Challenges ebb and flow, but our “why” remains the same
From the President
Dr. Kaufmann served as Academy president from March 2022 to March 2023.
By Mark Kaufmann, MD, FAAD, March 1, 2023
Serving as your Academy President these last 12 months has been a journey filled with opportunities and challenges. While it has been a test of endurance and fortitude, I am grateful for the experience. Throughout the year, I have met and spoken with so many Academy members and I heard about your exciting studies and your wonderful patients — an ever-present reminder of why I love being a dermatologist.
The AAD had a very productive year bringing you all the member benefits that you know and love. We put on two successful in-person meetings — the AAD Annual Meeting and the new Innovation Academy. We continued to offer the clinical guidance you seek on a daily basis with our many CME opportunities. We gave the AAD Learning Center a facelift. We developed a resource center that provides a convenient, centralized database of content for people with darker skin tones. Additionally, we launched the AAD Clinical Community — a safe, organized, and moderated forum that is free to Academy members. This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding what your Academy has accomplished for you.
I’d be kidding myself if I said this year was all roses for our specialty. We battled dangerous scope of practice expansions within our states. We opposed inappropriate payment strategies such as prior authorization and reducing payments when E/M services are reported with procedures. We navigated yet another lidocaine shortage. We fought against the 8.5% cuts in Medicare payments, reducing them to a 2% cut in 2023 and a 3.25% cut in 2024 — which is still not acceptable.
Indeed, there are many challenges facing physicians today, and those challenges will be there tomorrow. However, we are not battling them alone. Your Academy has been there and fighting for you in state and federal legislative and regulatory bodies every step of the way. It will continue to do so.
I am honored to have served as President of your Academy, alongside Linda Stein-Gold as your vice president. But leadership is a team sport, and I would be remiss if I did not thank my predecessors Ken Tomecki and his vice president Neal Bhatia, for their leadership and guidance. In fact, I have relied on many of our past presidents and vice presidents for counsel. We are also in excellent hands with Terry Cronin as our new Academy president, and Rob Kirsner as his vice president. I would also like to thank Dan Bennett, our secretary-treasurer, and Keyvan Nouri, our assistant secretary-treasurer, as well as our entire Board of Directors. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Elizabeth Usher, our CEO, and her amazing staff that make all our jobs that much easier.
AAD/A Impact Report
Read more about the Academy’s most recent advocacy wins at staging.aad.org/impact.
At the start of my term, I pledged to fight for dermatologists and our patients, so you can focus on your “why.” Why do you practice dermatology? I hope you have discovered your why and continue to hold on to that as motivation to keep fighting for our patients and our practices.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to serve this great specialty.
