Examining a Therapy Option Proven Cost-Effective to Treat Wounds

Wound care is a complex endeavor in health care, one in which patients often spend months or even years in providers’ care. What makes wound care complex is the nature of wounds themselves: wounds can be either chronic or acute. They sometimes require very simple dressings to heal, but sometimes require sophisticated technologies, and particularly troublesome wounds may never fully heal. Given this extended length of therapy, wounds also have a major financial impact on patients and payers.

Long ago, wounds were treated with ointments and covered in cotton dressings. Fortunately, modern medicine and wound care treatment has advanced since then, although even today, wound care is a difficult health care endeavor that presents significant challenges to the patients, providers, and the health care system.

The Complexity and Challenges of Wound Care

Treating wounds is an intricate process, made more complicated by the wide-ranging types of wounds that can vary based on size, location, etiology, and underlying patient comorbidities that may impede healing. Clinically successful treatment of acute and chronic wounds relies on precise diagnosis of the underlying etiology of the wound, careful selection of the most suitable treatment option, and constant monitoring of the wound healing process to ensure timely wound closure. In some cases, surgical treatment is unavoidable, depending on wound severity. Certain chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, and pressure injuries, are complex in nature, requiring a greater investment of time and resources by providers. Failure to adequately treat wounds early can lead to complications, which may require additional resources and prolong wound healing and management.

In addition to the wound care clinical challenges, the costs associated with wound care can be prohibitive. When considering the total cost of care, wounds can generate health care costs in the tens of thousands of dollars per patient, posing a significant challenge for payers and patients alike. One study found that over $14 billion is spent on the management of venous leg ulcers alone, and another study found that wound and skin care cost the US health care system a staggering $85 billion in 2016.

General costs related to wound care are expected to continue rising due to an aging population with increasing medical conditions. Comorbid conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure are common in older populations, and these underlying comorbidities can inhibit healing of wounds, extend the length of therapy, and ultimately contribute to greater health care costs. In the US, 3% of the population that is over 65 years of age have open wounds. In 2020, the elderly population was expected to exceed 55 million, therefore indicating chronic wounds are still a persistent health issue.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing health care challenges and presented new patient care complexities. In fact, a study found that chronic wounds are commonly caused by the same comorbidities that increase the risk of death from COVID-19. Wound care is a hands-on and lengthy process that requires in-person treatment. Factors like facility restrictions and patient hesitancy to seek care may have prevented patients from getting the wound care they needed when they needed it. Timely treatment of wounds with the proper treatment modality is essential to avoid further complications and to promote quality outcomes. These complexities and challenges associated with wound care represent a need to seek out treatments that will reduce costs without compromising the quality of patient care.

Wound Care Treatment

Above all else, it is critical to implement wound treatments that are clinically effective. Wound care was revolutionized with the advent of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT). The first commercially available form of NPWT is 3M™ V.A.C.® Therapy (vacuum assisted closure), a method that draws out fluid and infectious materials from the wound and promotes a clean, moist, healthy wound environment. V.A.C.® Therapy mechanically draws the wound together from the edges and helps the wounds to fill in with new healthy tissue. NPWT has become instrumental in managing acute and chronic wounds, helping patients return to normal activities of daily living.

During my surgical career spanning more than 25 years, I personally witnessed the arrival of V.A.C.® Therapy as one of the greatest advancements in health care for managing complex wounds. We pioneered V.A.C.® Therapy, which has been proven to be an effective tool in managing wounds and has ultimately become a leading option for challenging chronic wounds. This therapy changed the way we treat patients for both acute and chronic wounds. V.A.C.® Therapy is supported by an extensive body of scientific literature with over 1800 peer reviewed articles.

Cost-Effective Solution

V.A.C.® Therapy has been associated with fewer complications, reduced amputation rates, and reduced time to wound closure when compared to other commercially available forms of NPWT. A new economic study published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science, with a total of 15,180 patients who met inclusion criteria, found that patients treated with V.A.C.® Therapy experienced 23%-27% lower wound care related costs than other available NPWT options, potentially saving payers thousands of dollars per patient. Additionally, the study found that V.A.C.® Therapy patients had fewer NPWT claims in each subsequent month following the initial outpatient claim, meaning that V.A.C.® Therapy patients experienced a shorter average length of therapy.

The study showed that V.A.C.® Therapy patients experienced lower wound-related costs and lower total cost to treat across wound types and time periods, compared to patients of alternative NPWT suppliers. These findings demonstrate V.A.C.® Therapy patients and payers benefited from lower cost of care, lower utilization of health care resources, and a shorter length of therapy. V.A.C.® Therapy has ultimately saved patients and payers money and helped patients return to normal activities of daily living. 

In Conclusion

When considering the total cost of care, wounds can be incredibly expensive. What’s more, a 2018 study from the American Psychological Association found that rising health care costs are a source of stress for patients; two-thirds of adults surveyed said that the cost of health insurance was a major stressor in their lives. Chronic stress can result in a domino effect, ultimately leading to additional health issues.

Despite being an intricate, often overlooked process, wound care is important because wounds can have serious consequences if left untreated. Specialized care is required because a wound’s complexity can prevent it from going through the natural healing stages. The longer a wound is left untreated, the greater the risk for infection, amputation, and other complications.

Results from this comparative study indicate the potential economic impact of decision-making when it comes to wound care because patients and payers may experience dramatically lower health care costs associated with wound care. By choosing solutions that may be associated with better outcomes such as reduced time to wound closure, reduced amputation rates, and fewer incidences of readmissions and surgeries, we can ultimately help lower the total cost of care.

The clinical and financial challenges associated with wound care, along with the continued challenges COVID-19 poses, serve as a reminder of the importance to implement solutions that may preserve the time and resources of providers and lower costs for patients.

Disclaimer: V.A.C.® Therapy study source: 2020 Law et al. Cureus 12(11): e11790. DOI 10.7759/cureus.11790

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