What Does Telemedicine Mean for the Care of Patients With Glaucoma in the Age of COVID-19?

Unlike telemedicine that focuses on the care of patients with diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma care requires specialized equipment, varies regionally, and depends on provider training.5 For nearly four decades, increasingly sophisticated and more accurate assessments of structure and function have improved our decision making for care. Many patients, particularly older Black and brown patients living below the poverty line, do not have internet access or digital platforms for communication with their physicians. Would going to a public place, such as a library, with free internet access really provide a secure and appropriate environment for a doctor-patient conversation? [...]we have valid telemedicine methods to measure intraocular pressures and visual fields that meet HIPAA and federal guidelines for Protected Health Information, ophthalmologists will need to continue interacting face to face with our patients.7,8 To reduce the frequency of contact, Gan and workers described the use of “Digitally Integrated Visits” that separate visits for glaucoma testing performed by technical personnel from interactions with ophthalmologists at the same time.