By Darrell Hughes, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Jul. 8–Editor’s note: This is part of the weekly “Take Five” series of Q&As that give you a glimpse of what it’s like working in various fields along the Grand Strand and introduce you to the people doing the work.
The dermatology profession in Myrtle Beach is filled with promise — thanks to sunshine.
As the region’s aging population grows, so has the number of individuals, seniors in particular, who have skin problems ranging from rashes to cancer.
Too much fun in the sun doesn’t do the body good, and dermatologist Robert Purvis can attest to that.
Purvis’ schedule is booked as far out as February 2009.
Purvis, who owns Grand Strand Dermatology, 3001 Newcastle Loop, and is a practicing physician in his office, sees about 30 patients a day. “More or less, depending on how many surgeries I’m doing,” the father of two teenagers said.
As the pool of patients increase, more dermatologists are needed along the Grand Strand. Purvis has two new dermatologists but says that’s not enough.
Question — What’s the dermatology industry like in Myrtle Beach?
Answer — It’s very busy. All the dermatologists in Myrtle Beach, as far as I know, are pretty much overbooked. And predominately it’s an older population with sun damaged sun, skin cancers and pre-cancers. We do see the whole gamut of dermatological problems, ranging from acne to rashes like psoriasis. … Predominantly the patients are Medicare patients who have a lot of sun-damaged skin and cancers. That takes the bulk of our time.
Q. — Is there demand for dermatologists?
A. — Well, I’m bringing two in, and I think that’s scratching the surface. I think we could probably have five more [in the area]. And even then, we’ll probably just be keeping up. … [Dermatologists in other states also] tend to be busy. We just happen to have fewer dermatologists relative to the population. … There just aren’t that many [dermatologists] out there, and if you don’t come from here, then you’re probably not likely to come here and practice. … You get a lot of doctors that like to go back to where they came from, who want to be near their family. If you don’t have people going into dermatology from this area, then you don’t have many coming back. We do have an advantage over some areas in that this is a very nice area to live in — it’s a resort community. So it may be a bigger draw in that regard, but the supply of dermatologists is so limited that they’re hard to come by.
Q. — What impact will the new dermatologists have?
A. — We’ll be able to see more patients. But my fear is that I’ll be every bit as busy as I was before they joined. … I think that patient access during emergency situations will be better because there will be more of us to work the patients into the schedules. But from what I hear, the new people are booked out until August already.
Q. — What impact has the economy had on the dermatology profession?
A. — I haven’t seen any impact. The economy, whether it’s good or bad, I’m still busy. People have skin problems and they need to have it taken care of. Most of my business consists of Medicare patients, so they have insurance and [their] bills are pretty much covered. I may miss out on some of the uninsured who can’t afford to come, but I’m so busy that it doesn’t make much of an impact. … The economy impacts more on dermatologists who tend to perform a lot of cosmetic procedures, electro procedures that if they don’t have the money for, they just won’t have them performed. Most of what I do is medical dermatology and surgical dermatology — more necessity than desires.
Q. — With most of your patients having Medicare benefits, how are your Medicare reimbursements?
A. — The times are changing when Medicare is actually one of the better payers. The private insurances have cut back the rates significantly. Medicare keeps threatening to cut the rates and, fortunately, the cuts keep getting pushed back, but if they do get cut enough, it would really be a disaster.
Because … there’s going to be a lot of patients who have nowhere to go for care.
Contact DARRELL HUGHES at 626-0364.
—–
To see more of The Sun News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.MyrtleBeachOnline.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Comments