October 10
IN THIS ISSUE / October 10, 2018
- CMS to make physicians’ offices fax-free by 2020
- Are you smarter than DataDerm™?
- Issue breakdown: Compounding standard would disrupt care
- AI trained to classify common dermatopathology diagnoses
- AAD updates “Find a Dermatologist” tool — have you updated your profile?
- Study suggests minority residents face extra workplace burdens
CMS to make physicians’ offices fax-free by 2020
CMS Administrator Seema Verma has announced that she plans to make physician offices fax-free within the next two years. During her keynote address at the Department of Health and Human Services’ annual interoperability forum, she stated, “Once information is freely flowing from the patient to the provider, the advances in coordinated value-based and patient-centric care will be even greater than anything we can imagine today.” While Verma did not go into details on how the agency will achieve this goal, CMS plans to hire a chief health informatics officer to oversee interoperability efforts.
For some practices, switching from fax to electronic communications methods may not be an affordable option. Read more about the costs and benefits of investing in various practice technologies in Dermatology World.
Related Links:
- Taking notes: Can scribes or dictation achieve the speed and simplicity of handwritten notes — and give doctors their nights back? – Dermatology World (June 2018)
- EHR evolution challenges dermatologists, vendors – Dermatology World (September 2016)
- Using scribes for your EHR needs – Dermatology World (November 2015)
- Academy product: Utilizing an EHR: Compliance, Coding and Best Practices on-demand webinar
Are you smarter than DataDerm™?
Related Links:
- MIPS reporting in 2018 – Dermatology World (February 2018)
- Dr. Henry Lim: The value of data – Dermatology World (January 2018)
- AAD product: 2018 MIPS Reporting Module
Issue breakdown: Compounding standard would disrupt care
Dermatologists welcomed news last month that the FDA may not enforce burdensome requirements of physicians engaging in common compounding practices such as buffering lidocaine in their offices. However, this might simply tip the issue to the states as new compounding standards are expected from The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) that would suggest similarly burdensome requirements on physician offices. What does this mean for dermatology and what can you do? View the full story.
Read more about compounding in Dermatology World.
- Essentials of in-office compounding – Dermatology World (June 2018)
- Dos and don'ts of in-office compounding – Dermatology World (August 2017)
- AAD/A Position Statement on Pharmaceutical Compounding
AI trained to classify common dermatopathology diagnoses
According to findings from three studies published in the Journal of Pathology Informatics, a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) has been trained to classify three common dermatopathology diagnoses. In the first study, the researchers scanned 200 previously diagnosed nodular BCC slides and 100 distractor glass slides into a whole slide imaging system. In the second study they scanned 125 previously diagnosed dermal nevi glass slides with 100 distractor slides, and in the third study they scanned 125 diagnosed seborrheic keratoses slides with 100 distractors. The CNN accurately classified more than 99 percent of the BCC slides and the dermal nevi slides, and 100 percent of the seborrheic keratoses slides. The authors stated, “Integration of refined and fully developed computer algorithms into digital pathology workflow could facilitate efficient triaging of cases and aid in diagnosis, resulting in significant cost savings to the health care system.”
Should dermatologists fear machine learning, or are concerns over their impending obsolescence unwarranted? Read more in Dermatology World.
- For better or worse, technology is changing medicine – Dermatology World (September 2018)
- The future of dermatology practice settings – Dermatology World (September 2016)
- Breaking the glass? Digital pathology makes waves in dermatology – Dermatology World (April 2016)
AAD updates “Find a Dermatologist” tool — have you updated your profile?
The American Academy of Dermatology recently upgraded its popular Find a Dermatologist tool, which more than 1 million visitors use each year. The enhanced tool gives dermatologists new ways to help potential patients find them — including indicating if they are seeing new patients and offering free appointment scheduling through Doctor.com — and offers those patients an improved search experience.
Make sure potential patients see your best face — update your profile today. Don't forget to indicate which conditions you treat so patients searching for treatment can find you.
Study suggests minority residents face extra workplace burdens
According to results from a recent survey, published in JAMA Network Open, resident physicians from racial and ethnic minorities report facing daily microaggressions as well as overt prejudice. Among the 27 survey participants, 70 percent were black, 11 percent were Hispanic, 4 percent were Native American, and 15 percent were mixed race/ethnicity. About 56 percent were female. Survey respondents indicated that they experienced three major themes in resident training: “A daily barrage of microaggressions and bias, minority residents tasked as race/ethnicity ambassadors, and challenges negotiating professional and personal identity while seen as ‘other.’”
Learn how to avoid implicit bias in health care hiring in this month’s issue of Dermatology World.
