All Publications


  • Perceptions of providers and unhoused patients on access to eye care in Santa Clara County: A qualitative study. Optometry and vision science : official publication of the American Academy of Optometry Liu, J. M., Chang, M., Liu, F. M., Patel, B., Chang, D. S. 2025

    Abstract

    Perspectives on eye care barriers differ between low-income patients and vision care providers. Comparing these views provides valuable insight into strategies for addressing disparities in underserved communities, especially in regions with significant income inequality and opportunity gaps.The aim is to identify obstacles that prevent individuals who are unhoused, have low income, or are publicly insured in Santa Clara County from accessing basic refractive eye exams and corrective glasses.Patients aged ≥18 years with low income presenting to a free vision care clinic in Northern California (n = 15) and vision care providers who primarily work with underserved patients in Santa Clara County, California (n = 11) participated in one-on-one phone interviews. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed.Most participants (87% patients and 82% providers) say that basic vision care (refractive eye exam and eyeglasses) in Santa Clara County is unaffordable and that in-person eye exams can be physically inaccessible (67% patients and 91% providers) due to busy work schedules or limited access to transportation. However, patient and provider perspectives on intrinsic barriers to accessing eye care diverge. In total, 73% of providers stated that limited health literacy contributed to lower utilization of routine vision care, while 47% of patients cited limited empathy from providers as responsible for their negative experiences and dissatisfaction with care.In Santa Clara County, patients with low income and their providers both identify similar external barriers to basic vision care: high costs, inadequate insurance coverage, and limited services. However, patients and providers may disagree on intrinsic barriers to accessing care. Suggestions for improving access to vision care include more help from healthcare coordinators, better information about affordable services, improved vision insurance, and mobile healthcare options.

    View details for DOI 10.1097/OPX.0000000000002250

    View details for PubMedID 40261685

  • Leveraging electronic health records to identify risk factors for recurrent pregnancy loss across two medical centers: a case-control study. Research square Roger, J., Xie, F., Costello, J., Tang, A., Liu, J., Oskotsky, T., Woldemariam, S., Kosti, I., Le, B., Snyder, M. P., Giudice, L. C., Torgerson, D., Shaw, G. M., Stevenson, D. K., Rajkovic, A., Glymour, M. M., Aghaeepour, N., Cakmak, H., Lathi, R. B., Sirota, M. 2023

    Abstract

    Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), defined as 2 or more pregnancy losses, affects 5-6% of ever-pregnant individuals. Approximately half of these cases have no identifiable explanation. To generate hypotheses about RPL etiologies, we implemented a case-control study comparing the history of over 1,600 diagnoses between RPL and live-birth patients, leveraging the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and Stanford University electronic health record databases. In total, our study included 8,496 RPL (UCSF: 3,840, Stanford: 4,656) and 53,278 Control (UCSF: 17,259, Stanford: 36,019) patients. Menstrual abnormalities and infertility-associated diagnoses were significantly positively associated with RPL in both medical centers. Age-stratified analysis revealed that the majority of RPL-associated diagnoses had higher odds ratios for patients <35 compared with 35+ patients. While Stanford results were sensitive to control for healthcare utilization, UCSF results were stable across analyses with and without utilization. Intersecting significant results between medical centers was an effective filter to identify associations that are robust across center-specific utilization patterns.

    View details for DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2631220/v1

    View details for PubMedID 36993325

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10055527