2020-2023 IPC Strategic Plan
IPC’S PLAN FOR ADVANCING KNOWLEDGE AND ENHANCING CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH PSORIASIS
Effective psoriasis treatment exists, yet millions still uncontrolled
Worldwide, tens of millions of people are suffering from the health impacts of uncontrolled psoriasis. In addition to the skin disfigurement, people with psoriasis face an increased risk of developing other serious conditions such as depression, cardiovascular disease and psoriatic arthritis.
This suffering is unnecessary. The knowledge and treatments to properly care for psoriasis patients exist. Despite these advancements, many with psoriasis still face “incorrect or delayed diagnosis, inadequate treatment options and insufficient access to care,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
People with psoriasis everywhere urgently need better care and treatment. In response to this challenge, the WHO recommends public and private sector initiatives to educate more medical professionals on psoriasis management, increase patient access to appropriate health services, and facilitate additional research into the disease and its comorbidities.
Personalized care: a ground zero approach to the WHO recommendations
What exactly constitutes better care and treatment for people with psoriasis remains largely undefined and lacking universal measures. Further complicating the definition of better care is the focus on short-term treatment outcomes to define success — despite the fact that psoriasis is a chronic, lifelong disease with symptoms that can cycle from flare to quiescence over a period of months or years.
Caring for psoriasis patients is more than just managing skin lesions in the short-term. It requires what the WHO terms, “a whole-person approach,” which considers the impact of the disease on patient quality of life, comorbidity risk, disease subtype and treatment goals, in addition to the skin manifestations.
The overarching goal of the IPC strategic plan is to improve the care and treatment of people with psoriasis worldwide. IPC defines better care as personalized care. Personalized care for people with psoriasis uses a mix of genomics, biological data, standards of care and communication to determine treatment goals, i.e. a whole-person approach. Planned in coordination with the patient, personalized care seeks to optimize treatment to maximize quality of life long-term and reduce the risk of comorbidities.
Access, research, education, growth: the IPC 2020-2024 Strategic Plan
AREA OF FOCUS: ACCESS TO CARE
Globally, access to proper psoriasis care is impeded by factors such as economics, cultural norms, market access to treatments, health policy, and patient/provider knowledge gaps in disease management. On a regional or country level, some of these factors and not others may be a stronger contributor to access barriers. Therefore, in order to address global barriers to psoriasis care, we must first understand and catalogue the predominate issues by region that contribute to these barriers.
IPC will focus on identifying and prioritizing barriers to optimal care and develop region-specific actions to improve health care delivery and access to psoriasis-trained clinicians.
Strategic Plan Aim 1: Improve access to effective treatments, timely diagnosis and optimal care.
- Conduct surveys with practicing dermatologists to determine barriers to care in that region and produce a report on findings to guide IPC activities.
- Develop a digital repository of available guidelines from around the world on the IPC web site.
- Convene a consortium of experts on teledermatology to assess its use in regions with limited access to physicians who are experienced in proper psoriasis care.
- Establish the IPC recategorization of disease severity in psoriasis standards of care in select regions.
- Collaborate with sister organizations on the Global Psoriasis Atlas (GPA) to establish psoriasis prevalence and related health-care data by region.
AREA OF FOCUS: RESEARCH
Though the past decade has brought notable findings in the area of psoriasis research, there remains significant gaps in our understanding of the disease and its effects on the individual. In order to achieve truly personalized psoriasis care – focused on optimizing treatment for the long-term to improve quality of life and reduce the risk of comorbidities – investigators must have access to clinical and pre-clinical (biomarker) data and the support to analyze it.
IPC will focus on harmonizing registry and clinical data from routine dermatology practices to facilitate the analytics and interpretations of this big data set on psoriasis. Adjacent to this activity, IPC will lead efforts to discover and validate biomarker data, bringing us closer to personalized psoriasis care and improved health.
Strategic Plan Aim 2: Lead efforts to tailor medical treatment of psoriasis to each individual patient.
- Harmonize a minimum data set for registry data in select regions.
- Commission scientific review of psoriasis biomarkers in year one.
- Host scientific symposia on biomarkers at the annual meeting of the European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR) and Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID) in year one.
- Commission best-evidence review papers annually.
- Facilitate global translational research on pustular psoriasis by partnering with related organizations, convening a regional meeting in Asia, and collaborating with the GPA project to establish the global epidemiology of this disease phenotype.
AREA OF FOCUS: MEDICAL EDUCATION
In its 2016 report on psoriasis, the WHO recommends physician associations provide training to health care providers on the prompt diagnosis and effective treatment of people with psoriasis. Training providers to be more adept at managing psoriasis will help reduce the number of people with uncontrolled disease, according to the WHO.
IPC will continue its efforts to advance psoriasis knowledge through the delivery of live educational events and web-based activities for clinicians with a focus on the best option for care by region.
Strategic Plan Aim 3: Expand the knowledge of health care providers to better diagnose, treat and manage patients with psoriasis by delivering high-quality, regionally relevant education.
- Develop curriculum and learning opportunities relevant to early and mid-career dermatologists.
- Increase the number of providers receiving IPC medical education by developing additional web-based tools, resources and digital education activities.
- Organize at least 2 IPC Masterclasses per year in conjunction with regional congresses.
- Conduct annual educational symposia in at least 5 major global dermatology congresses.
- Expand the number of participants in IPC International Fellowship program by 10% annually.
AREA OF FOCUS: ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
In order to improve psoriasis care and advocate for policy change globally, the IPC must deepen its connections in particular areas of the world by linking IPC councilors, health care providers and other stakeholders to form regional networks and exploring collaborations with international organizations committed to psoriasis.
In addition, IPC will focus on generating the resources and establishing the organization’s administrative structure to accomplish this wide-ranging strategic plan.
Strategic Plan Aim 4: Create a regional structure that supports IPC’s strategic plan and addresses barriers to care by locality.
- Expand the global representation of IPC councilors, with a focus on recruiting members from Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle-East and Africa.
- Develop program structure and organize councilors and partners in a regional workgroup for Latin America.
- Create membership category for regional engagement.
- Explore collaborations with other international psoriasis-focused organizations.
Strategic Plan Aim 5: Generate sufficient income and utilize technology and modern communications to execute the strategic plan.
- Raise the funds needed to achieve our objectives.
- Improve IT and communications systems to improve efficiencies, conduct programs and communicate outcomes.
IPC Annual Report
The International Psoriasis Council had approximately 8,000 hours of participation in its education programs covering disease information, treatment strategies, and research outcomes to improve the care of psoriasis patients worldwide. More than double the number from 2021 and almost nine times from 2020. Learn more by reviewing our annual report.
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We believe that psoriasis patients, no matter where they live in the world, no matter how complex their symptoms, should have access to the best care available to them. Please join us in making this possible.
