Hidradenitis Suppurativa Insights: Advancing Early Diagnosis, Guideline-Driven Care, and Multidisciplinary Solutions

Panelist discusses how hidradenitis suppurativa’s early detection is challenging due to misdiagnosis, patient stigma, and limited awareness. Improved physician education, proactive screening, and strategic use of claims data can help identify undiagnosed cases earlier, enabling more timely intervention and management.

Panelist discusses how the misalignment between Hurley stages and patient burden in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) creates diagnostic and treatment challenges. Current Hurley staging inadequately captures the full patient experience, potentially leading to suboptimal treatment approaches. Standardized clinical training and assessment tools that incorporate both objective staging and subjective patient-reported outcomes could help bridge this gap, enabling more personalized and comprehensive HS management.

Panelist discusses how social determinants of health create significant diagnostic barriers for hidradenitis suppurativa through systemic inequities, limited health care access, and provider knowledge gaps. Health systems can mitigate these challenges through targeted educational, technological, and culturally responsive interventions.

Panelist discusses how delayed medical diagnosis causes significant economic burden through increased treatment costs, prolonged health care interventions, reduced patient productivity, and higher health care system expenses. Economic mitigation strategies include implementing early screening programs, improving diagnostic technologies, enhancing medical training, and developing robust health care infrastructure that prioritizes timely patient assessment and intervention.

Panelist discusses how rapid access clinics could revolutionize HS patient care by providing swift, comprehensive diagnostic pathways, integrating multidisciplinary expertise, and enabling early intervention. Strategies for equitable access include telemedicine, mobile diagnostic units, community health worker training, sliding-scale pricing, and partnerships with local health care providers to overcome geographical and economic barriers in underserved regions.

Panelist discusses how patient advocacy groups act as critical bridges between patients, researchers, and health care providers, ultimately improving recognition, treatment, and quality of life for individuals affected by hidradenitis suppurativa.

Panelist discusses how Centers of Excellence for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) differentiate through comprehensive, patient-centered multidisciplinary care models integrating specialized dermatologic, surgical, psychological, and pain management interventions to holistically address complex chronic conditions while navigating systemic health care implementation challenges.

Panelist discusses how HS Centers of Excellence demonstrate potential for enhanced health care delivery through coordinated, specialized care approaches, with managed care organizations driving adoption through strategic incentives and collaborative frameworks.

Panelist discusses how HS Centers of Excellence integrating multidisciplinary care, personalized treatments, comprehensive tracking, and holistic patient support strategies can significantly improve HS patient outcomes through coordinated, comprehensive care approaches.

Panelist discusses how organizations can justify the cost of Centers of Excellence for HS by improving patient outcomes, reducing complications, and enhancing care efficiency. Metrics for evaluating multidisciplinary care include patient satisfaction, quality of life, clinical improvements, and reduction in hospitalizations.

Panelist discusses how health systems can improve communication and coordination among specialists through integrated care models and digital platforms. Centers of Excellence promote health equity by providing specialized care in underserved areas, reducing disparities. A unified approach ensures efficient, patient-centered care, enhancing outcomes for all.

A panelist discusses how guidelines are important for knowing when patient care starts, the progress of the patients care, and if the patient is satisfied with the response. Treatment guidelines are available for the 3 stages of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS): Hurley 1, Hurley 2, and Hurley 3. High scar scoring is also used to examine improvement in scarring over time. In real-world cases, guidelines have little to no impact on physicians treating HS, and most people often go to urgent care centers or primary care physicians when they are experiencing symptoms of HS. Health providers do not utilize guidelines except in clinical trials.

A panelist discusses how health system leaders should focus resources on implementing multidisciplinary care teams, standardizing staging/severity assessments, and ensuring access to recommended treatments outlined in current hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) guidelines. Priority areas include early diagnosis through provider education, establishing clear referral pathways to specialists, comprehensive symptom management including pain control, and tracking patient outcomes against quality metrics to improve care delivery and reduce disease burden.

A panelist discusses how clinicians should systematically adopt evidence-based hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) guidelines while maintaining flexibility to tailor treatments to individual patient needs, severity levels, and comorbidities. This involves regular monitoring of updated recommendations, implementing standardized assessment tools, and considering patient-specific factors such as lifestyle, preferences, and treatment response history to optimize therapeutic outcomes through a personalized medicine approach.