Many nursing home residents do not get their eyes checked, even though a large number of them have problems seeing, new study results show.

Two-thirds of residents did not receive regular eye exams, according to a study involving 380 residents at 17 nursing homes in Birmingham, AL. A total of 57% of the residents showed evidence of visual impairment.

This occurred even though a total of 82% of the residents had Medicaid or Medicare or both and “90% had some form of health insurance,” according to Dr. Cynthia Owsley, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The study appears in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.