Jerry Bagel, MD, MS

A panelist discusses how clinicians should systematically adopt evidence-based hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) guidelines while maintaining flexibility to tailor treatments to individual patient needs, severity levels, and comorbidities. This involves regular monitoring of updated recommendations, implementing standardized assessment tools, and considering patient-specific factors such as lifestyle, preferences, and treatment response history to optimize therapeutic outcomes through a personalized medicine approach.

A panelist discusses how health system leaders should focus resources on implementing multidisciplinary care teams, standardizing staging/severity assessments, and ensuring access to recommended treatments outlined in current hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) guidelines. Priority areas include early diagnosis through provider education, establishing clear referral pathways to specialists, comprehensive symptom management including pain control, and tracking patient outcomes against quality metrics to improve care delivery and reduce disease burden.

A panelist discusses how guidelines are important for knowing when patient care starts, the progress of the patients care, and if the patient is satisfied with the response. Treatment guidelines are available for the 3 stages of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS): Hurley 1, Hurley 2, and Hurley 3. High scar scoring is also used to examine improvement in scarring over time. In real-world cases, guidelines have little to no impact on physicians treating HS, and most people often go to urgent care centers or primary care physicians when they are experiencing symptoms of HS. Health providers do not utilize guidelines except in clinical trials.