Rural Health: CheckMySpot Closes Gaps in Care

Enhancing Access to Specialty Care for Remote or Rural Employees
Skin cancer does not care if someone lives near a medical center or on a back road an hour from the closest interstate. In practice, though, specialty care often does. Across the United States, dermatologists tend to cluster in well-resourced urban hubs, while many employees live or work in small towns, rural counties, and fully remote settings where dermatologist density remains low and access is limited. For employers leading distributed or hybrid teams, that mismatch between where people work and where specialists practice translates into longer waits, more travel, and mounting frustration for employees who simply need an expert opinion on a concerning skin spot.

​Why Dermatology Access Matters to Business

Skin conditions rank among the most common health concerns worldwide, and unresolved lesions can progress from minor irritations into serious, sometimes life-threatening diseases when evaluation is delayed. Research shows that delays in dermatology access are not trivial. In fact, one national analysis found average routine dermatology wait times are roughly a month or more, with even longer waits for those who are uninsured, Medicaid-dependent, and rurally located. For employers, that lag is not just a clinical issue. Long lead times can mean employees take multiple days off for evaluation, worry about undiagnosed cancer while on the job, and ultimately require more invasive, expensive treatment if a malignancy is discovered late.

​The financial implications are tangible. Treating early-stage melanoma typically costs under a few thousand dollars, whereas a late-stage disease can escalate to well over one hundred thousand dollars per case, alongside extended absences that may stretch from several days to more than one hundred days for complex care and recovery. In other words, access bottlenecks in dermatology ripple quickly into higher claims, more absenteeism, and lower benefits satisfaction, particularly for employees outside major care hubs.

​Teledermatology as a Practical Bridge

Teledermatology such as CheckMySpot offers employers a way to decouple access to skin specialists from geography. In its simplest form, employees use a secure platform to capture high-quality images of a concerning mole or lesion and board-certified dermatologists review those images to determine the likelihood of it being cancerous. Instead of waiting weeks for an in-person slot, employees receive an expert assessment and clear next steps in a fraction of the time, without spending hours driving to the nearest dermatology clinic or sitting in a waiting room.

​Evidence shows that these virtual pathways do more than feel convenient. A prominent comparative effectiveness study found that a teledermatology workflow using high-resolution imaging produced a 9 percent higher probability of detecting skin cancer compared with direct in-person referral pathways, while reducing face-to-face visits by 39 percent. Another program serving an underserved population reported that introducing dermatology eConsults increased the proportion of patients who received dermatologic input from 11 percent to 44 percent, while median wait times fell from 77 days to 28 days. Rural and remote workers will find that those improvements can mean the difference between a months-long ordeal and a straightforward, timely decision.

​The Employer Advantage in a Remote-Enabled Era

For employers managing multi-state, hybrid, or rural-heavy teams, teledermatology through CheckMySpot provides several strategic advantages. Concerns about diagnostic quality often surface when digital medicine enters the conversation, yet data on teledermatology for skin cancer is reassuring. A recent review reported diagnostic accuracy for teledermatology reaching up to roughly 85 percent when compared with reference standards, placing it in a range comparable to many in-person evaluations. Further research found that less than 7 percent of malignant skin lesions were missed by teledermatology across multiple studies, supporting its value as a triage tool for identifying cases that truly require face-to-face care.

​These findings matter because they validate teledermatology as a credible way to extend specialty care into zip codes that would otherwise be dermatology deserts. Employees gain faster access to evaluations, and organizations gain confidence that remote pathways are not a second-tier alternative, but a clinically robust complement to traditional care. That combination of speed and reliability promotes a more equitable benefits experience, where a team member in a rural warehouse, a field role, or a home office receives the same specialty access as a colleague living near a downtown medical center. Perception of fairness and inclusion supports engagement, retention, and overall satisfaction with the benefits package, especially among remote or rural staff who frequently feel overlooked in traditional health plan designs. When a single app can extend high-quality specialty care to every corner of a geographically dispersed workforce, employers gain a meaningful differentiator in the competition for talent.

​How CheckMySpot Supports Distributed Workforces

CheckMySpot brings these capabilities into a format built specifically for employers and their people, with a focus on simplicity for remote, rural, and distributed teams. Employees download the app, take two clear photos of a concerning spot, and submit them through a secure, HIPAA-compliant platform. A board-certified dermatologist reviews each case and delivers an assessment within 24 to 48 hours, dramatically compressing the time between noticing a lesion and receiving expert input.

​Results are presented in an intuitive color-coded format that avoids dense medical jargon. A green result indicates that the lesion appears benign and can be monitored routinely, a yellow result suggests closer observation or potential follow-up, and a red result recommends prompt in-person evaluation with a local dermatologist. Employees in remote communities who might otherwise wait months for an appointment can instead gain clarity in days, preserving peace of mind and allowing them to focus on work rather than worry. CheckMySpot’s success stories come from all walks of life, including busy parents, frequent business travelers, and caregivers for older adults, all of whom were able to obtain rapid reassurance or urgent referrals without losing a day to travel and clinic logistics.

​​​Access Without Geography Limits

Teledermatology has moved well beyond pilot status and now stands as a proven way to close longstanding gaps in specialty care for remote and rural employees. Employers that embrace solutions like CheckMySpot can offer timely, evidence-backed skin evaluations to every team member, reduce delays in diagnosing potentially serious conditions, and create a more equitable and productive workplace, regardless of where employees live or work.

​Leaders interested in rethinking how dermatology fits within their benefits strategy can explore how virtual dermatology for workplaces integrates with existing coverage and wellness programs. To learn how CheckMySpot supports employers, HR leaders, and benefits teams in delivering teledermatology for remote and rural workforces, click here and consider how expanding remote specialty care access can strengthen both workforce health and organizational performance.