Digital Diagnostics’ webinar, “From Burden to Breakthrough: How OSF HealthCare Transformed Diabetes-Related Eye Exams with AI”
The webinar discussion highlights how OSF scaled LumineticsCore®, our FDA-cleared autonomous AI for diabetic retinopathy diagnosis at the point-of-care, to close care gaps and improve quality performance across their health system.
The conversation features
- Mark Meeker, OSF Healthcare’s Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
- Heidi Schleuter, a nursing and quality improvement leader at OSF
- Dena Weitzman, Senior Director of Medical Affairs at Digital Diagnostics,
The Challenge: Closing Gaps Without Adding Burden
OSF Healthcare is a mission driven organization that serves more than 66,000 patients with diabetes, many in rural, underserved communities. Despite strong efforts to get their patients with diabetes to complete the eye exam for diabetes, too many people missed their annual eye exam. OSF leadership wanted a solution that could improve access to care, reduce administrative burden, and increase quality scores without overwhelming staff.
When seeking a new solution, Dr. Meeker explained that the OSF team asked themselves several questions upfront including:
- Could a new technology scale in the frontlines of care?
- Would it improve access without burdening staff?
- Could the clinical evidence translate into real-world results?
The Solution: LumineticsCore in Primary Care
After considering their options, OSF selected LumineticsCore to provide results at the point-of-care and integrate directly into their existing workflows. Staff without ophthalmic training can operate the system, and results are transferred directly into the EHR allowing the patient to received actionable feedback in minutes.
“This is something that is fully automated, that you get immediate results and you do it right in your primary care practice,” said Dr. Meeker.
During a deep dive into the LumineticsCore workflow at OSF, Heidi emphasized the importance of staff adoption, pointing out that “leveraging the auto-EHR documentation—along with the built-in referral loop—has optimized our operations.” Other critical steps for success that Heidi shared include, a dedicated Program Lead to oversee program progress, super-user training to empower existing employees to operate the system, and embedding the exam into annual patient wellness and chronic care visits.
Real-World Impact
Since launching LumineticsCore in May 2022, OSF has:
- Scaled from 8 to 32 cameras
- Completed over 8,000 exams
- Diagnosed diabetic retinopathy in 22% of patients tested
The OSF team has also worked hard to maintain consistently high exam volumes (up to 470/month) without adding diagnostic workload to clinicians. They have seen increased patient adherence rates for the eye exam for diabetes, with some clinics seeing an increase of nearly 30%, helping to support a consistent upward trend in quality scores.
The program has also seen strong adoption in rural clinics, where access barriers are greatest. Local eyecare specialists also welcomed the change that allows for referrals to be better prioritized. Instead of being inundated with patients who only need a routine exam to test for diabetic retinopathy, specialists are seeing a higher proportion of those who truly need intervention, streamlining care and improving efficiency for everyone involved.
“It’s really taking the technology to the patient, instead of the patient having to come to the technology,” said Dr. Meeker
What Other Health Systems Can Learn
OSF’s LumineticsCore program success was supported by leadership, and both Dr. Meeker and Heidi stressed that staff engagement mattered just as much as the technology itself. For other health systems considering autonomous AI, the webinar highlights several best practices:
- Assign a designated program lead to track results, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate expansion across sites.
- Cultivate physician champions and empower super users through hands-on training.
- Integrate the exam into existing visits, like annual wellness and chronic care check-ups, to avoid adding extra appointments.
OSF’s journey to integrate LumineticsCore shows that with the right partner and plan, autonomous AI diagnosis can help health systems close care gaps, strengthen quality metrics, and improve patient outcomes.
Watch the webinar recording for more insights into how OSF is scaling AI in primary care.
Want to see what’s possible in your clinics? Request a demo of LumineticsCore.