Diabetes mellitus is recognized as a globally significant non-communicable epidemic that is under the control of the United Nations. According to data as of January 1, 2023, the total number of patients with diabetes mellitus registered in the Russian Federation reached 4,962,762, which represents 3% of the country's population. Diabetic retinopathy has the highest frequency among all complications of diabetes, accounting for 28.9% and 12.3% in type 1 and type 2 diabetes respectively, being a leading cause of disability. The number of registered patients with diabetic retinopathy in the Russian Federation in 2021 amounted to 8.5% of the number of registered patients with diabetes mellitus. However, these data do not correspond to the actual number of patients. Therefore, there is a need to improve early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, specifically through the implementation of screening methods. Despite being an effective measure recommended by the World Health Organization, many countries face common challenges in implementing diabetic retinopathy screening, including a lack of sufficient capacity, the ability to identify all individuals with diabetes, and resources to acquire retinal cameras. Moreover, healthcare systems in different countries differ and there is no unified way to conduct a screening program for diabetic retinopathy. An important point is that in addition to the screening procedure itself, it is necessary to improve the entire organizational structure of providing medical care to patients with diabetic retinopathy. Therefore, it is advisable to develop key principles of the screening program and form general fundamental principles for its organization. Purpose of the study: to analyze the experience of organizing digital screening in the Tomsk region and form general principles for the model of organizational structure in the field of ophthalmology for diabetic retinopathy. Materials and Methods: an analysis of the ophthalmological service in the Tomsk region was conducted based on the materials of the official statistics provided by the Federal State Budgetary Institution "CNIIOS" of the Ministry of Health of Russia for the years 2013-2022. The data collected from the federal statistical observation form No. 12 "Information on the number of diseases registered among patients residing in the service area of the medical organization" and form No. 14 "Information on the activities of medical organization units providing medical assistance in inpatient conditions", as well as from the Federal State Budgetary Institution "NMIC" of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the territorial body of the Federal State Statistics Service for the Tomsk region. A comprehensive methodology was employed to solve the assigned tasks, including statistical analysis methods: analytical and descriptive statistics. The critical level of significance was set at p