Implementation for Sustained Impact in Teleophthalmology (I-SITE): applying the NIATx Model for tailored implementation of diabetic retinopathy screening in primary care

Teleophthalmology provides evidence-based, telehealth diabetic retinopathy screening that is underused even when readily available in primary care clinics. There is an urgent need to increase teleophthalmology use in the US primary care clinics. In this study from HIP Investigator Dr. Yao Liu, development of a tailored teleophthalmology implementation program and report outcomes related to primary care provider (PCP) adoption is described.

Researchers applied the 5 principles and 10 steps of the NIATx healthcare process improvement model to develop and test I-SITE (Implementation for Sustained Impact in Teleophthalmology) in a rural, the US multi-payer health system. To test I-SITE, they initiated a year-long series of 14 meetings with clinical stakeholders and met quarterly with patient stakeholders in 2017. The study found that the NIATx Model provides a systematic approach to engaging key stakeholders for tailoring implementation of evidence-based telehealth interventions into their local context.