AMD - The Next Big Wave (Vision Source Exchange 2018)

Transcript:

Host: Please welcome Dr. Amanda Lee with MacuLogix. Um, excuse me. Dr. Lee, what are you doing?

Dr. Lee: I’m looking, TD.

Host: Looking for what?

Dr. Lee: I’m looking for this 78 percent.

Host: Uh, 78 percent? Uh, of what, Dr. Lee?

Dr. Lee: The 78 percent of AMD patients we failed.

Host: Dr. Lee you’re scaring me now. How did we fail them?

Dr. Lee: We failed them, TD, because we didn’t catch their AMD before they lost vision.

Host: Oh dear Dr. Lee, I think you found our attention.

Dr. Lee: Do you know TD, maybe this isn’t the best way to find AMD in our patients? Simply looking at the retina might not be good enough anymore.

Host:  Not good enough? Is that the bad news Dr. Lee? Well, listen. Let me get out of the way so I can hear more of this.

Dr. Lee: The bad news is we suck at AMD. The good news? Ophthalmology sucks just as badly. You see 78 percent of our patients are presenting with vision loss in one eye and even blindness before they see us; their eye doctors. Now might find like we did that this AMD outcome is unacceptable.

We’re Vision Source doctors! Saving vision in both eyes is what we do. AMD is the next big wave in eye care. In fact, right now AMD is more common than diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma combined and this wave will become a tsunami as the number of people over the age of 65 and the number of people with AMD both double in the next 40 years. I don’t know about you but when I realize the magnitude of this I had no choice. If I ever wanted to change the outcome of our AMD patients I had to investigate and learn about new technology to help me initiate that change.

So I called a couple of our music source colleagues and fortunately they told me about a new technology. The AdaptDx. It is the only functional test for AMD. Like a visual field test of the functionality of an optic nerve, the AdaptDx tests the functionality of the macula. You see, oxidative stress disrupts the function of the photoreceptors and dark adaptation becomes impaired and that impairment is a clinical biomarker for AMD.

The AdaptDx can detect patients at risk for AMD up to three years before we see anything going on in the retina. It’s easy for our staff to administer, the results are instant and simple to read, and it’s 90% specific and sensitive for AMD. It has a national reimbursement of $64, it can be billed multiple times that’s clinically necessary, and it’s co-billable with office visits, OCT, and wide field retinal imaging like the Optomap. As Vision Source doctors we’re early adopters. We can stop permanent vision loss in our AMD patients but we have to find them first and if you’re anything like us or the Vision Source doctors who already have the AdaptDx, you’re gonna find up to 30 percent more AMD patients in your clinic than you thought you had. We didn’t know what we we didn’t know until we knew and once we find them here’s what we’re gonna do to save their vision.

First, we’re gonna diagnose the disease early. With the AdaptDx you can see subclinical AMD at least 3 years before you see anything in the retina. Then we going to take action by modifying the risk factors. We can prescribe supplements for the macula, we can work with the primary care provider to improve their health, their BMI, and decrease cholesterol. We can help our patients quit smoking and we can add UV and blue light protection to their eyewear. All of these things have been proven effective and when someone’s vision is on the line they’re more willing to change. Finally, we can preserve vision. Just armed with the knowledge that our patient has AMD will allow us to save both eyes 90 percent of the time and the MacuLogix team provided the education and the tools that we needed in our practice to make this a reality and they will help you implement it into your practice too. With MacuLogix as our new partner our dream becomes a reality. This Vision Source family, the best network in all of medicine can change the outcome of this devastating disease. We can preserve vision in both of our patient’s eyes because that is, in fact, what we all do.

I want to thank MacuLogix for donating an AdaptDx to the Vision Source Foundation raffle. Please buy as many tickets as you can! It’s such a great charity and organization. It helps us all. Stop by booth 419 to learn more about this amazing technology and the exchange only pricing. Thank you so much.