AAWC Update

This special AAWC edition of OWM includes extended news for 2016. The AAWC is grateful OWM provides the Association with the opportunity to highlight AAWC activities and programs throughout the year. The AAWC is the leading multidisciplinary, not-for-profit, wound care organization in the United States; its mission is to advance the care of people with and at risk for wounds.

AAWC Clinical Track for SAWC Spring 2017

The AAWC’s track at SAWC Spring 2016 was a big success; 3 of the top-rated topics were AAWC sessions. The AAWC Clinical Practice Track has been renamed the “AAWC Podium to Practice” Track. The goal of the program is to cover not only what to do to advance wound care as a professional practice and career, but also to empower the learner with the knowledge about how to do it. 

Take part in the third annual AAWC Track at SAWC Spring in San Diego, CA from April 5–9, 2017. Sessions include The Woundologists’ Cabinet of Curiosities: How to Choose the Best Treatment for Your Patient; Aligning Relevant Wound Endpoints with Current Evidence; and Wound Jeopardy: Test Your Woundology Knowledge. 

Please note the difference between SAWC and AAWC: The Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) provides a venue at which the interdisciplinary wound care community can gather. It is the official meeting site of AAWC members, but the AAWC does not own the meeting. The AAWC is a not-for-profit association sustained primarily by tax-deductible membership dues and donations. AAWC membership is a value that provides many benefits throughout the year, including a 20% discount to the SAWC conferences. The discount on registration to SAWC Fall or SAWC Spring can cover annual membership dues. Savings can be endless, not to mention all of the valuable networking and leadership opportunities that exist. Please make the wise and valuable choice to join the AAWC.

AAWC International Consolidated Guidelines Task Force

Imagine interdisciplinary wound care teams unified in purpose, language, and actions, doing what works to improve the consistency and quality of care and outcomes for patients with wounds. The AAWC Guideline Task Force has empowered this dream since 2000, creating the Guidelines of Guidelines© that includes recommendations from all related pressure or venous ulcer guidelines, formally content validates each recommendation, and lists best available supporting evidence. In 2015, the Wound Healing Society and the Canadian Association of Enterostomal Therapists collaborated with the AAWC to form the International Consolidated Guideline Task Force (ICGTF) to update the former AAWC Venous and Pressure Ulcer Guidelines to become the International Consolidated Venous Ulcer Guidelines (ICVUG) or Pressure Ulcer Guidelines (ICPUG). The extra time and effort spent to ensure the ICGTF accurately represents each society’s practice guidelines is helping to unify wound care across specialties, settings, and borders and to serve the entire interdisciplinary wound care team, including patients. Six (6)  other societies have pledged ICGTF collaboration. 

Interdisciplinary team care using ICVUG and ICPUG doesn’t replace specialist care or guidelines. Rather, it encourages evidence-based referrals to the right specialist(s) to optimize patient and wound results within the context of implementing best available evidence-based, content-validated team wound care. Please let ICGTF know if/how the guidelines and their algorithms, checklists, professional or patient brochures, and other implementation tools are being used by contacting AAWC at aawconline.org. You can join the ICGTF in updating or developing similarly unified wound infection or diabetic foot ulcer guidelines.

The International Consolidated Diabetic Foot Ulcer Guidelines (ICDUG) team has had an exciting, forward-looking year. A multidisciplinary team of podiatrists, physical therapists, wound ostomy continence (WOC)-prepared nurse practitioners, and other nurses has put together a comprehensive, 17-page document that truly is a guideline of guidelines. The ICGTF has covered every step a clinician could consider in the prevention and treatment of diabetic foot wounds. Included are steps for prevention, minimizing risk for recurrence, physical assessment, diagnostics, and treatment. Each step in the guideline has been researched for available supporting science. Exploring the original sources of daily patient care protocols is the most informative and fun part of the guideline process. The ICGTF looks forward to creating an easy-to-read format. 

Public policy and coverage issues

The Healthcare Public Policy Committee (HPPC) serves the organization by monitoring and evaluating legislative and regulatory policy issues regarding wound care. The HPPC team informs the AAWC Board and the membership of proposed government regulations affecting coverage, coding and payment, and pending legislation that can impact the members’ practice and their patients. When appropriate, the team develops and submits formal comments that represent the AAWC perspective on issues identified as not clinically accurate or beneficial for the patients that AAWC members serve. 

