Abstract
Introduction To improve dermatological care in underserved rural regions, the “Teledermatology in Styria” project launched on January 1st, 2020. This project digitally connected general practitioners (GP) with dermatologists (DERM), funded by Styrian Health Fund and supported by a partnership between Styrian Medical Association, Austrian Health Insurance Fund Styria, Universities’ Department of Dermatology, and e-derm-consult GesmbH.
Methodology The project allows GPs to submit clinical and dermoscopic images of patient skin conditions, with relevant clinical information, via a “store-and-forward” teledermatology service to DERM, who responds with diagnosis and treatment recommendations. After five years, the collected data was analyzed, and acceptance among patients and doctors was assessed using questionnaires.
Results Of 5119 cases, 19% required no therapy, while 61% were managed by their GPs following teledermatological consultation. Referrals included 12% for routine dermatological appointments, 3% for urgent appointments, and 2% for hospital visits. The case spectrum covered all dermato-venereological conditions, with neoplasms accounting for only 34%. Patient satisfaction exceeded 95%, based on 692 returned questionnaires.
Conclusion Only 17% of patients required additional specialist dermatological examination after teledermatology. The notably faster diagnosis and the surprisingly high level of patient satisfaction highlight the benefits of teledermatological consultations.
Competing Interest Statement
Rainer Hofmann-Wellenhof is co-owner of the teledermatology company e-derm-consult, Graz, Austria. All other authors declare no conflict of interest.
Funding Statement
The Styrian Health Fund covered the costs for IT infrastructure, software, hardware, project coordination, training, ongoing support for participants, scientific guidance, data analysis, and reporting. The medical services for the 5119 cases were reimbursed by the Austrian Health Insurance Funds. Billing was permitted once per patient and per quarter even for multiple televisits, regardless of the additional time and effort required per case.
Author Declarations
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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
The Ethics Committee of the Medical University of Graz gave ethical approval for this work (EK 32-228 ex 19/29).
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Data Availability
All data is provided in Appendix 2.
