Achieving PEEK Innovation
Innovative Technology from VSP to Increase Access to Care
Introducing VSP PEEK (Portable Eye Exam Kit)
VSP® Vision Care is launching a new tool to increase access to eye care for people who live in healthcare deserts. These are geographical areas in both urban and rural regions where residents have limited access to essential healthcare services, such as primary care, emergency treatment, vision care and preventive screenings.
While increasing access to care is a great concern of government health plans, a recent international study identified five dimensions of care that need to be mitigated to expand access:1
- Increase human resources in health
- Expand access to care facilities
- Reduce long wait times for care
- Reduce high costs of services
- Address other socio-cultural barriers (e.g., increasing interpreters, coordinating transportation, changing or expanding clinic hours)
To help expand access to vision care, the VSP Global Innovation Center designed PEEK, the Portable Eye Exam Kit. PEEK is a mobile eye exam kit securely contained in a custom-designed, lightweight carry-on suitcase. The kit includes all the necessary technology and tools to deliver remote and asynchronous comprehensive eye exams.
VSP innovators also curated a suite of innovative, portable devices to complete the kit, including a virtual reality headset from HERU that conducts several components of a pre-test, a handheld auto-refractor from Plenoptika, a portable fundus camera from Remidio, and more.
PEEK is designed to be administered by licensed vision care professionals in diverse settings, such as senior centers, schools, and youth and family recreation centers. All that is needed to use PEEK to deliver a comprehensive eye exam is a reliable power source and internet connection.
VSP is currently equipping network providers with PEEKs so they can extend their services through pop-up clinics. This will increase access for members who have been unable to get to a brick-and-mortar vision care facility due to challenges posed by transportation, mobility, and work or family obligations.
PEEK is one more way that VSP is investing in innovative service delivery tools to help government health plan clients stand out among their competition.
Contact us to learn more about PEEK and other tools we can deploy to increase access to care for your members.
1 Brînzac MG, Kuhlmann E, Dussault G, Ungureanu MI, Cherecheș RM, Baba CO. Defining medical deserts-an international consensus-building exercise. European Journal of Public Health. 2023 Oct 10;33(5):785-788.