In the 15 years since dermatology access was last investigated on a national scale, the practice landscape has changed with the rise of private equity (PE) investment and increased use of nonphysician clinicians (NPCs).OBJECTIVE To determine appointment success and wait times for patients with various insurance types at clinics with and without PE ownership. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSIn this study, PE-owned US clinics were randomly selected and matched with 2 geographically proximate clinics without PE ownership. Researchers called each clinic 3 times over a 5-day period to assess appointment/clinician availability for a fictitious patient with a new and changing mole. The 3 calls differed by insurance type specified, which were Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) preferred provider organization, Medicare, or Medicaid. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESAppointment success and wait times among insurance types and between PE-owned clinics and control clinics. Secondary outcomes were the provision of accurate referrals to other clinics when appointments were denied and clinician and next-day appointment availability.RESULTS A total of 1833 calls were made to 204 PE-owned and 407 control clinics without PE ownership across 28 states. Overall appointment success rates for BCBS, Medicare, and Medicaid were 96%, 94%, and 17%, respectively. Acceptance of BCBS (98.5%; 95% CI, 96%-99%; P = .03) and Medicare (97.5%; 95% CI, 94%-99%; P = .02) were slightly higher at PE-owned clinics (compared with 94.6% [95% CI, 92%-96%] and 92.8% [95% CI, 90%-95%], respectively, at control clinics). Wait times (median days, interquartile range [IQR]) were similar for patients with BCBS (7 days; IQR, 2-22 days) and Medicare (7 days; IQR, 2-25 days; P > .99), whereas Medicaid patients waited significantly longer (13 days; IQR, 4-33 days; P = .002). Clinic ownership did not significantly affect wait times. Private equity-owned clinics were more likely than controls to offer a new patient appointment with an NPC (80% vs 63%; P = .001) and to not have an opening with a dermatologist (16% vs 6%; P < .001). Next-day appointment availability was greater at PE-owned clinics than controls (30% vs 21%; P = .001).CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Patients with Medicaid had significantly lower success in obtaining appointments and significantly longer wait times regardless of clinic ownership. Although the use of dermatologists and NPCs was similar regardless of clinic ownership, PE-owned clinics were more likely than controls to offer new patient appointments with NPCs.

eneralized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is an orphan disease characterized by the rapid appearance of sterile pustules and generalized erythema. Patients are often systemically ill and may experience severe organ dysfunction and rarely death. The genetic risk factors for pustular psoriasis are different from other types of psoriasis. To date, variations have been identified in the following genes: IL36RN (interleukin-36 receptor antagonist), CARD14 (caspase recruitment domain family member 14), AP1S3 (adapter related protein complex 1 subunit sigma 3), SERPINA3 (serpin family A member 3), and MPO (myeloperoxidase); however, the majority of patients do not have a known genetic variant. 1 Owing to the rarity of GPP, there is limited information about the natural disease course. The only epidemiological data from the United States is a report of 63 patients seen over 29 years at a single institution. 2 The objective of this study is to describe the clinical characteristics, natural disease course, treatments, and health care utilization of patients with GPP across the United States. Methods Study Design and PopulationThis is a retrospective, longitudinal case series of adults (≥18 years) with a diagnosis of GPP confirmed by a dermatologist (January 1, 2007-December 31, 2018) (Table 1). Up to 5 potential cases were identified from each of 20 participating sites' electronic health records or site-specific databases, starting with cases seen most recently. All diagnoses were confirmed by the principal investigator at each site at the time of data entry. Only patients who met the European Rare and Severe Psoriasis Expert Network (ERASPEN) consensus definition of GPP with documentation of "primary, sterile, macroscopically visible pustules on nonacral skin, excluding cases where pustulation is restricted to psoriatic plaques" 3 and had had a dermatology encounter with active pustular disease during the study period were included.IMPORTANCE Generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is a chronic, orphan disease with limited epidemiological data.OBJECTIVE To describe the clinical characteristics, treatments, longitudinal disease course, and disease-specific health care utilization among patients with GPP across the United States. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA retrospective longitudinal case series involving 95 adults who met the European Rare and Severe Psoriasis Expert Network consensus definition for GPP and were treated at 20 US academic dermatology practices between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2018. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe primary outcome is to describe the patient characteristics, associated medical comorbidities, treatment patterns complications, and GPP-specific health care utilization.RESULTS Sixty-seven of 95 patients (70.5%) were women (mean age, 50.3 years [SD, 16.1 years]). In the initial encounter, 35 patients (36.8%) were hospitalized and 64 (67.4%) were treated with systemic therapies. In total, more than 20 different systemic therapies were tried. During the follow-up period, 19 patients (35.8%) rep...