Curie Brief
Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
News
Dermatology wait times hit 36.5 days on average in 2025 — up 6% since 2022 — and the system isn't keeping up. Experts argue the fix isn't just more dermatologists, but smarter care models: telehealth for chronic conditions like eczema and psoriasis, and acuity-driven scheduling to prioritize the sickest patients. Early results from both approaches are promising.
Dermatology has a serious access problem, and it's getting worse. The average wait for a new dermatology appointment hit 36.5 days in 2025 — up 6% from 2022 and 50% since 2004 — fueled by a shortage of dermatologists, surging demand for cosmetic procedures, and a care model that hasn't kept pace with patient needs.
Two complementary solutions are gaining traction. First, telehealth: a randomized clinical trial found that asynchronous virtual care for atopic dermatitis produced equivalent improvements to in-person visits, with similar results seen for acne and psoriasis. A virtual-first clinic reported a 65.5% reduction in DLQI scores among 329 patients with eczema and psoriasis. Second, smarter scheduling: the University of Pennsylvania Health System implemented a decision tree-based, acuity-driven model that slashed new patient lead times by 76.8% and cut no-show rates from 18.6% to 8.1%.
By the Numbers
Why it matters: These innovations don't just improve convenience — they could reduce delayed diagnoses of serious conditions like melanoma, narrow care disparities, and help health systems do more with constrained specialist capacity.
