Meharry Medical Group is a Nashville-based physician practice affiliated with Meharry Medical College and Nashville General Hospital. With 10 clinic locations, Meharry Medical Group provides primary care, pediatrics, women’s health, gastroenterology, surgery and psychiatry services. Providers focus on offering comprehensive care to diverse communities.
The RetinaVue care delivery model can provide access to the diabetic eye exam for our patients and helps practices be successful in meeting quality metrics.
„Diabetic eye exams have been an important part of Meharry Medical Group’s quality program for the past several years. Not only is it important to help preserve vision for patients living with diabetes, but closing this care gap is a key part of its quality program. The original program was implemented with a desktop camera, which helped create a solid foundation for the program. A change in the billing structure led the team to explore other partners for its program. Through that search, the team learned about the RetinaVue care delivery model and implemented the solution in 2025.
For Meharry Medical Group, three benefits stood out: convenience of the handheld camera, user-friendly technology and customer service support from the Baxter Customer Success team.
Transitioning to a handheld device gives Meharry Medical Group more flexibility in terms of the required footprint needed in the office for the solution. It also allows staff to consider hosting diabetic retinal exam events throughout the community.
Features such as auto-alignment, auto-focus and auto-capture help make the camera easy to use for staff.
Baxter’s Customer Success team supported the implementation to help streamline camera and software set-up, recommend workflow best practices and provide staff training.
“The RetinaVue solution was the right fit for us because the camera is lightweight and easy to use, and the Welch Allyn RetinaVue Network and RetinaVue, P.C. services help drive workflow efficiencies and accurate exam results,” says Tiffani Hooks, RN, BSN, MHA, Quality Manager, Meharry Medical Group. “It’s ideal for providing access to the diabetic exam for our patients and helps practices be successful in meeting quality metrics.”
Implementation of the Welch Allyn RetinaVue 700 Imager camera, RetinaVue Network software and RetinaVue, P.C. for overread services was a streamlined process for Meharry Medical Group. “There’s always a concern when you change vendors or devices that it can negatively impact workflows and the ability to meet patients’ needs,” says Hooks. “We did not experience any disruptions or major hurdles with the transition, and we find the program easier to manage than our previous desktop solution, with robust reporting and Customer Success team support. In addition, the readability rate of exams has increased significantly with RetinaVue.”
As a Patient Medical Home, Meharry Medical Group receives care gap reports from insurance providers. A team of six care coordinators review the weekly reports and do outreach to schedule appointments for patients who need to complete the annual diabetic retinal exam.
In addition, staff complete an audit of patients scheduled for appointments during the daily morning huddle. Staff determine if a diabetic retinal exam is needed for any patients coming in that day and complete orders for the exam as needed. “In our patient-centered model, we try to make sure that we can help patients close care gaps while they are already in the office,” says Hooks. “No matter why a patient is on-site for an appointment, we’ll do everything we can to close care gaps while they are with us.”
“We are committed to helping patients living with diabetes preserve their vision. Successful execution of the diabetic eye exam program is not just an investment in our patients’ health and wellbeing, but for the overall stability of our organization.”
„The reaction from providers and patients has been positive. Providers have a high level of confidence in the interpretation reports that are provided within one business day from RetinaVue, P.C. “Our providers find the reports accurate and easy to read,” says Hooks. “It helps streamline the process to refer patients to a specialist for additional care, if needed.”
Meharry Medical Group’s patient population face many social determinants of health, such as transportation, which create barriers to receiving the care needed. “Our patients love that we can provide the diabetic retinal exam during their primary care appointment,” says Hooks. “They don’t need to find a different doctor who can provide the exam, schedule or find transportation to get to a separate appointment, or take time out of their busy schedule for another doctor visit.”
Meharry Medical Group’s goal is to perform diabetic eye exams on 51%+ of patients living with diabetes each year.
The team at Meharry Medical Group has been focused on diabetic exam compliance for the last several years. Meharry Medical Group works with multiple Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), supporting 12,500 patients, with about 3% living with diabetes. “Our goal is to perform diabetic eye exams on 51%+ of patients living with diabetes each year,” says Hooks.
The diabetic eye exam is just one of 10 metrics that Meharry Medical Group needs to meet to participate in the incentive payment programs from its MCOs. For the last four years, Meharry Medical Group has been on target to meet metrics set by the MCOs they contract with. In the last two years, Meharry Medical Group received five quality stars for efficiency, which unlocked bonus incentive payments.
“We are committed to helping patients living with diabetes preserve their vision. Successful execution of the diabetic eye exam program is not just an investment in our patients’ health and wellbeing, but for the overall stability of our organization,” says Hooks. “Our quality programs help ensure we can provide the resources our community needs to bring new services, technology and care plans to patients.”
Tiffani Hooks, RN, BSN, MHA from Meharry Medical Group is sharing her experience with the RetinaVue care delivery model. She was not paid for her testimonial. She was selected due to her experience with retinal screenings. Tiffany Hook’s experience may not be representative of that of Meharry Medical Group. Results from case studies are not predictive of results in other cases. Results in other cases may vary.
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