“Optometrists are often the first to suspect and recommend testing for diabetes, based on clinical findings during [comprehensive] eye exams,” says Francisco Burgos, O.D., A.B.C.M.O., Katzen Eye Group, Lutherville, Md. This is important as more than 30.3 million people, or 9.4% of the U.S. population, had diabetes as of 2015, The American Diabetes Association reports. Furthermore, more than 84.1 million U.S. adults are pre-diabetic, and more than 90% of them don’t even know they have it, according to the CDC.

As such, optometrists should have in place practices to serve these patients to the best of their abilities, specifically, developing relationships with primary care providers, adding value via providing patient education, tracking clinical signs and, finally, coding appropriately.

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