Camden Derm Updates

CDMS welcomes Carrie Ponte, NP to the staff

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 20:14:25 GMT

Increasing access for established patients with acute care needs

CDMS is pleased to share that we have a new nurse practitioner to facilitate easier access for our established patients in our Rockport office.

Ms. Ponte, NP has most recently been working in a local urgent care role. Previously she had been working as a hospitalist in the inpatient setting. Since joining CDMS in January 2023, she has been training with Dr. Lavigne with the ultimate goal of helping to address the urgent skin concerns of established CDMS patients.

We know that availability of urgent appointments has been a challenge given how underserved our area is and we hope that expanding same week or even same day availability will help put patients more at ease.

Ms. Ponte works closely with Dr. Lavigne to determine the best direction for both diagnosis and treatment of the acute dermatologic concerns for patients who have already been established with CDMS.

In addition, Ms. Ponte will be helping expand some core cosmetic services to our established patients as well.

If you are a current patient and have an acute skin concern, you are welcome to call the office to schedule a visit with Ms. Ponte, NP.

Announcing our second location in Scarborough

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 05:53:52 GMT

Opening Tuesday F ebruary 16 !

Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery is thrilled to announce that starting Tuesday February 16th , we will have a second location to serve patients. Our Scarborough office is conveniently located on Route 1 across from Prime Motors and next to Lois' Natural Marketplace.

The office will be open initially on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays from 9am until 2:30 pm .

Mr. Sam Cohen, PA-C will be staffing the office on a regular basis and Dr. Lavigne will be caring for patients in this location twice a month.

We look forward to offering Mohs surgery in Scarborough very soon, as well as a wide array of additional services in the near future.

Dr. Lavigne is currently recruiting additional board certified dermatologists for both our Rockport and Scarborough practice sites.

Mr. Cohen has over 9 years of dermatology experience and works very closely with Dr. Lavigne to ensure the highest quality of care.

With our state of the art telecommunications technology along with our renowned dermatology specific medical record system, you can feel confident in our care team approach.

Mr. Cohen will continue to see patients in the Rockport office on Mondays.

Please call 207-706-5030 to schedule an appointment.

Fulfilling a Dream & Expanding Dermatology Care

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 05:56:14 GMT

New Patient Appointments Now Available

In early 2015, I partnered with PenBay Medical Center & Waldo County General Hospital out of a desire to expand access to dermatology services in the Mid-coast area. I was keenly aware of the shortage of dermatologists in the region after working the previous two years in Portland and realizing that a large number of patients were routinely traveling close to 4 hours round trip for their appointments.

There was relative consensus within the local medical community that access to dermatology care was a critical issue and this was clearly demonstrated when my two day a week general dermatology schedule at the hospital was booking out to nearly twenty (yes... 20...) months.

Over the next two and a half years, I resolved that independent practice might afford the opportunity to recruit additional dermatologists to our region, and it was with this goal in mind that Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery was founded.

I am so thrilled to have Dr. Kimberly Hureth, MD M.Ed here with us as well as our dermatology PAs, Mr. Sam Cohen and our newest associate Ms. Jessica Hennen.

For the first time in perhaps a year or more, we have timely new patient openings with both Dr. Huerth as well as Sam Cohen. It feels incredible to know that what started with a desire and a dream is becoming a reality. What makes it even better is the knowledge that this accomplishment helps our community become healthier. In the last three weeks, we have diagnosed a large number of potentially catastrophic melanoma skin cancers and this has been possible in large part because of the expanded availability of new patient appointments.

We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to take care of our friends, our neighbors and our colleagues right here in the mid-coast. Thank you for trusting us with your care, and please feel free to share the good news with those you know are looking to become established with our practice.

George Harvey's April 16th Interview with Dr. Lavigne

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 04:35:10 GMT

For those who may have missed it, this was a lovely interview piece written by George Harvey for the PenBay Pilot in April. It summarizes our early response to the COVID crisis and confirms we have an AMAZING team here at CDMS!!

