Why a wound care program?

The need for outpatient wound care programs has never been greater. A rapidly aging population, epidemic numbers of both diabetic and obese patients, and a vital need for ways to reduce readmissions, all point towards the increased utilization of physician led wound care and hyperbaric programs. These centers will only increase in importance as hospitals consider their role as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).

 

The development of an outpatient wound care program can provide an exceptional service to the community, cost savings to a hospital, and a strong revenue stream to both the physicians in the program and the facility itself.

 

WCA partners with hospitals, providing full development and management for both new centers and existing programs, with a model and approach unique to the industry.

Turn the key on a new approach.

If your hospital has had a turn-key management company involved with your program since it’s inception, it can be very intimidating to

consider running on your own, not to mention the concern of replacing the tools that the company may take with them.

 

Most hospitals want to avoid having a company come in and take over what they have already built, and are equally concerned about adding cost without a clear return. Before adding a new service such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), most hospitals want to verify that they are making the right decision and need help building the facility. Wound Care Advantage is an expert in working with hospitals in these situations.

 

WCA will first conduct a thorough review of the program onsite to determine it’s strengths and weaknesses. Policy and procedure manuals, forms, and educational materials will be provided. Equipment that might belong to the former company can be replaced - often times for less money than the current equipment might cost to keep. Staff recruiting will be initiated if necessary, training will be conducted, and all operational tools including eWound, the EMR, and telepresence system will be implemented.

 

The stakeholder dashboard system will then be activated allowing for the hospital administration team to have constant knowledge of how their program is doing at any time. Most importantly, the patients never miss a single appointment. Wound Care Advantage then continues to assist the hospital through our cloud wound care approach. All of this is provided with contracts that are only one year long, and at a cost that is often three times less than what hospitals are currently paying.

 

If this sounds like what you are looking for, or you would just like to pick our brains, give us a call or drop us a line. We would be happy to help.

WCA can get your wound center rolling.

For us, building a wound care program is like teaching you how to ride a bike: (stop laughing, we’re serious!)

We put it together, teach you how to ride it, and then run next to you for a while as you get the hang of it. Once you’ve got it, we step back, watch out for your safety, make adjustments, and help you learn how to tackle each new challenge.

We focus on not just teaching your team about wound care, we make sure they understand the business of wound care as well.

We start with a flexible model and a contract duration that can be as short as one year. We then develop customized policies and procedures that become your property. We recruit physicians and clinical staff, design your facility, and meet with the various departments in your hospital which will need to coordinate with your new wound care program.

We then will help you coordinate the purchase of Hyperbaric Equipment, or we can provide the equipment for you with you owning the chambers at the end of five years. Members of your team are then brought to Los Angeles for the WCA Wound Care Boot Camp which includes hands-on training in one of our most successful programs. We will implement our proprietary management suite, eWound, our electronic medical record system and our telepresence network. These tools form the backbone of our cloud wound care approach.

Operations are monitored and audited daily. Each key measure of your program can be reviewed by the administrative stakeholders at your hospital through our e-wound analytics dashboard. This proprietary system has been designed to predict issues before they occur. Financial reviews are conducted monthly, and your team is educated to new updates as they occur. Each year during the contract our cost to your hospital decreases, as our involvement transitions to a more “virtual” approach. Our costs go down, so yours should too!

At the end of the contract duration, we can then transfer to a low “maintenance” fee which allows your team ongoing access to our tools and resources with minimal financial impact. Of course there are quite a few other details to discuss, so if you have questions, give us a call or drop us a line. You will find that every member of our team is happy to help.

This Model is a 10

WCA has developed a unique model that can be profitable in as little as six months while maintaining an average healing rate of over 98%. In 2010, our national average was 32 days for a patient to heal 100%, while those same partner hospitals realized an average margin of over 38%. Hospitals should control their own programs regardless if it is a new center or an existing program.

We believe that the cost of management services should decrease as a program matures. Over time, the need for on-site visits substantially reduces, which allows our fees to lower over the duration of the contract. The hospital partners still have access to the expertise provided by us and it is eventually delivered in a “cloud-based” approach.

 

Using Technology to Get You There

eWound

In February of 2011, we unveiled our latest version of eWound; eWound 3.0. eWound is a user friendly, web based, multi-management tool that allows stakeholders of each hospital and the corporate team to gather critical information as to how a program is meeting criteria and how its performing based on budget. With just click of a mouse we can report and predict how the program is doing, rather than waiting for financial reports 60 to 90 days later. Our wound care experts constantly monitor the program to insure optimum performance both clinically and financially.

 

We've had our head in the clouds for over ten years.

Over 8 million baby boomers have become eligible for Medicare, and if those numbers weren’t enough, add on an epidemic of diabetes and obesity and you have a perfect storm. We knew that reimbursement for outpatient services and hospital care would shrink under this enormous pressure. We also knew that the average wound center management arrangments at the time wouldn’t be sustainable for hospitals when that wave hit.

 

We realized that if we wanted to substantially reduce our cost to hospitals allowing them to retain valuable revenue when they would need it most, we would need to build a new “cloud-based” electronic management system from scratch. So we did.

In 2006, we unveiled eWound. By combining our onsite team of experts and our “cloud” approach, we are able to provide a solution for hospitals unlike anything else in the industry. There are three key components to our cloud wound care approach: eWound, a comprehensive electronic medical record system (eMR), and our telepresence network.

 

We were eMR fans before it was cool.

WCA has been working with our electronic medical record long before eMR’s were the latest craze. Using an eMR improves almost every process in a center from patient care to billing and coding. However, implementation and adoption are always sticking points. We are excellent at introducing our system into a new program and have developed training and audit techniques to assist in adoption of the system. eWound 3.0 works with our eMR to facilitate program information in dashboard reports as well as maintain files of resources. An electronic system which helps our partner facilities improve quality of patient care, reduce outcome timeframes, reduce excess expenditure, and enhance productivity and compliance.

 

 

Our Partners

Wound Care Advantage has focused on the impact that a comprehensive wound care program can provide to small community hospitals since we started in 2002. However, hospitals of all sizes and configurations have sought the unique expertise and focus on partnerships that WCA provides. From large institutional programs such as UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles to critical access hospitals such as Healdsburg District Hospital in Northern California, Wound Care Advantage has the experience, know-how and expertise to meet the individual needs of your facility. Every hospital's goals and no two programs that we have developed are identical. We look forward to helping you find the best fit to meet your vision. 

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Extreme Wound Center Makeover

Over the last year, WCA has received numerous calls from hospitals with existing centers looking for a quick way to determine why their programs are not meeting their expectations or goals. Our answer to this need is the WCA Extreme Wound Center Makeover! The name is fun however, the need and the result are very serious. In just seven days WCA can identify key issues through a comprehensive onsite review and will assist with a roadmap to improving the program. If your hospital is currently in the budget cycle and questions are being raised as to the profitability of your wound care center or if an existing program doesn't’ seem to be quite hitting the mark we can help identify the issues and get the program back on track in just one week.

Our review includes:

These are just a few items from the 500 point inspection that our team will conduct while onsite. A comprehensive report, along with a roadmap for improvement will be provided and presented to the hospital team (film crew not included).

 

If you’re looking for a quick way to know how to improve a vital revenue stream and an important clinical service, call WCA today!