More than 700 practices across Australia are now supporting the eye health of people with diabetes, as major optometry provider Luxottica joins KeepSight.
During National Diabetes Week (11-17 July), the company announced that its 365 optometry practices – operating as OPSM and Laubman & Pank – would join forces with Diabetes Australia (DA) to integrate with Australia’s diabetes eye check reminder program, which initially rolled out in 2019.
The additional practices mean 60% of the optometry sector is now part of KeepSight, according to DA, with efforts now focused on developing technical solutions that allow all practices to integrate their patient management systems with the scheme.
Mr Peter Murphy, Luxottica Retail ANZ director of eyecare and community, said KeepSight was a unique initiative with the potential “to make a real dent in the burden of diabetes-related eye disease on our health system”.
“We are very aware that timely preventative healthcare can have a positive impact on people with diabetes and working with KeepSight is a great step for us to continue offering this to our patients,” Murphy said.
DA CEO Professor Greg Johnson said than 175,000 people were now registered with KeepSight to receive regular alerts and reminders about their diabetes eye checks.
“The integration of OPSM and Laubman & Pank with KeepSight means even more people with diabetes will now be registered with KeepSight, and this will help ensure they get their necessary diabetes eye checks,” he said.
“Any eyecare provider can enrol a person with diabetes with KeepSight. We are thrilled that Luxottica has taken the step to invest in an integrated registration process which will make KeepSight registration quick and easy for both the person with diabetes and the practice.”
During July, more than 75,000 people registered on the National Diabetes Services Scheme will receive a personalised health message encouraging them to get a diabetes eye check and register with KeepSight for ongoing reminder messages and information.
KeepSight is led by Diabetes Australia and Vision 2020 Australia, with the backing of several organisations including Specsavers, Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), Oculo, Optometry Australia and RANZCO.
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