The HPPC team is a multiprofessional group that represents a cross-section of AAWC membership. Participants include physicians, nurses, physical therapists, and industry consultants. Current members include Scott LaRaus, PT; Eric Lullove, DPM; Gary Gibbons, MD; Brandon Hawkins, DPM; Naz Wahab, MD; Kathy Schaum, MS, reimbursement consultant; Mary Haddow, RN, WOCN; and Peggy Dotson, RN, BS, reimbursement consultant. 

The HPPC team is involved in:

• Reviewing Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) policies issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure devices, products, and services are available to the patients served; 
• Identifying pertinent issues related to wound care in these rules and developing, when appropriate, feedback comments to the CMS;  
• Monitoring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) regarding technical reviews of devices and technologies that are wound care-related; and
• Reviewing national coverage determinations (NCDs) issued by Medicare for national coverage (eg, pneumatic compression therapy).  

In support of the AAWC Corporate Sponsors, HPPC responds to state-specific regulations that impact wound care, nursing homes, and other technology coverage or private insurance coverage issues. The HPPC also is an active collaborating member of the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders on industry-wide wound care issues. Dr. Eric Lullove represents the AAWC as the Alliance liaison to facilitate a coordinated effort with other Alliance medical associations and societies. The organizations are a unified voice to the CMS, other payers, and legislators. The HPPC addresses issues in coverage policies and payment changes that impact AAWC members and patients. 

The key issues the HPPC tackled this year to support or advocate for legislation and policy changes include: 

• Presenting AAWC formal comments as a speaker at the CMS-MEDCAC meeting in July regarding treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and issues related to wounds, where Dr. Gary Gibbons spoke on behalf of the AAWC;
• Presenting AAWC formal comments on the draft Surgical Dressing policy issued by the DME-MACs at the CMS meeting in August of last year. A formal comment letter was submitted following the meeting. Mary Haddow presented on behalf of the AAWC; 
• Submitting comments to the CMS on the Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule for 2016;
• Submitting comments to the CMS regarding the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Round 2 re-complete and issues with coverage for negative pressure wound therapy in June; 
• Collaborating with the Alliance on comments to the CMS on the Hospital Outpatient Proposed Rule, Quality Measures development, and the MACRA regulation that impacts physician payment methods starting 2017;
• Evaluating a request from the Continuum of Care Coalition to support House Bill H. R. 1184. This would amend Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to revise Medicare coverage and payment for advanced surgical dressings in skilled nursing facilities and home health settings. The committee reviewed the Deconsolidation of Wound Care Overview paper and Lewin Report supporting the legislation and provided comments/feedback to the organization; 
• Developing and submitting formal comments and 2 presentations for the upcoming MEDCAC meeting in July on chronic venous disease treatment and wounds; Dr. Gary Gibbons and Dr. Eric Lullove spoke on behalf of the AAWC;
• Reviewing the revised final Proposed Rules that contain the public input and any new changes intending to be enacted. If any detrimental items were still included, the HPPC plans to develop a response to the CMS.
• Evaluating draft Medicare Proposed Rules for the Prospective Payment Systems (inpatient hospitals, home health, long-term care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, hospital outpatient clinics, physician offices, and physical therapy rules); and
• Providing feedback to the MACs on draft or revised LCDs policies: National Government Services on “Debridement Services” and Palmetto GBA on “Application of Skin Substitutes to Lower Extremity Chronic Non-Healing Wounds.” 

Timely information is developed and provided to membership through alerts on the AAWC website’s home page and through time-sensitive eblasts for members and patients. 

The most recent ALERTS issued include NPWT Audit Results and Tips for Documentation, Noridian claims review for NPWT and Support Surfaces, Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) — 2016, Physician Quality Reporting – 2016 deadlines, CMS Release of Core Quality Measures, PQRS negative payment adjustments, PQRS informal review process, and Specialty Registry Reporting — Why Participate (by Caroline Fife, MD). The Healthcare Public Policy Committee is proud to serve the organization and welcomes feedback at info@aawconline.org.

Staying current with technology 

The AAWC released a new AAWC Membership Database via MemberClicks in August. This new technology continues to keep the Association’s membership information safe and secure, with enhanced tools for maintaining personal profiles, processing check and credit card dues payments, and providing timely receipts via email.

Members not already logged into the membership database are required to set up a secure password. Visit the AAWC home page to learn more.

