Wound Care Outcomes and Associated Cost Among Patients Treated in US Outpatient Wound Centers: Data From the US Wound Registry

Abstract

Data from registries can be especially useful in the evaluation of healthcare effectiveness. Thus, the goal of this study was to report on use of the US Wound Registry to investigate the outcomes of a broad population of patients undergoing treatment. Using a 5-year slice of de-identified data from electronic health records originating from 59 hospital-based outpatient wound centers in 18 states, outcomes, pa- tient and wound variables, and costs for facility and physician fees and procedures were analyzed for 5240 patients with 7099 wounds. Mean patient age was 61.7 years with 52.3% being male and the majority Caucasian (73.1%) and Medicare beneficiaries (52.6%). The mean number of serious comorbid conditions per patient was 1.8, with the most common being diabetes (46.8%), obese or overweight (71.3%), and having cardiovascular or peripheral vascular disease (51.3%). More than 1.6% of patients died in service or within 4 weeks of the last visit. Almost two thirds of wounds healed (65.8%) with an aver- age time to heal of 15 weeks and 10% of wounds taking 33 weeks or more to heal. The average wound surface area was 19.5 cm2. Half of wounds that healed did so with only the use of moist wound care (50.8%) and without the need for advanced therapeutics. Mean cost to heal per wound was $3927 with jeopardized flaps and grafts the most expensive ($9358). This Registry would seem ideal for comparative effectiveness research in wound care, as it includes patients often ex- cluded from randomized controlled trials and reflects actual practice.