Home health agencies (HHAs) place high value on certified wound care nurses, yet face challenges with staffing and models due to lack of access, according to results from the Post-Acute Wound Care Challenge Survey, conducted by Digital healthcare IT solutions provider Corstrata.
The survey was directed to US-based HHAs and hospice organizations and sought to gather industry-wide input on the state of the current challenges HHAs and hospice organizations face in providing value-based care for the growing wound patient population.
While nearly 80% of the 124 survey respondents believe their organization is properly staffed to handle wound care patients, 46% of CNOs/VPs Nursing/Directors of Nursing indicate their organizations do not have access to a board-certified wound care nurse. Collectively, 32% of all respondents indicate they do not have access to a board-certified wound care nurse with another 12% of respondents indicating they only have access to a part-time/contract board-certified wound care nurse.
In addition, when HHA and hospice representatives were asked to describe how their current wound care staffing model impacts their business, 9% indicate they are missing out on patients due to lack of adequate wound care staff or wound knowledge; 37% say their in-home nursing visits are high with wound patients, and 29% have low or no financial margins on wound care patients, notes a media release from Corstrata.
These challenges could be bringing a shift toward digital health options, the survey suggests. Per the results, 55% of HHAs and hospice organizations believe they would benefit from increased access to board-certified wound care nurses using virtual visit technologies.
“Home health agencies and hospice care organizations have continually faced a number of challenges in addressing wound patient needs. Nationwide nursing shortages, lack of internal wound expertise, high patient-caregiver ratios, and the high cost to hire/retain WOCN staff, all make it difficult for agencies to cost-effectively service wound patients while also protecting performance metrics and profits,” says Katherine Piette, CEO and co-founder, Corstrata, in the release.
“However, what we are seeing now with the increasing pressures to achieve high quality scores in order to gain referrals for value-based care reimbursement contracts is the beginning of a shift toward more openly embracing digital health options to address the growing wound patient population, including access to a virtual board-certified wound care nurse.”
For more information, and to view the complete survey and recommendations, visit Corstrata.
[Source(s): Corstrata, PRWeb]
