Hospitals and healthcare providers often turn to home health to support eligible patients who require wound care. Although home health’s role in the wound recovery process is well-established, a home health agency’s success in supporting healing requires a proactive, evidence-based approach to care.
Home care is commonly needed for surgical and other acute wounds, and as many as 15% of Medicare beneficiaries are impacted by chronic wounds. 1 In this article, we will break down the critical elements of effective home care for wounds, as well as what referring providers should be looking for in a home health agency for the best outcomes.
Understanding the Wound Recovery Process and Home Health Care
Studies show that leveraging skilled home care for wounds is beneficial. Appropriate treatment of acute wounds can improve healing time and improve patient satisfaction. 2 Patients with chronic wounds report improved pain, decreased stress and better quality of life with home care. 3
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The Role of Home Health in Supporting Wound Healing
Wound care at home is not one-size-fits-all, and a high-quality home health care agency understands this. Each patient’s treatment plan must be individualized, and should include components like:
- Identify the underlying cause of the wound and develop a treatment plan that addresses both the wound itself and its root cause.
- Patient and caregiver education
- Nutritional status assessments and consults
- Technology-backed infection screening, such as molecular testing
- Thorough medication review
- Screening to determine if prevention surfaces/support surfaces are needed
- Topical wound care including dressing changes, debridement, compression therapy and negative pressure therapy
- Physical therapy to improve mobility, off-loading and address the need for orthotics and/or adaptive equipment to promote wound healing
- Medical social worker support to assist patients in low-resource settings
This approach should also consider the holistic care of the patient, as underlying health conditions can significantly impact wound healing. For example, as many as 25% of patients living with diabetes experience impaired wound healing. 4
By addressing overall management of comorbidities, home health can help improve successful wound outcomes.
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Home Health and Early Recognition of Wound Complications
Skilled home health caregivers are critically tasked with preventing complications and reducing avoidable hospital readmissions. Patients who are homebound, have limited health literacy, face resource constraints or suffer from chronic conditions may experience barriers to care, increasing the risk of being lost to follow-up or having complications go undetected until they become more severe.
By introducing home health care, referring providers can offer their patients a comprehensive approach to early recognition of wound complications. Home health caregivers are trained to assess for signs of infection, modify risk factors through education and management of other conditions and provide proactive management of complications that can arise at home following a hospital discharge.
What Makes a Home Health Agency a Quality Wound Care Partner?
Clearly, referring patients to a home health agency for wound care is entrusting them with a critical element of care. Establishing a relationship with a quality wound care partner that offers proven outcomes should be top of mind, as the demand for complex wound care is rising. 5
A provider’s home health care agency of choice should be able to describe:
- Evidence-based protocols for wound care, including their use of advanced wound products and cutting-edge diagnostic testing to support wound management
- Any specialized wound training or advanced wound certifications offered to their skilled nurses
- Targeted interventions to empower patient education and health management
- Provide evidence of wound care outcomes that meet or exceed state and national benchmarking
- Incorporating an interdisciplinary team of nurses and therapists to address the root causes of wound development, manage comorbidities and enhance patient outcomes
At Amedisys, we have integrated several robust wound care algorithms into our electronic medical record. We have also implemented molecular testing to enable prompt infection detection and treatment. Our experienced team of certified wound specialists provides oversight and consultation for high-risk patients and those with complicated wounds.
Additionally, we offer patient empowerment programs that address underlying medical conditions which can impact wound healing. As a result, we help reduce hospital readmissions and wound complications for the nearly 3,000 hospitals and 110,000 physicians nationwide that we partner with.
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Melanie Morris, MBA, MSN, RN, COS-C is the Assistant Vice President of Care Delivery Management for Amedisys. In her 28 years as a nurse, she has enjoyed caring for many types of patients and is passionate about providing holistic care to patients in their homes, especially those with chronic conditions such as wounds.
