CMS to Put Pressure on Providers for Decubitus Ulcer Prevention

Preventive Strategies

Since Medicare’s hospital inpatient prospective payment system will no longer pay for facility-acquired pressure ulcers, it is crucial that healthcare providers copiously document any potential signs of bed sores that are present upon admission.¹ Otherwise, hospital staffs will be paying for illnesses they did not create.

This will require some new approaches in how healthcare professionals in the acute-care setting manage patients who have pressure ulcers upon admission, and who are at abnormal risk for pressure ulcers.¹

The onus is partially on physicians since their documentation is required, but the expertise of wound assessment in hospitals is predominantly with nurses, according to members of the International Expert Wound Care advisory panel.

The CMS reimbursement provision gives clinicians the opportunity to treat preventive care with the importance it deserves, the panel members wrote. These strategies include educating patients and their families about skin care, training and empowering clinicians, and developing toolkits and specific protocols that can be used in facilities nationwide.¹

The bundling of prevention resources is essential.