Improving Dermatology Access by Direct-to-Patient Teledermatology and Computer-Assisted Diagnosis
VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
This study will examine access to dermatology care. The operational partner will implement a direct-to-new patient teledermatology clinical care pathway while the research will study the effects of that implementation, use data associated with deployment to develop and test an Artificial Intelligence system, and understand key stakeholders' attitudes regarding and readiness for remote dermatology care.
Description
VA is uniquely positioned to develop and study direct-to-patient teledermatology in parallel with computer vision for skin disease. The following aims will assess the performance of these emerging patient-facing dermatology innovations and assess their ability to improve access to quality skin care VA-wide. 1. Assess the impact of direct-to-patient teledermatology on access and health system utilization. In collaboration with the VA operational partner, Office of Connected Care, the My VA Images app will be deployed to three VA facilities where the app will be introduced as an option to refer…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * New patient referrals to dermatology at San Francisco, Decatur, and Aurora from 2021-2025 Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who are not dermatology patients * Dermatology patients who are not seen at San Francisco, Decatur, and Aurora * Dermatology patients at San Francisco, Decatur, and Aurora who have visits only before 2021 or after 2025
Interventions
- OtherNew patient teledermatology visit
new patient teledermatology visits
Locations (3)
- San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CASan Francisco, California
- Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, Aurora, COAurora, Colorado
- Atlanta VA Medical and Rehab Center, Decatur, GADecatur, Georgia