Guthrie Receives Fidelis Care Grant to Expand Rural Diabetic Vision Screening Access

Guthrie has been awarded an $18,000 grant from Fidelis Care to deploy advanced eye screening technology at Guthrie Owego Fifth Avenue. The funding will be used to purchase an AEYE Health diagnostic camera — a best-in-class ophthalmic artificial intelligence system designed to detect diabetic retinopathy during routine primary care visits.

The initiative addresses a critical gap in rural healthcare access. Currently, only 19 percent of Medicaid patients with diabetes in the Owego service area receive their required annual retinal exams.  

By embedding the AEYE technology directly into the Owego clinic, Guthrie aims to increase that screening rate to more than 83 percent — matching the highest performance standards across the Guthrie network.  

The AEYE system uses FDA-cleared AI to provide rapid, accurate retinal screenings without requiring a specialist consultation.  

Clinical staff can conduct the exam in minutes, delivering timely results that enable earlier detection of sight-threatening conditions. This eliminates the need for patients to schedule secondary appointments or travel to specialty offices.

The program launched earlier this year at Guthrie Owego Fifth Avenue, where trained staff can now offer diabetic eye screenings as part of routine primary care visits.

“This technology helps us catch diabetic eye disease earlier, without adding another appointment or another trip for patients,” said Dr. Frederick Bloom, Chief Population Health Officer. “When we can do the screening right in primary care and get results quickly, we can connect people to follow-up care sooner and help protect their vision.”

The goal of this program is to reduce avoidable blindness among high-risk populations, including the nearly 500 patients with Type 2 diabetes currently served by the Owego primary care team.

By identifying problems early, Guthrie can facilitate timely referrals to ophthalmology before irreversible damage occurs.