With the recent news from the United States surgeon general that skin cancer is on the rise with more cases diagnosed annually than breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer cases combined, Dr. Matt Leavitt, Founder and CEO of ADCS, weighs in on the surgeon general’s call to action.
“This is a major public health issue and I fully support the surgeon general’s issued warning about skin cancer and the call to action to prevent the disease.” says Leavitt, who is also a practicing board certified dermatologist.
Leavitt says, “Our practice, of 150 providers (board certified dermatologists, fellowship trained Mohs surgeons and fellow trained mid-levels) sees about 20,000 patients a week and we have seen a significant rise in the amount of melanomas diagnosed over the years.”
ADCS has been taking the lead in educating and providing services to help raise awareness to prevent skin cancer. “Through all our years of experience we found the best way to educate people is to get our providers out into the community,” Leavitt said.
One example of a community outreach program is a partnership formed with Walgreens. “We formed this partnership to provide easy and accessible skin cancer screenings in their stores free of charge. Our providers go to the stores and perform screenings for anyone who wants one and provide educational information on disease prevention as well. The feedback from the community has been extremely positive about our commitment to better serve them. We are doing multiple skin cancer screenings in any given week at no charge.” Says Dr. Leavitt.
Other examples of community outreach programs that Advanced Dermatology has initiated: attendance at corporate or government health fairs, golf tournaments and local community fairs.
ADCS, founded in 1989 by Dr. Matt Leavitt, is a dermatology-focused practice with over 80 clinics in Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Michigan and South Carolina providing clinical, cosmetic, surgical and pathology services. ADCS also provides billing and coding management services for almost 90 third-party dermatology practices across the nation under the Ameriderm™ trade name.