‘ACCEPTANCE OF TELEMEDICINE ADVANCED 10 YEARS IN ONLY TWO WEEKS’

Rockport dermatologist continues patient care with telemedicine

George Harvey

Thu, 04/16/2020

ROCKPORT — During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, medical practices across the nation have grappled with an ever-changing landscape of health guidelines and recommendations.

For Rockport-based dermatologist Kerry Lavigne, owner of Camden Dermatology and Mohs Surgery, tele-dermatology has proved fruitful to help ensure the well-being of both her employees and her patients.

With the uncertainty and unease the pandemic has wrought, Lavigne said it seemed prudent to follow the most cautious of guidelines and recommendations by limiting in-person medical visits to essential or urgent cases.

“Following Governor Mills’ first recommended closure of nonessential businesses the week of March 25, I decided that it would be best for my staff to relocate off the premises, to remain in the safety of their own homes, and we got very creative with our plan to provide limited in-person visits with myself as the only on-site staff,” Lavigne said. “The procedure that we have is actually working remarkably well and patients have been thrilled with the ability to have a telederm visit and know that if there’s anything critical that needs to be done in person we can still accommodate that. Although we are technically exempt from the business closures as a medical practice, I felt a responsibility to both my staff and my patients to provide as significant level of protection as we could and still provide care for acute dermatologic conditions and concerns that couldn’t be solved with telederm.”

For some services, such as a biopsy or something requiring an in-person evaluation, Lavigne is in the office to the provide services on an as-needed basis.

The surge in shifting to telemedicine across the state eased the decision for Lavigne to also make the shift.

“Simultaneously, there were some significant changes in the regulations, coverage and reimbursement models related to telemedicine during mid-March which made teledermatology a truly equal alternative to in person visits,” she said. “For practices that have ‘brick and mortar’ operations, the previous reimbursement models for teledermatology and telemedicine in general had typically been so low that it was just not financially feasible the incorporate these as alternatives.”

Though telemedicine had not previously been covered by most insurance companies in the state, many are now covering telemedicine visits the same way they cover in-person visits, something that pleases Lavigne.

“It’s truly amazing to me that it took a pandemic for our government and insurance carriers to formally recognize what physicians in particular dermatologists have known for quite some time, specifically that telemedicine is a highly effective tool for many different types of medical complaints and encounters,” Lavigne said. “I just read one headline that stated acceptance of telemedicine advanced 10 years in only two weeks. I think that shows the remarkable power that insurance companies have over how medicine is conducted in this country.”

The shift to telemedicine for Lavigne was also eased by her practice’s patient communications service implement a telemedicine service promised to be user-friendly.

“Since we have been using Klara as a text-based secure communication platform within our business already, it made sense for us to implement this virtual visit tool,” Lavigne said.

Lavigne, so far, has seen a handful of advantages to offering teledermatology sessions.

“Patients love being able to just sign on and have the visit start,” she said. “They don’t have to drive long distances, get a ride, pay for gas, wait in the waiting room or any of those other burdensome aspects of getting to the doctors office. The technology is incredibly easy to use and the video and sound capabilities are superb. In the rare instance I am unable to clearly visualize a lesion through the video portion of the visit, patients can very easily send a captured photo through our Klara platform which can make all the difference in my ability to provide a more concrete diagnosis. All of the details of the visit get charted in the patients regular electronic medical chart which provides for continuity of care through this period. We can even upload the still photos right into their chart.”

In addition to telemedicine providing peace of mind and comfort, Lavigne has discovered a few added perks, and a couple funny moments.

“It’s also been really great to get a sense of patients in their home environment,” she said. “One patient showcased her husband’s beautiful sculpture work, and I’ve gotten to meet many of my patients best furry friends. One day, when I was doing a few tele-dermatology visits from my home, a couple of patients even got to meet my young children which was a little bit unexpected.” (Since then, Lavigne noted she is trying to do most of the sessions from the office.)

Though there have been advantages, Lavigne noted there have been some challenges.

