Kaiser’s roving dermatologists alleviate physician shortage

Kaiser Permanente has found an innovative solution to its shortage of dermatologists: the roving physician. The program involves arming a dermatologist at each Kaiser site in the Diablo, CA, service area with a cellular telephone to respond to the call of primary care doctors with patients that display suspect moles or non-obvious skin rashes. The roving dermatologists can provide same-day assessments and biopsies of skin lesions, saving patients the month-long wait it can otherwise take to get an appointment with a dermatologist.