Why Hire A Management Company For Your Hyperbaric Wound Care Program
In my position as Senior Vice President of a company that specializes in limb preservation, advanced wound healing and hyperbaric therapy I often find myself in discussions with hospital CEO's and COO's regarding the advantages of outsourcing the development and management of their wound care center to a hyperbaric and wound center specialty center managment firm.
Given my position I say of course it is a huge advantage because when a company or any entity for that matter focusing on just one thing you would think they do it well. We know that is not always the case but you get the concept.
So I looked for some blogs on the web on this topic and found the one below.
I am very interested in hearing more opinions on this topic and invite you to comment below.
Setting the Scene
Providing clinically excellent and cost effective wound care remains both a goal and a challenge for many hospitals. The healthcare industry has struggled with cost and quality issues in many arenas for years but wound management has only recently become one of the metrics assessed. This is in part due to the increased interest in wound care services by third party payors, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Joint Commission.
The market for wound management services is large, often underserved, and growing. It is estimated that more than 7 million people in the US (2% of the total population) experience a chronic, nonhealing wound and require care. Once a hospital realizes the need for a formalized wound care program, it must decide if it has the capacity and resources to start one on its own or if it should outsource to a wound care management company. Perhaps as many as half of the hospital-affiliated wound centers currently use a management company. What are the pros and cons of using such a company versus “doing it yourself?”
Pro: Management Company
Many essential elements are critical to the success of a hospital-based outpatient wound care program. Hospitals must realize the importance of each element and decide if they can provide them with a home-grown program.
Why Outsourcing?
While wound care has emerged as a specialty service, developing clinical systems and education to treat these patients is a challenge for many hospitals, consuming significant time and resources. The Association for Advancement of Wound Care Quality of Care Task Force documented that the framework of quality systems for wound care model facilitates high-quality wound care across the continuum of care.1 Factors influencing clinical effectiveness include the professional competency of wound care providers, medical information systems, wound and quality-of-care outcomes tracking and response, resources, cost effectiveness, consumer expectations, and research practice.
Certification and accreditation are important to establishing a wound management program. Few wound management companies have earned the Joint Commission’s “Disease-Specific Care Certification” for clinical and operational excellence in wound management. Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) facility accreditation also bolsters additional program credibility. Using a Joint Commission-certified and UHMS-accredited management company can save the hospital significant time and resource commitment and gives the program the superior credibility it needs to be recognized as a resource in their community.
Developing a comprehensive wound management program that provides the pillars of quality stated in the AAWC conceptual framework can prove arduous to hospitals and health systems.1 Many hospitals are finding they do not possess the core competencies to handle wounds on a volume basis. Developing a program can be time-intensive and burdensome to staff, education, marketing, and finance. While many of the necessary components of the program can be acquired separately and “assembled” by the hospital, this requires a significant investment in acquiring the knowledge base to assess these components; plus, the time and cost of acquiring and assembling these components (from education of professional staff to database design and validation) can be prohibitive or extend the time from concept to program implementation. Development costs, as well as the ongoing expense of keeping the program updated, need to be carefully planned. Hospital “home grown” programs can fail to heal wounds as quickly as possible and miss opportunities to utilize hospital services.
For these reasons, many hospitals utilize the outsourced services of a management company with expertise in all areas of wound care that can provide a comprehensive, proven approach to wound care management. Outsourcing wound management services does not reflect on the abilities of current clinicians—rather, it allows clinicians to focus on care while other duties are handled elsewhere.
Data collection
Data collection, including a large validated database and quality assurance processes, can ensure each patient is advancing through the appropriate clinical pathway. Detailed analysis of data enables programs to immediately alter the course of treatment if the patient is not progressing as expected. Also, a significant wound care database provides top clinical expertise, benchmarking, research, data systems, and a network of experienced staff to treat the growing number of patients who have chronic, nonhealing wounds.
Coordinating interdisciplinary care
Comprehensive wound management programs integrate many different medical and treatment specialties to ensure that each patient heals as quickly as possible. An interdisciplinary care management approach to wound care, combined with established treatment procedures, helps prevent recurring wounds and leads to high levels of patient satisfaction. Wound management services companies also help a hospital by coordinating the purchase, installation, and operation of a hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) chamber, which, when clinically indicated, can significantly improve healing and bolster a hospital’s income.
Education
Community and physician education are important to the success and growth of a wound management program. In 2005, the Health Care Advisory Board’s Clinical Advisory Board documented that while hospitals are typically responsible for cost and quality, physician practice patterns ultimately drive institutional performance.2 It is crucial for a wound management program to provide community education support and collateral for physicians relating to wound care and services provided.
Continuum of care
A full continuum of care approach includes outpatient and inpatient care, HBOT, and outreach (nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities [SNFs]). These programs can contribute to the financial goals of the hospital with revenues generated from wound care and HBOT services and to several outpatient and inpatient ancillary (eg, vascular and surgical) services. Using clinically proven guidelines can significantly improve healing rates and patient satisfaction. Responsive to regulations. The Joint Commission has targeted pressure ulcers in their 2006 patient safety initiatives. A comprehensive wound program can help decrease acquired wound occurrences and associated risk management costs, decreasing length of stay for wound care patients and saving on wound care dressings and supplies and specialty bed and overlay costs, while complying with Continuum of Care Standard guidelines from the Joint Commission.
Growth of Outsourcing
Outsourcing contracts continue to grow.3 Once limited to support services, additional services are increasingly outsourced to help meet strategic goals financially, operationally, and clinically. With specialized knowledge increasingly important to success, healthcare organizations will turn to outsourcing experts for help to increase opportunities while focusing on core competencies. Highly specialized support services can hit the ground running, greatly reducing time to implement the program and ramp up both effective penetration of the service within the hospital’s catchment area and quality clinical outcomes for patients.
Conclusion
Outsourcing can quickly and consistently offer wound management services that lessen the hospital’s time and resources used to develop and establish a comprehensive program while maximizing the return. Outsourcing offers a comprehensive program that includes a well-developed, clinically superlative pathway, an extensive outcomes database, reimbursement support, and effective community and medical education that enables hospitals to exceed clinical and financial goals. Clinical excellence will lead to financial excellence—an outsourced wound management company will help direct the hospital toward both.
References:
- Today's Wound Care Clinic VOLUME: 1 PUBLICATION DATE: Jul 01 2007
- Paine TG, Milne CT, Barr JE, et al. The AAWC conceptual framework of quality systems for wound care. Ostomy Wound Manage. 2006;52(11):57–66. 2. Miller, Cormac. Toward a New Compact Emerging Models for Partnering with Physicians to Improve Cost and Quality, The Advisory Board Company, Washington, DC. 2005:1-19. 3. Moon S. Outsiders moving in. Annual survey shows outsourcing remains a growth industry, with more hospitals to buy services by the bundle. Mod Healthc. 2004;34(39):S1–S5