What's New In Digital Health

Dermatology software are technology-driven platforms built to improve the way doctors collect, analyze and store patient information for accurate case study. Furthermore, the rapid development of technology is transforming the way dermatologists rely on EMRs for skin cancer early detection. This article will present some of the features that are transforming modern EMR systems into best allies for the fight against skin cancer.

1. Elevated costs, lack of interoperability and security issues as barriers
Although EMRs constitute a great leap forward compared to physical records, it is estimated that physicians are still hesitant to adopt this technology due to high costs. According to medical surveys, there is an approximate 79% of professionals concerned about pricing when having to implement EMRs in their practice.¹ Particularly affecting small and middle-sized clinics, the access to a reliable online platform for patient data handling can become a real barrier, showing that 1 out of 3 physicians lack easy access to patient records.²

Similarly given the many providers of these systems and the specific features associated with each practice needs, the compatibility among them represents another great challenge. In fact, around 81% of on-premise software users have expressed concerns about the status of the data contained in their servers. Inaccessibility and hindrance to share patients’ histories are the face of a deeper problem affecting traditional EMRs, where a wide majority of users also fear for loss, stolen or breached data.¹ Security issues have become a constant threat to the safeguard of private information, requiring EMR systems to go one step further to offer better equipped platforms in the fight against cancer. 

2. Improved cancer diagnosis with cloud-based EMRs
The advent of widespread connectivity and remote server accessibility has benefited the use of dermatology EMRs. Indeed, around 80% of active practitioners are in favour of adopting cloud-based SaaS systems as their optimum choice and 92% of the ones who are currently utilizing this service express satisfaction with their data being more accessible and safer contained in remote servers. Interestingly, the number of users who are expected to change to cloud-based EMR systems continues to rise, in accordance with the higher trust and utility invested in these systems.¹

Next generation EMRs have been equipped with features that are helping to address the long-standing challenge of skin cancer early detection. In order for physicians to provide a correct and on-time diagnosis at early stages, it is imperative they count on good quality images of moles that might represent potential threats. However, due to long waiting times for general in-clinic consultations, this is not always the case. Remote connectivity once again provides a chance to receive high quality images from patients through the use of mobile devices and applications for streamlined analysis and diagnosis taking only a few days. This practice, known as teledermatology, has seen utilization increases in the 600% range, particularly for dermatology underserved populations.³

Adding to their utility, best practice dermatology software such as DermEngine offer other features that facilitate inclusive mole analysis in larger regions of the body. Referred to as full body imaging (FBI), this feature allows the automatic recognition, mapping and analysis of all moles present in a patient’s back. Additional features include tracking capabilities on the evolution of a given spot over time. These complementing approaches support doctors with efficient workflows to provide follow-up of suspicious lesions for an integral monitoring of skin healthcare.

Conclusion
The degree of change brought by EMR systems adoption in dermatology practices can only be understood in terms of the radical advancements experienced from the days of traditional patient data collection. However, despite the positive transformations in the field, traditional EMRs fall short to address current challenges associated to skin cancer early detection. In contrast modern cloud-based software are providing the tools to not only improve practice management, but to make workflows more efficient for doctors to tackle this disease from its early and most curable stages.

1-https://www.healthcareitnews.com
2-https://www.prnewswire.com
3-https://mhealthintelligence.com