New Edition of Pressure Ulcer Guide Helps With Reporting Requirements

Beginning Oct. 1, 2012,  inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals and hospice facilities face new federal requirements to report data on pressure ulcers. Failure to comply could cost these providers Medicare dollars.
To help providers prepare, the new third edition of the Pocket Guide to Pressure Ulcers, released today, has been expanded with 25 additional pages detailing reporting requirements for all provider types, along with illustrations, photos, descriptions and other information to help caregivers identify and document pressure ulcers and other skin conditions.

Since 2010, many healthcare facilities and provider organizations have equipped their staffs with the Pocket Guide, authored by Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, RN, MAPWCA, FAAN, who served as past president of the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel and chair of NJHA's Pressure Ulcer Collaborative, and Jeffrey M. Levine, MD, AGSF, CMD, a geriatrician affiliated with Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a longtime presenter and author on pressure ulcers.

Comments Ayello, "The third edition of Pocket Guide to Pressure Ulcers provides new and expanded sections on reporting requirements for many provider settings. It also demonstrates our commitment to clinicians and administrators that the Pocket Guide is an indispensable resource for both documentation and regulatory compliance."

According to Levine, "Proper staging and documentation will remain key factors in helping hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities and hospices meet Medicare's requirements. With its vivid photos, illustrations and descriptions, our third edition of Pocket Guide to Pressure Ulcers gets providers one step closer for accurate data submission."

Spiral-bound and laminated, the Pocket Guide is also available as an iBook and provides instant access to vivid full color photos, and illustrations downloadable to the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone.  The iBook version of the Pocket Guide will be released in Spanish this November.

The third edition of Pocket Guide to Pressure Ulcers is published by NJHA Healthcare Business Solutions. Visit www.nopressureulcers.com for more information and online purchasing; the electronic book is also available directly from the Apple store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pocket-guide-to-pressure-ulcer/id556884789?mt=11  

Source: New Jersey Hospital Association