Originally posted by Esperta Health | May 2, 2023
Wound care is ripe for innovation.
Too often, patients receive inconsistent care and unpredictable results in wound care. In a country where 8.8 million Americans are impacted by chronic, non-healing wounds that is not a sustainable care model. We need to do more to ensure patients receive the care they need and deliver value to health plans, who too often pay for services instead of outcomes.
That means thinking of things differently by solving for the problem, instead of sticking with the status quo.
Wound Clinics can be a Barrier to Care
Up to this point, Wound Clinics have been the primary drivers of wound care. While in some cases they provide quality care to patients, in others they present barriers. Depending on geography, patients may have to drive a significant distance to receive care. That is not sustainable for patients who lack consistent transportation or have financial constraints. Additionally, patients who use a wheelchair or cane to get around may have difficulty navigating a medical facility or even the parking lot.
The first step to removing transportation as a barrier to care—bring wound care into the home. By eliminating the need to travel, patients are more likely to receive the care they need and for health plans to achieve the desired outcome. Specialized wound care in the home could eliminate the massive no-show rate (50%) at wound clinics.
Home Health Delivers Inconsistent Wound Care
Delivering care to patients in their homes removes many of the barriers that prevent proper healing by ensuring access, but it’s not only about location. Quality of care is just as important as where the care is delivered for chronic wound patients.
The problem—patients with wounds treated by home health and outpatient facilities experience a wide variety in clinician competence including clinicians with no wound care certification or those who have little experience handling specialized wounds. Additionally, there is no standardization in the care patients receive. Health plans need consistent quality in wound care in order to ensure their members receive the care they need to heal and begin their journey to wellness.
There are Not Enough Certified Wound Care Specialists
As we referenced already, home health delivers unpredictable results because of deficient training and expertise among caregivers. This lack of expertise and access to certified wound care clinicians creates inconsistent care, delivers sub-standard results including missed diagnoses, longer healing times and over 70% readmission rates for some complex wounds.
We need to deliver consistent quality of wound care, regardless of where a patient receives care. By ensuring caregivers are wound certified, we can deliver better results and health plans can better budget for their wound care costs. It’s about demanding the best for patients to receive the value in healthcare they need to heal.
Quite simply, we need more certified wound care specialists delivering care in the home. That’s where Esperta comes in. Home health is unable to meet this need, but Esperta brings wound-certified clinicians into the home to deliver the right care in the right place. It’s the future of wound care available to patients today.