PROSE Partner Treatment Model

Did you know that there are an estimated 2,000,000 individuals in the United States alone who suffer with complex corneal disease? Many are already patients of ophthalmologists (M.D.s) with a cornea specialty, or optometrists (O.D.s) with a specialty in contact lenses, at one of the 100+ specialty eye care centers located within academic medical centers across the country. Of that number, we estimate that more than 400,000 of them could potentially benefit from our treatment.

However, until recently, prosthetic replacement of the ocular surface ecosystem (PROSE) was available exclusively at our Needham, MA facility, allowing us to reach only a fraction of the patients and families who could benefit. Soon we will be able to help thousands more.

As of September 2010, we have established eight groundbreaking partnerships with top-ranked specialty eye care centers located in academic medical centers in the US and clinics abroad to offer PROSE. Two clinics are located in Texas: one at the Baylor College of Medicine’s Alkek Eye Center in Houston; the other, at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, serves active duty military personnel, including Wounded Warriors. There is a PROSE clinic at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Eye Institute in Los Angeles. Three international clinics are located in India in Hyderabad and Mumbai; and in Nagoya, Japan.

Our newest partners, the University of Michigan’s Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor, MI and Weill Cornell Medical College’s Weill Cornell Eye Associates in New York, NY began seeing patients in July and August of 2010 respectively. Each PROSE clinic is independently operated by our partners who manage scheduling and insurance and provide ongoing care.

PROSE clinics represent a pioneering model in collaborative, patient-centered medical care. By developing partnerships with specialty eye care centers, we are now able to offer patients suffering with complex corneal disease access to a broader range of treatment options, right in their own communities.

For many of the thousands of patients with complex corneal disease, PROSE can be the ideal, and sometimes only, treatment capable of restoring vision and dramatically reducing pain and light sensitivity. Each patient is partnered with a treatment team comprised of an ophthalmologist, an optometrist, clinical technicians/trainers, and prosthetic device lab technicians. These dedicated professionals work with each patient and his/her support network to understand their specific needs, and to custom design and fabricate one-of-a-kind prosthetic devices that successfully replace ocular surface system functioning that has been disabled or damaged by complex corneal disease.

We are replicating our unique treatment model with our medical center partners through a four step process:

1. Our partners assemble a treatment team comprised of an ophthalmologist and a full-time optometrist, bringing expertise in complex corneal disease diagnosis together with treatment and custom prosthetic device design and fitting.

2. The optometrist completes a nine-week, intensive hands-on BFS Clinical Fellowship at our facility in Needham, MA to become certified in the PROSE treatment model.

3. The PROSE treatment team then evaluates current patients, identifies potential candidates, and works with the local medical community to reach out to new patients who could benefit.

4. Appropriate candidates then go through the intake and insurance approval process and begin treatment. BFS Clinical Fellows directly access our Design to Fit™ CAD/CAM program to design each prosthetic device; they work collaboratively with the BFS lab technicians in Needham who custom-fabricate and manufacture them. Devices are then shipped overnight to our partners. The process repeats itself as necessary until they achieve optimal fit and ocular surface system function.

Each PROSE clinic is independently operated by our partners who manage booking, handle insurance, and provide ongoing care. BFS collaborates with each partner by providing technical assistance both during start-up and on an ongoing basis to ensure quality standards are being met, and to support clinic outreach and growth. BFS also works with our partners to ensure equitable access to PROSE treatment regardless of ability to pay.

BFS continues to develop new partnerships with specialty eye care centers, with plans for at least two additional clinics this year beyond those listed above. We are currently in active discussions with potential partners in California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York and Utah. Join our e-bulletin mailing list to get the latest on new PROSE Clinic Network openings as they happen!