Articles
Wound Care Product Reimbursement: A Guide to HCPCS
Reimbursement for wound care technologies, products, and services is complex and often confusing with no simple answers. When a clinician asks, “Is this new dressing, technology, or service reimbursed?” several pieces of information are required, including the following:
Wound Care Decisions in Changing Times
Not since the early 1990s, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, then HCFA) created the new system for Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies, has the prospect for change in wound care product decision making been as great as it is right now. By passing the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Congress charged CMS with reducing health care costs in very specific ways, and the Hospital Acquired Conditions/Present on Admission (HAC/POA) Policy was born(1).
By Diane Krasner, PhD, RN, CWCN, CWS, BCLNC, FAAN
Another Fall Wound Care Conference?
So the word is out; there is going to be a fall SAWC in addition to the traditional spring SAWC held last week. But why? Aren’t there too many wound care conferences already?
Wound Care: The Challenges Continue as Litigation Increases
It continues to amaze me how many new products and wound-related treatments enter the market each year. The options for preventing and treating most skin and wound conditions have expanded dramatically. Yet the question still remains: Has wound care improved?
A Clinician's Guide to Skin Care and Wound Care Product Ingredients
Clinicians have a major responsibility for assuring patient safety and quality of care when making product selections or recommending treatment options. This is particularly true for wound care.
Top 30 Questions to Assess both a Patient and a Wound
Use this list of top 30 questions to complete a comprehensive assessment of the patient and the wound.
Heel Ulcers, Pillows, and Pressure Offloading: An Update
It’s an unfortunate fact that about 1.7 million people develop pressure ulcers each year, at a cost of between $2.2 billion and $3.6 billion¹. Whittington and Briones recently published their sixth annual prevalence and incidence surveys covering 240 acute health care organizations (HCOs), and 31,969 patients for 2004.
Prevention Strategies in Wound Care
Prevention of wounds is the intention of every health care provider. Experts from different organizations have crafted guidelines for the prevention and treatment of wounds.
However, wounds do occur even with paramount prevention strategies in place. Clinicians must complete a comprehensive assessment of the patient and the wound.
Changes in LTC Nursing have Brought About a New Association
Charlotte Eliopoulos, Executive Director of the new AALTCN, explains the mission of the new association and discusses how regulatory compliances and the recession are effecting LTC nursing.
We’ve Come a Long Way: Technological Advances in Health Care Documentation
Ten years ago, few of us imagined that we’d be trading in our paper records for computer stations and hand-held electronic devices, and we had no clue what EMR, PHI, HIM, PPS, and all the other alphabet-soup-like labels commonly used today in reference to health care information might mean. Technological advances in health care information management have changed all our lives and brought some great rewards (along with significant pain in the process of working toward those rewards).