“Our biggest challenge at the moment is not the technical component or the staff component but really the adoption of this visit type on behalf of our patients,” she said. “I think there’s probably several reasons for this including thoughts that this may be only a short lived state of life as well as the fact that many of my patients are seen for detailed skin exams that are not necessarily the most ideally suited for teledermatology. But we can still do your focused exams such as the face, suspicious clinical lesions and manage a very wide range of clinical concerns including acne, rosacea, psoriasis, eczema and even some acute rashes, just to name a few.”

Lavigne’s practice has, partially, been hampered by a low tele-dermatology adoption rate.

“What makes the low adoption rate particularly challenging is that in the absence of significant acceptance of this visit model, we are going to be running into a huge paralyzing bottleneck of rescheduling visits and potentially significant clinical impacts for patients such as delays in detecting concerning skin cancers or other concerns which are best treated in a timely manner,” Lavigne said. “Not to mention the immediate financial impact of having clinical volumes drop greater than 90%. As a medical practice I am focused on the health and welfare of both my patients and my clinical staff but I am also essentially a small business and the financial implications of having such an immediate and significant drop in clinical visits is very stressful.”

Ultimately, Lavigne is doing her best to maintain order as normal as possible, particularly for her staff.

“I have been so proud of my staff and their response to this catastrophe,” said Lavigne. “I will do anything with in my power to keep them employed at the fuller end of their wages, but we remain dependent upon the adoption of teledermatology to achieve this.”

Lavinge’s practice is accepting new patients by tele-dermatolgoy and is encouraging current patients to convert to their existing visit a virtual one to stay as current as possible with their necessary care.

To streamline the shift to tele-dermatology sessions, Lavigne has added a detailed guide to her practice’s website with step-by-step instructions and visual aids to familiarize patients with the process.

Additionally, her medical assistant and support staff, all working from home, call patients a day in advance and do a test telemedicine with patients.

“This has been a huge benefit to the workflow and also to reducing any anxieties that patients may have regarding how the visits go,” Lavigne said.

Like many business owners, Lavigne looks forward to the day some normalcy will be, at least partially, restored. Until then, she will do whatever it takes to make the best of the situation.

“It is my sincere hope that we will be emerging from the risks posed by this pandemic and the burden that the quarantine requirements have placed on both our social and economic societies but I would like our patients to know that should this not be the case, we are still here for them, virtually with smiles and reassurance,” Lavigne said.

Reach George Harvey at: sports@penbaypilot.com .

Falling back into place

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 04:07:54 GMT

"And all at once summer collapsed into fall"- Oscar Wilde

This year has brought more than its fair set of trials to our practice, our region, our state, our nation and our world. I feel such a sense of loss as I am sure so many of us do with regard to the natural order of our lives and our activities. As challenging as it has been crafting a plan for our practice and our patients, I cannot imagine the burden which presently rests with our educators contemplating the safety of school staff and our children amidst the chaos that is COVID-19. I pray that as the school year opens in a very unconventional way, that our community will remain healthy and continue with the dedication to safety we have demonstrated all along.

I would like to also offer my sincerest appreciation for the large number of cards and well wishes I have received over the last month. Some of you may be aware that I had to have a total hip replacement at the very end of July and as a result I have been out of the office for the month of August. I remain extraordinarily grateful to Dr. Alise Curry who once again provided phenomenal care to our patients in my absence. It is not always easy for physicians to address her or his own health care needs, but it was clear that I was at my functional limit. Having experienced what it is like to attempt to work through excruciating chronic pain, my heart goes out to those who cannot find relief. I remain ever grateful for the extraordinary care I received from Dr. Tom Mitchell at Pen Bay Orthopedics as well as Dr. George Babikian at Maine Medical Partners Orthopedics for their remarkable skill in helping me through this incredibly difficult time. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

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Things are beginning to fall back into place for us at Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery as well, and most excitingly we will have a new dermatologist joining us very shortly (to be covered in a separate post). After a very comprehensive search, I was also thrilled to hire a new operations manager who began with us this month. Please welcome Dave Largen to the practice. Dave joins us from most recently serving as Manager of Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor for many years. He is excited to make the transition to serving patients and our staff with the same level of pride and courtesy that is customary in the hospitality industry.

