Teledermatology, with a focus on dermoscopy, is becoming a widely-cited solution for lowering healthcare costs while reducing patient wait times. The following article will compare two studies that focus on the financial feasibility of providing teledermoscopy services to patients as an e-triage solution.

Case 1

Communitas Clinics in the UK implemented a staggered teledermoscopy service that was designed to support primary care physicians in providing diagnoses so that dermatologists could focus on more critical cases. With this method, physicians still referred their suspected cases of skin cancer on a two-week urgent pathway to secondary care, then most other cases were submitted through the teledermoscopy service.¹

Results

The medical professionals that used the service reported a drastic decrease in costs with an increase in workflow efficiency. The primary statistics from this real-world implementation of teledermoscopy in the UK include:

• £388,000 saved on dermatology services (due to the majority of referrals being managed in primary care setting)
• Services were £49 compared to £159
• 1 in 10 patients were referred to secondary management (a decrease)
• Practice reported running at a slight loss
• 89% of medical professionals would recommend the services to a colleague
• 100% of patients would recommend the services to loved ones

Thoughts

The hope for teledermoscopy is to be able to manage most cases within primary care, reducing the need for secondary care referrals. The teledermoscopy service initially operated at a slight loss because of the tariff at £49 per referral, which was insufficient to cover costs. However, as more GPs utilized the service and increased the number of referrals, it moved closer to breaking even.

Perhaps one of the most interesting results were the satisfaction rates of the service itself, with 89% of physicians and 100% of patients satisfied with the care methodology. According to medical participants, it seems that teledermoscopy services served as an unexpected teaching tool, as they would include dermoscopic images of the patient’s spot with their referrals while including a potential diagnosis to support their education in dermoscopy. While perhaps not the primary goal of the services, it is clear that it serves as a valuable teaching resource considering the majority of dermatology cases are initially filtered (or diagnosed) by a primary care physician.

Case 2 in part two 

Building on these concepts, part 2 of this article will review a second case study with a heavier focus on the greater healthcare industry and the implied effects this will have on the patients and medical professionals in terms of quality of care and costs.

-The MetaOptima Team