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Digital Healthcare Announces Asheville Eye Associates Is Latest Retasure Reading Center

Thursday, November 15, 2007 General News
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WAKE FOREST, N.C., Nov. 14 Digital Healthcare, a WakeForest, NC company specializing in retinal risk assessment for diabetics,announced today Asheville Eye Associates is the latest ophthalmology clinic tolink with the Retasure retinal imaging system.
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Asheville Eye Associates of Asheville, NC has been providing primary andspecialty eye care in Western North Carolina for over 45 years. The practiceincludes 14 physicians and five offices, plus the region's only outpatientsurgery center dedicated exclusively to eye surgery. As Western North Carolina'slargest and most experienced provider of specialty retina care, the physiciansat Asheville Eye Associates recognize that Retasure is a valuable tool that canbe used in primary care communities in conjunction with their regionalophthalmologists.
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"We are pleased to have Asheville Eye Associates join us as our latestRetasure reading center," said Scott Sanner, Senior Vice President, NorthAmerican Operations of Digital Healthcare. "This practice has a long history ofproviding advanced retinal services for a wide area of North Carolina, Georgia,South Carolina, and Tennessee. The physicians and staff share our belief thatproviding patients greater access to eye assessments helps in the fight againstdiabetic retinopathy and blindness."

"While diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working ageadults, fewer than 50% of the 21 million Americans with diabetes have an annualeye exam. If all patients with diabetes could be regularly assessed for diabeticretinopathy, we would achieve a major step forward in saving sight," saidAsheville Eye Associate physician Cameron Stone, MD. "The Retasure networkprovides such a step as it allows the primary care physician to obtain theretinal photographs while the diabetic patient is in their office. A retinalspecialist then remotely evaluates these images, ultimately ensuring appropriateand timely referral of high-risk patients to eye-care professionals."

The FDA-approved Retasure program provides a simple, affordable, andnon-invasive solution that allows physicians to capture their patients' retinalimages during a three to five minute procedure. Images are transmitted over asecure, HIPPA compliant network to an accredited reading center. Astate-licensed and board certified ophthalmologist reviews the images andresults are returned to the original physician within 72 hours.

There are an estimated 20 million diabetic patients in the US, but onlyabout half have any retinal assessments, despite a high risk of diabeticretinopathy. The National Eye Institute indicates diabetic retinopathy is theleading cause of blindness among working age American adults. More than amillion patients around the world have received a retinal risk assessment usingDigital Healthcare software.

About Digital Healthcare

Digital Healthcare is the global leader in retinal risk assessment. They arethe world's leading provider of care management programs for diabeticretinopathy. Their award-winning MS-HUG technology is used by leading hospitalsand research centers including Case Western University, The Wilmer Eye Instituteat The Johns Hopkins University and the United States Military. DigitalHealthcare's Retasure solution offers several advantages for primary care andendocrinologist physicians and their patients: It can be operated bynon-clinicians; it is non-invasive and requires no dilation; it obtainsexceptionally high-quality digital images of the retina using asimple-to-operate fundus camera; it returns results quickly to the orderingphysicians; and it encourages patient compliance for regular retinal assessment.

SOURCE Digital Healthcare
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