Dressings

By Samantha Kuplicki, MSN, APRN-CNS, AGCNS-BC, CWS, CWCN, CFCN

It is becoming increasingly difficult to be involved in wound care at any level without having a working knowledge of the intricacies of varying policies regarding surgical dressings for wounds. Care setting, Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) for your geographic region and pertinent DME Local Coverage Determinations (LCD), type of dressings desired, and wound assessment are all factors that clinicians responsible for ordering supplies should be aware of. For practical purposes, we will mainly discuss Medicare as a reference for payors, as many commercial, contracted, and private payor policies are modeled after Medicare* policies.

By Colton Mason

The next stop on our journey through "silicone valley" is with a company that is relatively new to the wound care scene. For years now, MediPurpose has been known as the manufacturer of SurgiLance safety lancets – one of the world's most popular single-use lancing devices. A few years ago, they entered the wound care market focusing on delivering low-cost options for products such as hydrocolloids and foam dressings. What peaked my interest though is their latest product innovation, a bordered foam dressing featuring a soft silicone adhesive.

By Colton Mason

Medicare has recently made a significant change to several wound care dressings with honey-based components. The Medicare contractor (PDAC) which assigns reimbursement codes to wound care products made the decision to change HCPCS codes for honey-based dressings containing more than 50% medical honey to A9270. I have been working with a market leading brand in this product category, MediHoney® (Derma Sciences), to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date information regarding this recent Medicare Policy change. Here is the information that the manufacturer has compiled to help healthcare providers make educated decisions for prescribing honey-based dressings in lieu of the recent changes from Medicare:

By Tasneem Masqati and James McGuire DPM, PT, CPed, FAPWHc

The majority of the wounds of the lower extremity are of arterial, venous or neurotrophic(diabetic) origin.

By Michel H.E. Hermans, MD

An interesting article in JAMA Internal Medicine (February 2015) by doctors from Massachusetts, Maryland and California (A.B. Jena, M.D. lead author) analyzed mortality and treatment differences in patients who were admitted with cardiovascular pathology during dates of national cardiology meetings and compared these with the situation when the physicians were at the hospital. They found that high-risk patients with heart failure and cardiac arrest had a lower 30-day mortality rate when a national cardiology meeting was taking place. Fewer percutaneous interventions were performed during these meetings without an effect on mortality in patients with an acute myocardial infarction. Although the authors did not state this, one might (cynically?) think that treatment may have been excessive when the (interventional) cardiologists were "at home": perhaps bad for the patient and certainly not good for the cost of health care.

By the WoundSource Editors

Health care professionals have a major responsibility for assuring patient safety and quality of care when making wound care product selections or recommending treatment options. This is particularly true for wound care.

By Evangelia Athanasoula and James McGuire DPM, PT, CPed, FAPWHc

The sorbion sachet wound dressing, manufactured by sorbion GmbH & Co. in Germany and marketed in the US by Alliqua Biomedical, is a high capacity dressing that absorbs and holds wound exudate, removes some wound debris, draws in and holds wound bacteria helping to reduce surface bioburden, and maintains a balanced moist wound environment. The dressing uses what it calls "hydration response technology" to accomplish these goals.

By Michel H.E. Hermans, MD

By Keval Parikh and James McGuire DPM, PT, CPed, FAPWHc

There are many different kinds of >wound dressings available. Choosing one to use depends on the unique characteristics of the wound. According to Watson and Hodgkin, the ideal wound dressing should exhibit a number of characteristics by providing the following: moisture and exudate management, prevention of saturation and strikethrough, diffusion of wound gases, microorganism protection, mechanical protection; localized temperature and pH control; removal/change comfort; wound odor management; cosmetic acceptability; non-allergenic composition; non-contamination of the wound bed; and cost-effectiveness.

By Mary Ellen Posthauer RDN, CD, LD, FAND

Despite all of the advances in risk assessment strategies, support surfaces, and vigorous educational efforts, pressure ulcers continue to be a major health care problem worldwide.