Educate the Generalist Committee: resources for nonwound specialist practitioners

The Educate the Generalist Committee (ETG) is charged with bringing wound care awareness and education to qualified clinicians and health care personnel in the primary medicine community. This year the committee updated the ETG webpage with the new AAWC Corporate Sponsors’ free accredited education (CE) information. In addition, a press release has been sent to the public highlighting this education and encouraging those in health care to learn more about wound care.

The ETG team is currently focused on developing presentations that will be used by AAWC members. The first of these presentations has been developed on peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The PAD presentation is available in the Members Only section of the AAWC website. The ETG committee is currently working on a venous ulcer presentation. Another goal of this team is to determine plans to target general practitioners’ nonprofit associations so the ETG programs will become part of their conferences and meetings. To this date, ETG team members have performed 3 external programs for outside Generalist groups. If you would like to become involved with the ETG Committee, please contact or email the AAWC office.

Utilize and/or become a member of the AAWC Speakers Bureau 

The AAWC Speakers Bureau is an excellent resource, and the program has continued to grow in 2016. Members can become involved with the Speakers Bureau by obtaining an application on the Speakers Bureau Page at https://aawconline.org/speakers-bureau-program/. If accepted, the speaker’s information will be listed on the AAWC website for easy access by potential program managers, including conference planners and corporate event organizers. Please help to spread the word about this worthwhile program. 

Global volunteers make life-changing impact in resource-poor countries

The AAWC appreciates volunteers for traveling globally to teach modern wound care practices. AAWC members Christine Parks, MSN, FNP-C, CWON, CFCN traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia in June; and Christopher Davey, MD and Robert Baxt, MD are scheduled to travel to Cambodia later this year.

The AAWC congratulates Christine on being awarded a scholarship for volunteer travel

Participation in the program is a priceless AAWC Membership benefit. Scholarships for 2016 are still available for the Health Volunteers Overseas Wound and Lymphedema programs. Please direct questions about available funding to HVO during the application process. Read “In the First” on page 16 of this issue of OWM for a first-person account of a HVO experience.

The AAWC Wounds in Need (WIN) enhanced newsletter 

The Wound in Need (WIN) Task Force supports patients and caregivers. Laurie Rappl, PT, DPT, CWS, Chair of the WIN Task Force, had the opportunity to attend the AAWC Corporate Advisory Panel meeting at SAWC Spring. She explained the WIN Task Force supports the WIN membership category. The AAWC offers complimentary memberships that provide targeted benefits, including a newsletter written at a reading level suitable for the layperson. The newsletter is a go-to resource for AAWC Clinic/Healthcare Facility members to use as patient education in waiting rooms. The newsletters are available in the Professional Resources center on the AAWC website. Please support patients and caregivers by printing out this unique newsletter and making it available in your waiting rooms, offices, and bulletin boards for the public to read.

Team members are also considering ways to be more responsive, supportive, and encouraging to members via the website. 

New Perks and Pearls Program

The new AAWC Perks and Pearls program will educate the public about wound care. The program’s goal is to provide wound care-focused, clinical practice education as routinely posted Pearls on AAWC’s social media pages. All Pearls will be coupled with a brief, highlighted membership benefit reminder or Perk. The Pearls will be archived as a series on the AAWC website. Every member has an opportunity to participate and be recognized. Learn more about the program and submit a Pearl at aawconline.org/clinical-pearl-submission-form.

AAWC Scholarship Program

Scholarship funds are available every year starting in January for wound care teaching, learning, and travel. Members in good standing for 1 year can apply by visiting www.aawconline.org/scholarships. Consideration will be given to support events that may have already been paid for (such as a college course), as well as events that will occur in the near future. The winners of the 2016 AAWC Scholarships will be announced soon.

The AAWC Career Center — specifically targeted to the wound care industry

Through the AAWC Career Center, employers receive unprecedented access to top wound care professionals within the AAWC community and on the TheJobNetwork™, the largest recruitment ad network of job sites in North America. This reaches job seekers across the Internet on national, local, and niche job sites. AAWC members seeking candidates receive a minimum of $100 in savings on a job posting. Additional products are available at reasonable rates, including the popular Candidate Resume Boost. This service finds the perfect candidate by returning the most qualified job seekers to the employer quickly and easily. 

The Association also supports all job seekers regardless of AAWC membership with free access to the Career Center. Get connected to companies seeking employees in the wound care industry. Sign up today and support the AAWC by helping to grow the career center.

