American Academy of Dermatology
Improving the quality of dermatological care with data
The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) was looking to upgrade its DataDerm registry with modern functionality, a scalable solution, and the ability to tailor it to meet the evolving needs of the Dermatology profession. As part of our growing work with healthcare data platforms, we partnered with AAD to build a scalable, cloud-based platform, delivering a user-friendly, extensible solution that empowers dermatologists with actionable insights that help advance clinical care and research.
Scaling a world-leading registry
The American Academy of Dermatology, representing over 21,000 dermatologists and managing the world’s largest dermatology registry, DataDerm, has collected data on over 16 million unique patients and 68 million patient visits since 2016.
Beyond regulatory reporting under programmes like the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), DataDerm further aimed to benchmark quality, inform advocacy, and support research. However, AAD faced untimely data submissions, delayed reports, and limited customisation, restricting members’ ability to engage in research and quality improvement.
AAD needed the flexibility to handle dermatology’s unique data – unstructured text and diverse electronic health record (EHR) systems – and the ability to scale to meet growing demands for near-real-time analytics and new features like predictive tools or operational reporting dashboards. AAD sought a nimble, scalable solution to enhance user experience, improve data control, and drive innovation in dermatology.
Our registry had served our members well since 2016, but to be able to do the robust things that our members expect of a clinical data registry, we knew we needed to move to a new platform. We needed a partner who understood both the registry landscape and our vision to advance dermatology through data.”
Designing a future-proof registry
Leveraging our expertise in Healthcare Data Platforms and user-centred design, we collaborated closely with AAD to reimagine DataDerm. The approach began with a discovery phase, engaging AAD members to provide input on solution wireframes and prototypes. We adopted an agile delivery model, releasing code in fortnightly sprints and holding bi-weekly demonstrations to ensure alignment with user needs.
The solution, built on Microsoft Azure using Azure Data Lake and Synapse Analytics, featured a metadata-driven ingestion pipeline to harmonise data from hundreds of disparate EHR instances. This flexible architecture standardised diverse schemas into a single source of truth, enabling scalable analytics.
Our team, including data engineers, UX designers, web-app developers, and healthcare specialists, prioritised extensibility, allowing future modules like predictive analytics or population health tools to be bolted on.
As a leader in clinical registry development, we know there is tremendous potential for using large platforms of healthcare data to drive clinical innovations, research, and ultimately, improvements in patient care. The DataDerm registry aims to achieve that objective for the specialty of Dermatology. We are delighted to play a part in helping achieve this outcome.”
Empowering clinicians and advancing dermatology
Delivered in just 11 months, the new DataDerm platform, supports users to efficiently collect data. It has transformed AAD’s ability to serve its members and advance dermatology. Dermatologists are now accessing refreshed, visually appealing dashboards, drilling into patient-level data to benchmark performance against national standards in seconds.
The platform’s self-service design caters to diverse practices, while automation streamlines data quality checks and schema mapping. Its scalability supports millions of records, enabling research into rare diseases, emerging therapies, and quality improvement initiatives. AAD now has the flexibility to develop new features, with future plans including population health dashboards and predictive analytics.
User adoption has surged, with hundreds of members joining post-launch. The registry strengthens AAD’s advocacy efforts by informing positions and engagement with policymakers and payers through actional data, while also fostering educational content and clinical pathways. By establishing DataDerm as the premier dermatology data repository, together with the AAD, we have laid a foundation for continuous innovation, improving patient outcomes, and shaping the future of dermatology.
PA’s partnership has brought our vision for DataDerm to life, delivering a platform that’s intuitive and powerful. Our members are excited about the insights they can now access, and we’re poised to lead dermatology forward.”
Hearing clinicians say this platform will change how they practice dermatology is incredibly rewarding. We’ve built a tool that’s making a tangible difference in healthcare.”
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