Effect of a Patient Navigator Program to Address Barriers to Eye Care at an Academic Ophthalmology Practice

Arman Zarnegar; Julie Cassidy; Andre Stone; Dana McGinnis-Thomas; Lauren M Wasser; José-Alain Sahel; Andrew M Williams

doi:10.1055/s-0043-1768696

Effect of a Patient Navigator Program to Address Barriers to Eye Care at an Academic Ophthalmology Practice

J Acad Ophthalmol (2017). 2023 May 14;15(1):e106-e111. doi: 10.1055/s-0043-1768696. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Arman Zarnegar¹, Julie Cassidy¹, Andre Stone¹, Dana McGinnis-Thomas¹, Lauren M Wasser^{1

2}, José-Alain Sahel¹, Andrew M Williams¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to determine whether a patient navigator program can address patient-reported barriers to eye care and to understand patient perceptions of a patient navigator program in ophthalmology. Design This is a retrospective cohort study and cross-sectional patient survey. Subjects and Methods A cohort of patients was recruited from a single academic ophthalmology department in the Mid-Atlantic region. Patients included in the study had received referral to the patient navigator program in the first quarter of 2022. Our patient navigator program provided patients with resources to address barriers to care such as transportation and financial assistance. Outcomes of the study included indications for referral, case resolution rate, and patient satisfaction. Results In total, 130 referrals for 125 adult patients were included. The mean ± standard deviation age was 59 ± 17 years, 54 (44%) were male, 77 were white (62%), and 17 patients (14%) were uninsured. Common reasons for referral were transportation (52, 40%), insurance (34, 26%), and financial assistance (18, 14%). Among the 130 cases referred, 127 (98%) received an intervention from the patient navigator, who was able to resolve the referring issue in 90% of cases (117/130). Among 113 patients contacted for a follow-up telephone survey, 56 (50%) responded. Patients rated the program highly at a mean Likert rating of 4.87 out of 5. Moreover, 72% (31/43) of respondents stated their interactions with the patient navigator assisted them with taking care of their eyes. Conclusions A patient navigator program can address barriers to eye care by connecting patients with community resources.

Keywords: access to care; barriers to care; outcomes research; patient navigator; social determinants of health.

The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).

Grants and funding

Funding This work was supported by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, NIH CORE Grant P30 EY08098, the Eye and Ear Foundation of Pittsburgh, and from an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness to the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Williams receives funding from Research to Prevent Blindness and a Mentoring for the Advancement of Physician Scientists (MAPS) award from the American Glaucoma Society.