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- Presentation
Quality Improvement Pilots in Dermatology: Using Data and QI Measures to Improve HS and Psoriasis Care
Description
The speaker explains how quality improvement (QI) in dermatology uses real-world data to identify care gaps and turn research into practice. Using hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) as an example, she describes a common problem of delayed diagnosis and shows how large datasets can reveal patterns that may not be obvious in a single clinic, such as patients being treated for boils for months before HS is recognized. She emphasizes that QI is not just about process diagrams or reporting burdens, but about choosing meaningful measures, designing interventions, and testing whether they improve outcomes. She contrasts simple process measures with harder-to-develop outcomes measures, noting the lack of standardized clinical assessment tools for HS and psoriasis. She then reviews a prior psoriasis QI pilot focused on increasing psoriatic arthritis screening by using EHR prompts, staff training, and practice coaching across multiple dermatology sites. The pilot improved screening rates, increased clinician confidence in QI methods, and demonstrated that the model can be scaled. For the new HS project, the team is considering measures such as pain, quality of life, comorbidity screening, and treatment escalation, with the goal of identifying one or two feasible measures that can be implemented within months and broadly shared across the specialty. She also highlights the growing role of data systems and AI-like chart extraction tools, while noting the importance of HIPAA compliance and practical workflow integration.
View moreConclusions
- Large-scale, data-driven quality improvement can reveal care gaps in hidradenitis suppurativa that may be missed in individual practices, especially delays in diagnosis and referral.
- The main barrier is often not simply lack of appointments or resources, but breakdowns in the referral and identification process that prevent patients from reaching the right clinic path.
- Meaningful improvement requires choosing a specific, measurable problem and a small number of actionable quality measures rather than trying to fix everything at once.
- Embedding quality measures into the EHR and using coaching, staff training, and workflow redesign can make screening and documentation feasible in real-world practice.
- The psoriasis pilot showed that AAD-supported QI interventions can substantially improve screening performance, with some practices reaching near-complete psoriatic arthritis screening.
- Clinician confidence in using QI methods increases when practices receive structured support, suggesting that QI tools become easier to adopt over time.
- The same pilot model appears scalable beyond psoriasis, making it a useful template for HS and other dermatology initiatives.
- For HS, likely high-value measures include earlier diagnosis, symptom and quality-of-life assessment, comorbidity screening, and more appropriate treatment escalation.
- Improving patient outcomes will require not just screening and documentation, but also tools that help clinicians act on findings and manage comorbidities.
- Overall, the presentation argues that AAD data infrastructure such as DataDerm can turn clinical observations into scalable quality measures that improve care across dermatology.
- Porter, Martina, MD. Translating Data into Measurable Outcomes to Improve HS Patient Care: A QI Initiative. American Academy of Dermatology Association presentation.
- American Academy of Dermatology. AAD QI Implementation Model.
- American Academy of Dermatology. Approval of dermatology quality measure by CMS.
- American Academy of Dermatology. The base CMS measure lifecycle.
- American Academy of Dermatology. Dermatology’s usual fast lane: DataDerm.
- American Academy of Dermatology. What gets a measure through — and what kills it.
- American Academy of Dermatology. Identify Desired Change: Psoriasis Quality Improvement Pilot Project.
- American Academy of Dermatology. Design, Implement, Evaluate.
- American Academy of Dermatology. HS Quality Improvement Pilot Project.
- American Academy of Dermatology. Workflow Overview.