With so many things occurring all at once I never got to express my formal appreciation for the service and dedication shown by both CC Hayden and Brittany Kenniston over the past two years. CC has relocated back to her home state of Connecticut to be closer to family and Brittany had a wonderful opportunity to be full time with her family's business. We miss them both very much, and wish them every success.

We are looking to make changes to our patient flow including transitioning back to having an in person front desk assistant as well as a highly controlled, socially distanced waiting room environment so you can expect to hear more about this coming soon.

Thank you again to our patients for all your understanding in these last very difficult months.

Welcome to Sam Cohen, PA-C

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 00:49:02 GMT

Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery has hired a physician assistant to help expand dermatology access

Please join me in welcoming Sam Cohen, PA-C to the practice. Sam is a very experienced dermatology focused physician assistant who joined our practice in early November. He has been working specifically in dermatology since 2013.
He will be seeing adult and pediatric dermatology patients within the practice currently on Fridays.
Given the access issues that are notable in underserved areas like our own, it is our hope to continue to provide timely care for our current patients and potentially expand our capacity to care for new patients as well.
Dr. Lavigne will be providing supervisory expertise as a board certified dermatologist in an indirect and direct manner as clinically indicated.

Tag is a fun game, but phone tag, not so much!

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 02:23:53 GMT

Learn about our newest tool to help ease communication

I know I have a tendency to brag on my staff, but I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to start this practice with such an amazing group of assistants. As most of you will understand, starting a medical practice these days has its challenges. One of those is keeping a balance between the best service and managing costs.

If we had unlimited resources, I think an in-house call center would be ideal. Then all calls could be answered by a LIVE person, a REAL human being on the line with you in REAL time. But presently I have an amazing assistant Jessica who answers (or tries to answer!) every call. Let me tell you, Jessica is awesome. She is kind, through and communicates more clearly than almost anyone I know. She is a machine when it comes to taking calls. But clearly she is one person (although often she does the work of many more).

So what happens when she is helping schedule an appointment and someone else calls? More often than not, the second call will go to voicemail. It is our goal to have all our assistant staff checking the voicemail logs regularly in order to respond in a timely fashion. But alas on busy days, this system can lead to frustration and the anticipation of playing another round of phone tag just gets daunting.

Well, we have finally landed on what we hope is an ideal solution. Type "Hello" to Klara. When coming to the website, you will find a new nice little blue box in the lower right hand corner of the screen with the prompt, "Message Us". Clicking this box will open up a channel to allow for HIPAA secure messaging straight to our support staff at the office. Using the vast power of technology, our office can more easily distribute these HIPAA secure messages to any available staff member to respond in a much more efficient manner, and wait for it, you can even upload a HIPAA secure photo if needed!

Thanks for your continued support of Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery!

A Time of Blessings

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 14:25:45 GMT

Reflections on the last nine months

Whether you and your family celebrate Hanukkah or Christmas, this season marks a time of year to be conscientious for our blessings.
Over the past nine months, our little practice has grown and triumphed over numerable challenges, such as unexpected snow days (right after opening), sickness (personal, familial & staff!), hiring and training new assistants as well as the well-deserved retirement of my amazingly talented Mohs technician Sandy this past Fall.
When we started in March with a backlog of hundreds of calls of patients anxious to establish with our fledgling practice little did we know that we would be temporarily closing Dr. Lavigne's schedule to new medical dermatology as our registered patients exceeded 2,200 in only a short 6 months.
All of this would not have been possible without countless blessings, and of course hard work from everyone involved, plus a little patience from you all, our patients.
I have long been a proponent of the adage, "Let go & let God". This philosophy reminds me that blessings can come in the most unexpected ways. I pray that you and your family may have both anticipated and unexpected blessings this holiday season. Thank you for all your support and encouragement!
Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas!
We wish you a joyous time with family, friends and loved ones, and BLESSINGS for health, happiness and prosperity in the new year. ~ Dr. Lavigne

Time Flies When You Can Have Fun!

