Despite our best efforts as a wound care community, wound healing is not going away. In fact, the opposite is happening. Demand for our services as a wound care company have been increasing over the years.
Hospitals can no longer go without a wound care strategy for their patient population.
Creating a wound care strategy is much more than having a company manage your outpatient program. It's a full 360 view of wound care in your hospital, including HAPU prevention on the inpatient side, outpatient wound center management, compliance, formulary assessment, education, community education, and billing and coding. It's deep diving beyond the buzzwords used by other companies to get you to sign a contract and finding out what makes the most sense for your health system. Great wound care is about finding partners that are passionate about healing wounds.
To start the journey of finding the right strategy for your hospital, consider these eight points.
1. Wound centers should be self-sustaining.
This means that the wound clinic should be focused on healing patient's wounds outside of the hospital as well as on increasing the program's revenue numbers. Your hospital needs a plan for not only today but for retaining patients in the future.
2. Hospital acquired pressure ulcers cannot be ignored.
Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcers (HAPUs) are a growing problem for hospitals across the country. If a wound is first discovered in the hospital it can significantly add to the cost of an inpatient stay.
"Pressure Ulcers increase hospital costs significantly. In the US, pressure ulcer care is estimated to approach $11 billion (USD) annually, with a cost of between $500 (USD) and $70,000 (USD) per individual pressure ulcer," according to the Prevention and Treatment of Pressure Ulcers: Clinical Practice Guidelines.
A good wound care strategy can show you how the management company plans to help you reduce your number of HAPUs.
3. Wound care billing and coding
Wound center billing and coding is such an important part to any program strategy. Great wound care programs are losing wound clinic profits because of errors in this important area. Wound center billing and coding cannot be left up to chance.
4. Compliance
Does your wound care strategy include protection against expensive and time-consuming RAC audits? Are you confident that your wound care documentation keeps you safe? You can't just wing it; your wound center needs a plan.
5. You didn't know you had options.
Savvy hospitals are looking at Rightsourcing the program, which means finding a trusted partner. They no longer have to struggle over the decision of insourcing or outsourcing. With Rightsourcing, the right partner has a stake in your success, allowing you to maintain control while giving you instant access to expertise in wound care.
6. You have to have have the right tools in your toolbox.
Hospitals need to be asking if they have all the tools they really need in 2016 to compete in wound healing. Does your management company educate your clinician population on a regular basis? Do you have a social marketing strategy for your wound center? A great wound care strategy also provides you with social marketing templates and tools to spread the message about the wound care service line. It also comes complete with proven techniques for finding the most talented wound care clinicians in the area to work in your center. Using wound care technology is key for achieving these items and many more.
7. Know your wound care competitors.
It's time to take a look around. Is the same wound care management company managing your competitor's centers? What are they offering your hospital that they aren't offering your competitors?
8. Real time reporting
It is more important than ever for hospital executives to have the ability to monitor their wound care program's progress on a regular basis. Do your hospital executives have to wait months to see the results of their wound care program? You should be demanding real time reporting from your wound care partner.
For more on this topic visit our blog at http://www.thewca.com/blog/201603/why-your-hospital-must-have-wound-care-strategy
James Calder is Director of Social Marketing at Wound Care Advantage, a wound care services company, which uses a comprehensive approach to compliant wound care strategy across the continuum of care. He was voted the number two Voice in healthcare on LinkedIn in 2015. He is also on the executive board of the Save A Leg, Save A Life Foundation. For more information contact him at jim@thewca.com
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker's Hospital Review/Becker's Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.