Health Break: How, why, and when to use UPMC eDermatology

Camille: Welcome to Health Break by UPMC Health Plan, your quick guide to health, wellness, and how to make the most of your health insurance plan. I’m your host, Dr. Camille Clarke-Smith. This is your…Health Break.

During this “Health Break,” Dr. Joseph English will discuss what UPMC eDermatology is, when to use it, and how you can get started if it is a fit for you. Dr. English, thanks for taking a Health Break with us today.

Dr. English: It’s my pleasure.

Camille: There’s no denying that virtual medicine is continuing to grow in popularity. Could you start by telling us, what is UPMC eDermatology?

Dr. English: eDermatology is part of our teledermatology program. It’s a virtual service that allows members to access dermatology care from their homes, their cars, or at work wherever they can get online. eDermatology services are covered by UPMC department of Dermatology, where we have experts in skin disease that have spent years reviewing digital images from their training all the way through to multiple years doing the eDermatology process, so that patients can be assured that their skin is in good hands. All of our members that live in the state of Pennsylvania have access to this program. The cost varies per plan.

Camille: What are some scenarios for when a member would use this service?

Dr. English: We can treat a lot of different skin diseases from acne, dermatitis and eczema, rashes, psoriasis, arthropod bites, hair loss, nail problems. Lots of times people get allergic reactions like hives. And we do evaluate individual moles every once in a while that people are concerned might be changing.

It’s a great way to get access. It’s a triage mechanism so we can actually expedite your care. Dermatology now is kind of difficult to get in to your dermatologist to be seen. Sometimes it can go anywhere from a month to three months or even more to get a full skin exam or [even] to address acute issues [—appointments in a shorter time frame] are usually not available. So this allows you to get to your dermatologist within a very short period of time, to have your issue addressed. We can accomplish it right with the electronic virtual visit or we may have to bring you in for a visit if it’s necessary.

Camille: Are there any conditions that UPMC eDermatology cannot treat?

Dr. English: Yeah, we’re not going to treat life-threatening conditions through this mechanism. Full body mole checks via eDermatology is not ideal. [For] those you need to make an actual in-person appointment. Extremely complicated skin conditions that require extensive laboratory and radiologic evaluation, skin biopsies, or immunosuppressive therapies. We will most of the time bring you in the clinic to have that happen. And we don’t refill medications that have been started by other providers that are of a serious nature as well. We would want to bring you into clinic to take over your care, but meet you first.

Camille: How can members get started using eDermatology?

Dr. English: Our members can visit our website, edermatology.upmc.com and log in using your MyUPMC username and password. You can also find us in the MyUPMC app right on your cell phone. By logging in to your app, you can go find “other care options.” You click that, you go to “virtual services,” click that and go to “eDermatology.” One more click and then you answer the questions and upload your images to be evaluated.

So an example of this is you notice that you feel something on your thigh that you don’t remember being there before. It’s scaly. It’s bumpy, it’s itchy. You’re like, something’s new here. I’m concerned. Get on the telephone and they say, you can’t get an appointment for one, three, six months—whatever it may be. And you’re like, I’m really nervous about this. I may have had a family member that has had skin lesions that were cancerous, so I want to, how can I get there sooner? So that’s where you get on your app. You take a picture of it. Preferably you’d like to have a friend or a partner take a picture because selfies don’t always work the best. And then once you get those attached, they’re going to ask you questions. How long have you had the lesion? How long, you know, does it itch or burn? Have you done anything for it? Have you seen anybody for it? Certain questions like that. And then once you hit done, that gets sent to the teledermatology health care providers, our eDermatology team. And we every day go through multiple cases where we pull that up, read the history, look at the images, then we type and send back to you an impression, a recommendation and follow-up instructions. And then, if necessary, we can send you prescriptions through your electronic medical record to your pharmacy. All our cases come through your electronic medical record, so we have access to all your allergies, meds, past medical, past surgical history. So it’s much better than doing the mobile apps online that they don’t know anything about you. Right? We’re part of your health care team, so that makes it even more effective for taking care of our members. We will get that response back to you within three business days, and we send it through the same link that you sent to us and you can communicate back with us like, hey, I didn’t get the prescriptions. Oh, OK, well, they’re here instead of there. Or can you send to a different pharmacy? Or, when you reply back, “Hey, it’s been three weeks and my rash is not better.” Usually we like you to repeat the whole ederm if it’s not better. We need new images—very important for that, for our members to get new images every time they come to us if the things aren’t improving.

So eDermatology is for the two mechanisms we mentioned, the website and the app. You can also get a e-consult, a teledermatology e-consult, by going to your primary care doctor’s office. Actually, you could go to any doctor at UPMC; [they have] the ability to order this consult. It pulls up and asks the same questions to your doctor, gives us a little history. They take images, put it up for us. It comes to me, our team looks at it. And for continuity of care, then your primary care doctor can take our recommendations and do what’s necessary. There are times where the doctor will be requested to get labs or x-rays or something that goes along to help figure out the disease process and they will send the results back to me. We communicate. I can communicate back to the doctor, you can communicate to me. It’s excellent access to your health care providers and it’s nice to have your primary care doctor be aware of what’s going on as well.

Camille: Dr. English, thanks for taking a Health Break with us today.

Dr. English: Thank you.

Camille: Visit edermatology.upmc.com or open the MyUPMC app to use the UPMC eDermatology service.

Find show notes and more information at upmchealthplan.com/podcast. Join us as we continue exploring health, wellness, and how to make the most of your health insurance plan in the next episode of Health Break.

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes. It is not medical care or advice. Individuals in need of medical care should consult their care provider. Views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of UPMC Health Plan and its employees.