Top Doctors Make a Difference
How important is obtaining quality healthcare for you and your family? Most people would agree that taking a chance with their healthcare is a bad idea. Yet we do not always receive top-quality care when visiting a doctor or hospital and too often patients simply don’t know how to find the best doctor to deliver the best care.
According to Castle Connolly, “some people believe that patient ratings are the best source of information on doctors. Unfortunately, that is a misguided assumption. Patients may be able to rate a doctor’s “bedside manner,” but they know little about the complexity of medical care.”
As Marty Makarty, M.D. a surgeon at John Hopkins, wrote in his widely acclaimed book Unaccountable; “So how does a patient who hasn’t been to medical school find the best care? The only real way to judge health care quality is to ask health professionals who work closely with doctors daily.”
Every year Washingtonian Magazine selects the best doctors in the Washington, DC area, as voted by area doctors. Dr. Brenda Dintiman, co-founder of DermUtopia has been named again this year as a “Best Doctor”. Dr. Dintiman has consistently won Top Doc awards. Washingtonian Magazine awarded Dr. Dintiman this prestigious award each year from 1999 through 2015. In 2016 she also received the Top Doc Award from Northern Virginia Magazine.
Dr. Dintiman has been practicing dermatology since 1991, and founded DermUtopia because she felt strongly that an innovative telehealth program was essential to improving the overall situation for patients who otherwise might have difficulty receiving care in a timely, convenient and affordable way. Many skin conditions benefit from early treatment and the ability for a doctor to see the condition when the symptoms are active and acute. The DermUtopia app allows patients to address skin problems easily online and on their own schedule.
Throughout her medical career as a dermatologist, Dr. Dintiman has understood that limited access to care is a significant issue that must be overcome in order to improve the medical community. With this in mind, she explored options that could minimize this problem in a specific area, Virginia. The results of her persistent research lead directly to the innovative and successful programs of telehealth and specifically teledermatology. She participated in telemedicine for the American Association Dermatology (AAD) and, in 2010 she was given the Presidential Award for Volunteerism in Telemedicine. As a member of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) and other telehealth groups, Dr. Dintiman became a driving force in the establishment of the teledermatology program DermUtopia.
In 2014, Dr. Dintiman testified at a House Hearing on Telemedicine in support of further advancing telemedicine and access of care:
“I have seen first-hand a number of patients that could have had the consultation done virtually and prevented an onerous trip to the office, to an urgent care or to the emergency room. For example, included are specific patients who could have a teledermatology consultation and receive treatment at their home or facility. An 89-year-old woman who lives alone at home, with no family in the area, and who would need to be brought to the doctor via wheelchair and transport vehicle, may be more easily evaluated via telemedicine. A nursing home patient with dementia, who requires a nursing aid and transportation and coordination costs from the nursing home to evaluate a leg ulcer or an early infection, could be effectively evaluated via teledermatology. Finally, a 2 year old with severe eczema and infections who cannot get in to see a dermatologist due to lack of access to a Medicaid dermatologist and inability for parents to transport her during their work hours across the city, two bus rides away, could be easily evaluated and/or monitored via teledermatology.” – Dr. Brenda Dintiman
Visit DermUtopia.com to learn more about the benefits of Teledermatology, DermUtopia’s online dermatologists and receiving an online skin consultation.