Improving access to vision rehabilitation care: implementation of the South East Ontario Vision Rehabilitation Service.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of the South East Ontario Vision Rehabilitation Service (SOVRS), a centrally administered, regionally delivered vision rehabilitation service, on access to vision rehabilitation care. DESIGN: Pre-implementation (n = 1196) and post-implementation (n = 414) observational study. PARTICIPANTS: Patients referred for low-vision assessment at the hospital-based Kingston Health Sciences Centre Vision Rehabilitation Clinic and community-based Southeastern Vision Loss Rehabilitation Ontario clinics from 2014 to 2019. METHODS: Markers for access to care (e.g., patient rurality, diversity of referral source, distance and time travelled, and wait times) were compared before and after SOVRS implementation. RESULTS: After SOVRS implementation, there was a significant increase (p < 0.001) in the number of rural patients seen in the community. After SOVRS implementation, the hospital-based Vision Rehabilitation Clinic site experienced a significant increase in referrals from outside of Kingston (p < 0.001) and non-eye-care clinicians (p < 0.001), a significant reduction in patient time and distance travelled (p < 0.001), a 6% decrease in median wait time for low-vision assessments, and a significant reduction in wait time between referral and first available appointment (p = 0.011). CONCLUSION: SOVRS, a novel service-delivery model for vision rehabilitation care, improved the delivery of and access to vision rehabilitation care in southeast Ontario through the integration of regional resources and services.