MGMA Insights Podcast Feature: Business Solutions with IRIS

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of blindness in the US today— and it’s completely preventable. Previously, diabetic patients have had to attend yearly specialty appointments to complete diabetic retinopathy screenings, but day-to-day responsibilities can create barriers in healthcare compliance rates. Only close to 20% of diabetics actually attend scheduled secondary eye exams annually. Ten years ago, IRIS set out to change that. Join Louis Morrow, VP of sales, as he discusses what makes IRIS different from other DR solutions in this MGMA Business Solutions Podcast.

For Morrow, whose entire career has focused on ophthalmology, the goal is to educate both patients and care providers on, not only the dangers of diabetic retinopathy, but how IRIS can aid in the fight against it.

“We all wear a lot of hats, whether that be special projects or contributing to the business’s day-to-day, we’re all looking for ways to accelerate the satisfaction of our mission to end preventable blindness.”

The IRIS solution is integrated with fundus cameras, of which size and type vary depending on the needs of your practice. By taking cameras outside the ophthalmologist’s office, IRIS
provides the convenience of eye exams that busy patients seek. Retinal images are taken and uploaded to the IRIS cloud, where a proprietary algorithm enhances the image to ensure high gradability, allowing providers to identify DR and other pathologies.

From then on, IRIS’ board-certified retina specialists interpret images via the IRIS Reading Center remote platform (IRC). Not only are IRC graders able to quickly identify diabetic retinopathy, but they also search for a host of other suspected conditions, including macular edema and glaucoma. Diagnoses are discreetly and securely transferred back to organizational databases, so healthcare professionals can seamlessly follow up with patients.

Thus far, IRIS has conducted around 850,000 total exams and has identified about 130,000 patients with sight-threatening pathologies, and counting.

“[That’s] almost a million diabetics who presumably didn’t have access or weren’t compliant with getting [their DR] exam. Within that population, we see about 30% who have diabetic retinopathy.”

The ability to fit into nearly any practice and provide comprehensive DR care is what makes IRIS successful. Prisma Health, through their integration of IRIS software and handheld fundus cameras in-practice, has maintained high image gradability rates and saved the vision of nearly 100,000 patients. 

IRIS provides healthcare organizations with a full-circle solution to diabetic retinopathy and low compliance rates. In addition, IRIS’ unique approach to ending preventable blindness ensures that DR screenings are easily accessible to the populations that need them most. 

Listen to IRIS’ episode on the MGMA Business Solutions podcast to learn more about how IRIS is turning retinopathy upside down.