Project 457435

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness and vision loss, affecting 95 million people globally and 2.5 million Canadians. They primarily affect the elderly and can impede their ability to perform daily activities, leading to decreased quality of life, higher rates of falls, hip fractures, and motor vehicle accidents. Surgical treatment for cataracts is effective and commonly performed in Canada, yet wait times for surgeries are significantly prolonged. Patients with visually significant cataracts are sometimes not referred for surgery while less urgent patients are booked for surgery on a first-come first-served basis. This means there are patients with visual disability not receiving cataract surgery, and others waiting just as long if not longer than a patient whose cataract has minimal impact on their daily life. his Catalyst grant will set the foundation for the development of a new model of care for cataract surgery that ensures appropriate, efficient and equitable access to cataract surgery. This study will take a multi-phased approach. We will first identify the risk factors and barriers to accessing care from the patient perspective as well as explore current cataract surgery referral practices from the provider perspective. We will then build on validated patient- and provider-informed appropriateness and prioritization criteria and pilot test the tool into our local eye care clinics in Mississauga, Toronto, and Hamilton, Ontario. We will analyze administrative wait time data to examine differences by region. Our findings will set the foundation for the development of a new model of care for cataract surgery across Canada by improving the identification of patients suffering from cataracts, shared patient and clinician decision-making for timely referral, and equitable prioritization to ultimately reduce wait times and improve quality of life.