Factors influencing participation in an optometric comanagement center.

Abstract

Health care is undergoing significant changes and one effect in the optometric profession has been the establishment of comanagement centers. These centers provide specialty optometric and ophthalmologic services to community optometrists on a referral basis. The centers are having an impact on traditional optometric/ophthalmologic referral patterns. This study surveyed all optometrists practicing near a comanagement center in order to determine the extent of participation, the factors affecting participation, and to design a predictive model for participation. The model identified three practice variables and five provider variables as being important in predicting participation in center activities.