Pressure Ulcers Cost U.S. Healthcare $10.2 Billion and Contribute to Nearly 29,000 Hospital Deaths Each Year

Friday, March 1, 2019

Nearly 29,000 Hospital Deaths Each Year But newtechnology can dramatically curb the pressure ulcer pandemic by Margaret Doucette, D.O. (NAPS)—American healthcare, renowned for pioneering new technol- ogy tosavelives,hasall but ignored one of the most costly and deadly Hospi- tal-Acquired Conditions (HACs), which the federal governmentdefinesas pre- ventable patientinjuries. While the number of other HACs has decreased by 8 percent, pressure ulcers have beenresistant to improvementefforts. They continue to grow by 10 percent annually. Pressure ulcers are both costly and deadly. The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reports that pressure ulcers add $10.2 billion Falls ‘Adverse Drug Effects 218,399 845,400 TractInfections ‘Ventiator-Associated Pneumonia SurgicalSite Infections ContralLineAssociated Blood Stream infections (PostOp) Venous Thromboembolism 0B Adverse Events 75,092 24,194 73,212 5,848 048 20,103 64,07 0.043 0.005 864 320 Pressure ulcers present a problem to many patients. Tech can save lives, money ‘Applying the samerate of reduction to US. healthcare costs. As the chart above shows, pressure ulcers are asso- ciated with more than 45 percentofthe nation’s 63,619 HAC-related deaths and. to the national problem, the deployment of wearable technology could save more Costly, deadly problem year. For the average hospital, that would are the leading contributor to HAC-related deaths. than 21,000lives and nearly $7.5 billion in unreimbursed healthcare costs each Averaging the impact among the nation’s 5,534 hospitals means that each will treat more than 127pressure ulcers, mean $1.36 million in annual savings. Technology can help our under- staffed clinical teams reduce therisk of very preventable pressure ulcers. Forthe sake ofourpatients’ well-being—and our write off more than $18 million in unreimbursed treatment costs and see more than five pressure ulcer patients healthcare institutions’ financial _stability—we need to seriously consider the benefits new technology can provide. die everyyear. Medicinehaswrestled with the prob- lem ofpressure ulcers for generations. ‘Their prevention relies on physically movingor turninga patient at frequent intervalsto relieve pressure on different parts of the body. Unfortunately, turninga patientcanslip onthe priority list of busy hospitalstaff. Technology that monitors patient movementand notifies nurses when a patient needsto be turnedexists andis available throughout the UnitedStates. Dozens of studies presented in public medical forums demonstrate that a wearable patient-monitoring technology helps hospitals prevent pressure Margaret Doucette, D.O.is chief of ulcers, reduce their medical costs and save lives. These studies all monitored patientsat risk for pressure ulcers using the Leaf Patient Monitoring System,the only system on the market designed exclusively to help providers prevent pressure ulcers. One randomizedtrial of more than 1,200 patients at a large California aca- demic medical center concluded that the pressure ulcerincidencerate was 74 per- cent lower among patients monitored by the wearable monitoring system. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Boise VA Medical Center, where she oversees woundprevention and care efforts. ‘Thefounder andformer medical director of the Elks/St. Lukes Wound Care Center and a co-founderof the Idaho Pressure Ulcer Prevention Coalition, Dr. Doucette has been instrumental in developing wound care programs across the continuum of care in Idaho. She is published and presents nationally and internationally. She is adjunctfaculty at several universities and a dinical associateprofessor at the University of Washington.

--- PHOTOS ---

File: 20190731-234456-20190731-234453-86689.pdf.jpg

--- FILES ---

File: 20190731-234453-86689.pdf