The Program
A hub-and-spoke network that trains local sites to recognize and document skin disease, connects them to dermatology hubs by teledermatology, and returns patients to local care with a plan.
The model
Specialty expertise sits at the hubs. Local recognition and continuity sit at the spokes. A shared workflow connects them so rural teams can identify, document, and manage skin disease locally with dermatology support when needed.
The hub provides dermatology input and helps carry the specialty documentation work that can be difficult for rural care teams to manage alone.
The spoke is the local care site where the patient is seen first and where continuity of care remains centered.
AURORA does not replace the local care team or guarantee coverage decisions. It is designed to help organize the clinical information, documentation, and specialty input needed for coordinated rural dermatology care.
The care pathway
The same steps run whether a case is sent as stored images or seen by live video, so the pathway works across the full range of rural connectivity.
The local team recognizes suspected or undertreated skin disease.
A short, condition-specific record captures what the hub needs.
Standardized clinical photographs are taken at the spoke.
A specialty-ready referral goes to an AURORA hub.
The hub makes a diagnosis and builds a treatment and monitoring plan.
The plan and access support return to the local team.
Local monitoring and co-management continue, with the hub in support.
What AURORA covers
The most developed pathways are the chronic inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases. The network reaches across the breadth of dermatology that drives distress and travel.
Psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, atopic dermatitis, hidradenitis suppurativa, vitiligo, alopecia areata, prurigo nodularis, chronic urticaria.
Cutaneous lupus and related autoimmune connective tissue diseases.
Acne and rosacea, including their scarring and psychosocial burden.
Mastocytosis and skin findings that signal systemic disease.
Drug reactions, with rapid recognition and urgent triage for the severe ones.
Prompt review of suspicious lesions to move the ones that need a biopsy quickly.
Anything skin related. These are the named pathways. AURORA is built to help local sites with the full range of medical dermatology, the everyday conditions and the puzzling ones alike.
Explore in depth: psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, vitiligo, alopecia areata, and hidradenitis suppurativa.
The vision
AURORA is in its founding phase, standing up the network and recruiting founding spoke sites across rural and remote Alaska. As it grows, it is designed to be measured, documented, and shared, so that the Alaska model can become a blueprint other rural communities and other specialties can adopt.