Some health systems are adopting teledermatology to expand patient access and boost efficiencies, the American Journal of Managed Care reported.
As dermatologists face declining reimbursement, they will have to look into alternatives to maintain revenue, including video appointments and asynchronous messages, according to the publication’s coverage of the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting on March 27.
“Ultimately, what we’re trying to show here is that we can finally have a system that works for us if we apply AI and are using modern technology for things like triage, inbox management, image quality control, billing, scribing, and scheduling,” said Elizabeth Jones, MD, director of teledermatology at Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, per the March 28 article.
Health systems could also lean into billing for patient portal messages from dermatology patients, as they’ve done for other types of messages, said Lia Gracey Maniar, MD, PhD, director of teledermatology and digital health strategy at St. Louis-based Ascension, in the article.
“In theory, it could potentially reduce the patient portal message load, but it might be a little more modest based on some early data that we’re seeing from these institutions,” she said. “On the flip side, there is risk for patient abrasion when trying to bill for things they were used to getting for free, and … the billing policies are a little bit unclear, so it can be hard for patients to give informed consent when they’re not really sure how much this is going to cost them.”
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