Populations for whom the access to cataract are felt to be particularly difficult are nursing home residents, members of visible minorities, as well as geographically isolated First Nations peoples. Interestingly, the tremendous success of modern cataract surgery in preventing vision loss has also decreased awareness of the huge burden of visual impairment alleviated by cataract surgery. There are concerns regarding the escalating costs of new technology for cataract surgery which may not necessarily offer any improvement in surgical outcomes. In fact, these technologies may limit the number of surgeries that can be provided. 3. establish standards for health technology assessment in ophthalmology particularly as pertains to cataract surgery to ensure that the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of new technologies is established prior to their widespread adoption.
Compliance is a major difficulty in comparing treatment effectiveness.
Although no satisfactory method exists for screening of early glaucoma at the present time the sensitivity and specificity of current diagnostic modalities is extremely good for more advanced disease. Our current tools for measuring the progression of the disease are imprecise and improvement of the precision of techniques of monitoring glaucoma could greatly assist management of the disease. 3. develop an adequate framework for screening and improved methods for monitoring glaucoma. Information is also needed to determine what effect AMD will have on eye care resources over the next 10-20 years. More risk factor information is needed, including genetic work, so that high risk patients can be identified earlier.