Excerpted from Today’s Wound Clinic
The hospital supply contracting process is complicated and slow. Physicians, however, can make purchasing decisions quickly and directly. Manufacturers need to get prepared for a dramatic shift to less-expensive wound dressings and compression bandage systems in the private office setting. A price differential of $1.00 will be enough to change physician brand loyalty when the cost of the dressing comes out of the physician’s wallet.
Furthermore, in the private office setting, physicians will be able to make those brand changes practically overnight. The downside to this shift is that there will be a temptation to use substandard products. That’s a major reason the U.S. Wound Registry (USWR) has fought so hard to defend wound-relevant quality measures. The only way to ensure the highest quality of care is to compensate physicians for providing it, and the only way to do that is by reporting wound-relevant quality measures like adequate compression at each visit for venous leg ulcers and adequate offloading for diabetic foot ulcers. Even a small financial bonus from participating in quality reporting through the USWR could ensure the success of the office-based “wound center.” I remain mystified that manufacturers have not supported quality reporting for this reason.
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
Thanks Caroline! What is the best way for manufacturers to support quality measures? Educational literature? Direct advocacy with the US Wound Registry? Something else? Sometimes manufacturers have trouble connecting the dots between “VLUs need compression as standard of care” and “Our product is indicated for VLUs” . Thanks!