total”.
Connection to Optometrists for Equitable Eye Care
Professor Nitin Verma, Chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmology’s (RANZCO) Steering Committee: Vision 2030 and beyond commented, “RANZCO’s Vision 2030 and beyond strategy1 has called for greater collaborative care and interoperability across Australia’s public and private eye health care systems. The Eye and Ear’s connecting into the national network of optometrists who use Oculo is an important example of what can be achieved to improve timely and equitable access to quality eye care. This is essential as we see increasing demand for eye care across Australia, when we know timely access to eye care can prevent more than 90% of vision loss.”
Skye Cappuccio, Executive Director of Optometry Australia remarked, “Optometrists have long been digital frontrunners in allied health, and the integration of public hospitals into platforms like Oculo is an important step toward a truly connected eye care system. Well-connected, digitally-enabled systems support timely patient access to care, and facilitate quality collaborative care approaches.”
A Major Step to Close the Gap
Mitchel Anjou, Head of Minum Barreng: Indigenous Eye Health Unit at the University of Melbourne and member of the Eye and Ear’s Primary Care Advisory Group noted, “Most public hospitals have streamlined care pathways for Indigenous Australians as part of their commitment to close the gap in eye care and improve access to the vision care that is a critical part of health and well-being. This is a major step forward for Indigenous patients coming to the Eye and Ear, and one that we have called for across the public ophthalmology system.”
Dr Kate Taylor, one of the co-founders of Oculo, said, “We built Oculo to support secure exchange of quality clinical information to improve patient triage, access to care and collaborative care. Linking into our national networks of over 5,000 optometrists and ophthalmologists, the Eye and Ear is bringing the benefits of digitally connected eye care to public patients. It’s an overdue step for greater equity in quality care for all Australians and improved care for Indigenous Australians.”
“the integration of public hospitals into platforms like Oculo is an important step toward a truly connected eye care system”
She concluded, “Oculo is a standards-based platform with all the benefits of interoperability for patient care, notably better continuity of care and promoting collaborative care between optometry and ophthalmology. OCULO also provides the ability to connect patients into important support programmes like KeepSight’s national diabetic eye disease register and patient support programmes by Glaucoma Australia and the Macular Disease Foundation Australia.”
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