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Sat, 28 Jul 2018 17:39:18 GMT

Changing Dermatology Care in the Mid-Coast

It is hard to believe that we are coming up to our 5th month anniversary!!! We are extremely proud of our accomplishments to date, and we will continue working hard to refine our processes and ensure every patient has a wonderful experience.
I would like to take an opportunity to praise the most dedicated start-up staff with whom I have ever had the fortune of working. The staff of Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery is the backbone of the practice and their efforts are amazing.
It has been the mission of Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery to place a priority on compassion , ethical integrity and putting patients first . This means that patients are always central.
I am pleased that we will have some good news in the near future as we look to grow in serving our patients and to continue to revolutionize the dermatologic care available in Mid-Coast Maine.

What a Week!!!!! (plus a snow closing already)

kerry@lavigne.org (Kerry Lavigne) — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 05:50:02 GMT

Thank you to everyone who made this possible (long post alert!)

Wow- our first day, now our first week!! Our dreams are finally coming into full focus.
Thank you so much for your ongoing support. I am overjoyed to be finally open under our new practice,
Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery.
I cannot wait for you all to meet the enormously talented staff and assistants we have working with us.

I will also humbly ask your ongoing patience.
In the weeks leading up to my transition from PenBay Dermatology & Mohs Surgery which I started in late 2015,
many patients were concerned that they might get lost in the shuffle.
Some of you may or may not know, but when a physician leaves one medical group, she or he cannot legally "take" any patient information with them. Please understand that this is the law.
Upon leaving, I was not able to make even a "reminder" list with patient information.

So, we have been trying to ease concerns by creating a way for patients to reach out to us in the transition. During most of the last 6 weeks, I did not have a real live receptionist (no kidding, many of you are thinking!).
We like to think we are at the forefront of advances in medicine as well as technology
especially since my husband Rick is very brilliant engineer and IT expert.
In leiu of a real time receptionist, we had a "virtual" one.
We have received 400-500 calls for appointments in the last 6 weeks. Some were repeats since it was not clear to folks how this transition was playing out, and I apologize for that since it takes time to link everything together.

So what is happening now? Well with the grace of God (I actually had the flu over the weekend, kid you not!) we opened on Monday, March 5th and by Wednesday March 7th my second receptionist started. Please give us your continued patience as my quick learning staff gains mastery of both the scheduling system and the new tasks related to working in a medical practice.

I am extremely proud of them and their progress. The phones continue to be very active, so active in fact, that we cannot always take the calls live. I ASSURE you that we are creating a system to manage your messages in a organized way. I have several assistants who will be cross-training to help reduce the backlog of calls and messages.
We are intentionally making our initial schedule light as this is a fundamental element to allowing my support staff to process their new roles well without overwhelming them or you, our patients.

In short, it is going to be a little bit of a bumpy ride at times- transitions always are.
But we are here, open (snowstorms notwithstanding) and so thrilled
to be able to see so many of our old and new friends again soon.

Quick note about snow, our office will be closed anytime the M SAD #28, Camden/Rockport school system is closed.
This is the simplest way to coordinate a closure. We fully recognize that snowfalls can be highly variable in our beautiful mid-coast Maine. Safety is a top priority in all endeavors. So if you are in an area getting hit hard with a storm,
please call us to reschedule- do not risk your safety.
We will work you back in, and there is never a "no-show" charge related to inclement weather.

We unfortunately will have to close for Thursday March 8th due to the storm.
I will be calling affected patients starting about 7am to reschedule.
Since we have intentionally been keeping the schedule a little more open, I fully expect we can add everyone back in over Monday & Tuesday, March 12/13.

All my very best- Dr. Lavigne

Camden Dermatology & Mohs Surgery
Compassion, Ethical Integrity and Putting Patients First