Wound Care: Types of Wounds
Myra Varnado, Director of Clinical Services at Corstrata
We see a variety of types of wounds. Let’s just start with the obvious. Is it an acute wound or is it a chronic wound?
So we know that our acute wounds are gonna be like trauma-related and surgical incisions. A lot of times those are clean wounds. Sometimes they’re not, sometimes they’re clean wounds, but they’re contaminated. Sometimes they’re very contaminated and they may need antimicrobial intervention. Where are our chronic wounds? A lot of times, again, lower extremity wounds? We also see a good number of neuropathic and diabetic foot ulcers as well, and some lymphedema, a good amount of lymphedema that goes undiagnosed, unfortunately. a lot of times then we see, chronic wise, we see pressure injuries, and certainly, for example, a complicated surgical incision started as an acute wound. It was trauma-related, the surgical incisions are considered to be somewhat trauma-related, but it’s in the sense that there were impediments to the healing of that wound. That should have probably closed up very nicely, but perhaps the person had a variety of other comorbidities that really complicated the closure of the wound.
Measuring Clinical Quality
Multiple studies have shown that improved access to specialty advice and preventative care decreases the incidence of disease and patient mortality, resulting in better care outcomes. Preventive medicine proactively identifies and treats health issues before they develop into severe or chronic conditions.
By addressing health problems before they require emergency intervention, both patients and the health system save money and see better outcomes.
But how do you know the advice you receive from eConsults is working to prevent disease escalation? Using population health data, like hospitalization and readmission rates and emergency department discharges, can give you confidence that your program is effective.
For example, referral volume will decrease as the use of eConsults increases. Reporting from AristaMD offers quality metrics for your practice. Use internal and external metrics to confirm improvements in patient care and outcomes, including:
- Hospitalizations and Readmissions
- Emergency Department Discharges
- Referral Trends & eConsult Reporting
Hospitalizations and Readmissions
When participating in shared savings, partial or full capitation, controlling costs are closely related to hospitalization and readmission.
Monitoring trends in these areas after implementing an eConsult program can reveal the program’s greatest impact. eConsults support efforts to prevent hospitalization and readmission by allowing PCPs to build:
- More robust preventive care plans
- Address nuances related to chronic conditions
- Identify patients at risk for readmission and prioritize interventions
The average hospital stay cost is $11,700 – the most expensive type of care utilization. Preventing even one hospital stay delivers significant shared savings. For practices taking on capitation, avoiding a hospital stay will allow your practice to keep more of the per-person payment. While the amount of savings varies depending on the patient population and alternative payment model, keeping patients out of the hospital is critical to your revenue and time health of your patients.
Myra Varnado
Director of Clinical Services at Corstrata
Myra Varnado has been a WOC Nurse for over 20 years, graduating from the Emory University WOCNEC in 1996. Myra is the Director of Clinical Services for Corstrata, a Savannah, GA-based Wound and Ostomy Telehealth company. Myra previously worked for and retired from the LSU Health System in New Orleans as the Manager of WOC Clinical Services and Wound Healing Clinic and later served as CNO for an outpatient Wound Healing company, Wound Care Specialists, which served over 100 Wound Centers in 12 states.