Editors’ Note

Jeffrey and Andrew Queen are the co-founders of Integrated Dermatology. They serve as the CEO and executive chairman, respectively. They bring more than 30 years of sales, technology, and management experience to Integrated Dermatology. The Queen brothers also founded and serve as executive officers of US Path Labs, LLC, On Site Dermatology, LLC, and eDerm Systems, LLC. Prior to co-founding these businesses in 2004, 2005, and 2009, they co-founded Health Watch, Inc. in 1991. From 1991 through 2001, they served in director and executive officer capacities with Health Watch and its successor, to whom Health Watch was successfully sold. The Queen brothers are members of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) Gold, Palm Beach Chapter, and they also serve on the Kelly/Strul Emerging Scholars Board at Florida Atlantic University. Additionally, they serve on the Board of the Boca Raton Police Foundation.

Company Brief

Integrated Dermatology (mydermgroup.com) acquires, manages and grows dermatology practices across the United States and has opportunities for dermatologists in all stages of their careers. Integrated Dermatology empowers selling dermatologists to unlock their practices’ value while enjoying autonomy over the practice of medicine. Additionally, dermatologists can join Integrated Dermatology as an associate or a partner, focusing on high-quality patient care while Integrated Dermatology implements best practices in the areas of compliance, financial services, human resources, payers and more.

What was your vision for creating Integrated Dermatology and how do you define its mission?

Jeffrey: Our vision was to create a platform that provides dermatologists across the country with the business support and guidance they need to be the doctor they want to be. As an independent practice, we do not use a cookie-cutter approach. Each of our partnerships is unique and tailored to the doctor’s individual goals and priorities. For many, that goal includes long-term financial and practice growth, while maintaining complete medical autonomy. Our mission is to give our dermatologist-partners the freedom to focus on what they do best: provide great patient care. We were the first acquirer in the specialty and now others have joined us.

Integrated Dermatology began when a dermatologist, who was a friend, asked for help and we said yes. We were looking to make a difference and realized that dermatologists were being bogged down with regulation, required technology changes, and other complexities unrelated to providing patient care. These tasks, plus the back-office administration, required more and more of the dermatologists’ attention. We are able to relieve this burden and allow dermatologists to do what they love and what they are highly trained to do: provide great care for their patients.

Integrated Dermatology was built on a core set of values. Will you highlight these values and how critical they are to the foundation of the business?

Andrew: Our core values define us and the relationships we build and grow with our partners. First, we always operate with integrity. It is vital to earn and keep the trust of our partners by being honest with ourselves and, ultimately, doing the right thing. Our team members go the extra mile by striving for excellence and delivering quality results. The pride and passion our team members have is impressive. We also encourage our team members to “own it” and be accountable in keeping their commitments. We take initiative to be part of the solution and go to great lengths to support one another and our practices. We strive to make Integrated Dermatology the best place to work. We care for others and our practices. In the end, our goal is simple: Delight our Docs. We do this by coming to work with the goal of improving our processes, systems, and practices so that every day we are better than the day before.

How has Integrated Dermatology addressed the challenges caused by the pandemic?

Jeffrey: The pandemic was an immense challenge for the company and our dermatologist-partners. Fortunately, we have a seasoned leadership team. We immediately created a war room to develop a strategy for how to manage and navigate the crisis. Every evening we hosted a conference call with all of our medical practitioner partners to provide guidance, share best practices and communicate updates. With our corporate headquarters in South Florida, we already had a plan in place to work remotely. On March 13, we executed that plan and all of the employees started working from home. We immediately developed tele-dermatology. Our technology development team in charge of this did a fantastic job. In only two weeks, we rolled out Tel-eDerm (video) for patients and dermatologists to conduct dermatology visits online. We also added kiosks – the ability for patients to register, schedule a visit (online or in-person), and check-in from their cars to avoid spending time in our waiting rooms. It was important for us that patients did not need to download another app and that they could do this through their phone and also by text message. Throughout the past year, our operations team has taken every step necessary to help our doctors through the pandemic and set them up to continue thriving in the new normal. By being thoughtful during COVID, we grew our business instead of contracting it, and we focused on retaining and hiring top talent. Integrated Dermatology is a national company and now with remote work, we can hire across the country. We have been successful in complementing our existing talented team with a new group of rock stars.

How will the move toward telemedicine impact dermatology?

Jeffrey: Dermatology is a visual specialty, so telemedicine is a natural fit. The technology has come a long way and the trend towards telemedicine will continue. Many diseases are appropriate for tele-dermatology such as acne and rashes. In addition, tele-dermatology allows patients to stay safe at home and receive an initial impression from the dermatologist. If the dermatologist’s impression is a suspected skin cancer, treatment still requires the patient in to come in to one of our offices. Whether online or in-person. our doctors prioritize doing what is best for each patient.

How critical has it been to continue to attract and retain top talent and will you discuss the expertise and experience of the dermatologists you work with?

Andrew: Dermatologists are the core of our business so attracting and retaining top doctors is vital. We are proud that we have never had a partner doctor leave Integrated Dermatology except to retire. We also focus on recruiting young doctors during their dermatology residency. That is why we pay above-market compensation and provide freedom and flexibility as well as excellent benefit packages. Since we are an independent, nationwide practice, we offer growth opportunities that include enabling physicians to ascend to partnership without having to buy in and without sweat equity. We are proud of the unique opportunities we provide to dermatologists.

Our 125-person practice support team offers extensive expertise and uniquely positions us in the market. We are a long-term partner – a trusted partner that knows dermatology. We know the ins and outs of the specialty and have built a support ecosystem around our dermatologists that is unlike anything else in dermatology. Our team of experts provides all non-clinical, back-office business management support, including legal, compliance, IT, human resources, accounting, payroll management, recruitment, revenue cycle management operations and so much more. From medical to technology to equipment to analytics to hiring, the decisions are up to the physician. We just do the legwork.

How important is brand awareness for Integrated Dermatology?

Jeffrey: Dermatology is a local specialty meaning we keep it personal. We want the doctors to keep their local touch and feel. One example in our model is to have the front desk of the practice answering the phone, making appointments, and checking in patients. Our front office staff at every location knows their patients and have built that relationship. Other large practices in the specialty create call centers for making appointments, which saves personnel cost. We systematize things that should be, but we personalize the human experience, which we believe is a big differentiator for Integrated Dermatology.

How important were mentors during your career and what has made your working relationship so effective?

Jeffrey: We were especially lucky to have one mentor who was life changing, Lester Schner. He steered us in the right direction for success and was always there to advise and guide us when we were facing critical decisions. We were so lucky to have such a great mentor. We want to pay it forward, and we spend a great deal of our time advising young people. We try to provide advice and guidance from our experiences in order to hopefully make their career journey a little easier.

Andrew: Jeff and my working relationship is based on mutual respect. Our skill sets complement each other. The conflict with partners usually happens when it comes to making decisions, but for us, we typically agree on the direction we want to go, and when there is a differing viewpoint, we let the person who is leading that specific matter make the decision. It has been a great ride, and there is no one I would rather have by my side than Jeff.