Getting Started With Practice Tech: Pearls From Brandon Beal, MD

Brandon Beal, MD, and double board-certified Cosmetic Dermatologist and Mohs Micrographic surgeon at St. Louis Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery in St. Louis, Missouri, has been to business school and medical school. He enjoyed sharing his insight on merging both of those passions in his practice's tech launch during the session “Growing a Successful Mohs Practice: SEO, Social Media, etc.” at the 2023 American College of Mohs Surgery Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

Beal caught up with Dermatology Times® after the session to delve into the software that works for his team and resources available to dermatology practice owners.

Dermatology Times: Tell us about your focus in the session "Growing a Successful Mohs Practice: SEO, Social Media, etc."

Beal: My part was establishing the foundation for your practice and how to start a practice as far as location, IT infrastructure, financial infrastructure, setting up standard operating procedures, and creating key performance indicators. Basically, I focused on the foundation and backbones of a practice and how to set it up.

Dermatology Times: How do you get started in setting up the right tech for your practice?

Beal: You know, people in medical school or residency say, "Well, I wasn't prepared to start a practice." Well, I went to business school and business school doesn't prepare you either. So, it's doing. It's putting one foot in front of the other and just being willing to fail and continuously learning. Starting a practice is doable; many people have done it. It's a difficult task, but it's something that we can all do if you want to.

Dermatology Times: Where does a clinician begin with setting up secure office management technology in your practice?

Beal: The nice thing is, it's actually pretty easy. We use a Google shared drive [at St. Louis Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery.] We have a G-Suite so that provides HIPAA compliance secure with an agreement. We have the ability to share the drive and limit access to who sees certain files or who gets access to certain folders. Should someone not be employed with us anymore, we can also change those settings to limit or get rid of that access. It's pretty easy and streamlined.

Dermatology Times: What resources are available to dermatologists and Mohs surgeons to ensure cybersecurity and compliance?

Beal: The great thing is that there are a lot of really good resources. The Derm Start Up group is part of the Board-certified Dermatologist Group on Facebook, and that's a great reasource. The AAD has all of your compliance packs with how to start your CLIA lab, HIPAA, OSHA, HITECH, and more. AAD does a fantastifc job providing that information for dermatologists, and those are really good places to start.

Transcript edited for clarity

Reference

1. Beal B, Collins K, Mina M, Vélez N. Growing a successful Mohs practice: SEO, social media, etc. Presented at: 2023 American College of Mohs Surgery Meeting; May 4-7, 2023; Seattle, WA.