AAWC Public Awareness Task Force News

The AAWC Patient Education Brochure series has grown again and now includes The Skin You’re In; Dress and Compress for Success; Take the Pressure Off; The ABCs of Wound Care, 2015 edition; Clean Up to Heal Up; and the newest brochure, Win the Battle Against Infection. 

The AAWC Public Awareness Task Force (PATF) has been busy this year expanding the popular patient education brochure series. Clean Up To Heal Up was released at SAWC Fall 2015. The brochure provides valuable information on the cutting-edge, important topic of wound debridement for patients and their caregivers. Win the Battle Against Infection was released at SAWC Spring 2016, providing essential information on how to prevent infection. It also describes signs and symptoms that could indicate infection and that should be evaluated by a qualified health care provider as soon as possible.

Members of the PATF are putting the finishing touches on the next (as yet untitled) brochure in the series. The dedicated, talented, hardworking volunteer members who create the educational brochures bring knowledge, experience, and perspective from many disciplines. The educational brochure series is available for download in English and Spanish at no cost on the AAWC website at www.aawconline.org under “Patient/Caregiver Resources.” Print and distribute the brochures without cost or permission if they are used for educational purposes. To avoid printing and assembling brochures, purchase reprints in large or small quantities for the office or clinic from the AAWC Store. 

Corporate sponsorship triumphs 

The Association experienced another successful corporate campaign in 2016 and is proud to announce 2 new sponsors. The bronze, silver, or gold level contributions from 15 corporate sponsors support AAWC’s collaborative initiatives where the Association delivers wound care specialists in a collaborative community, provides education, expands the fast-growing patient/lay-caregiver membership group, and participates internationally at major conferences and meetings.

Corporate sponsors include skin/wound care product manufacturers and service organizations. Sponsor companies receive many benefits, including an exclusive opportunity for industry to meet with AAWC Board Members in the Corporate Advisory Panel (CAP). Acting as equal partners with AAWC leadership, CAP facilitates close interaction with AAWC officers as well as other key wound care industry leaders. The panel meets quarterly to discuss mutual concerns and areas of interest. In addition, the Association works to keep AAWC industry supporters aware of key regulatory issues. 

Please encourage your company to become an active, involved, and collaborative industry sponsor of the AAWC. Together, the care and lives of people with or at risk for wounds will be improved. The AAWC is grateful to all of its sponsors, including Smith & Nephew, 3M, Acelity, Convatec, Hollister, Integra Life Sciences, Medline, Mölnlycke, Organogenesis, Osiris Therapeutics, BioCompression Systems, Boyd Technologies, Celgene, Dipexium Pharmaceuticals, and MiMedx. Visit https://aawconline.org/corporate-sponsors/ for information about the 2017 Corporate Campaign. 

Among the most successful CAP projects is the free industry seminar offered at SAWC Spring. At this past SAWC Spring, Vickie R. Driver, DPM, MS, FACFAS; Lisa Gould, PhD; and Laura Bolton, PhD along with Eric Lullove, DPM, CWS, FACCWS (moderator) provided a thought-provoking seminar for industry on “Wound-Care Experts/FDA — Clinical Endpoints Project (WEF-CEP).” Contact Karen Strauss at kstrauss@aawconline.org to suggest a topic for next year or to be placed on the guest list. 

Please also keep in mind the AAWC has a Corporate/Manufacturer Membership category. This unique category of membership for employees of wound care companies offers all the benefits of an individual membership and includes a free listing on the AAWC website.

Quality Measures Task Force

The purpose of the Quality Committee is to ensure AAWC members are prepared to make the transition to what the CMS is now calling the “Quality Payment System.” There are 21 wound care and hyperbaric quality measures available for a qualified health care professional (QHP) to report through the United States Wound Registry (USWR), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The USWR is also recognized by the CMS as a specialty registry for wound care so QHPs can satisfy the requirement to submit data to a specialty registry as part of Meaningful Use of an EHR. 

Under the new health care payment system (the Merit Based Incentive Payment System [MIPS]), transmission of data to a Specialty Registry is mandatory. More than 2000 QHPs already have begun to transmit data to the USWR; the USWR soon will be able to provide national benchmarking of many wound care-related metrics, something that has long been needed in the wound care field. 

The electronic clinical quality measures (eQMs) can be downloaded free of charge from the USWR website, and many wound centers are using these measures to formulate quality initiatives. These evidence-based quality measures allow clinicians to document the way they “do the right thing” in clinical practice and transmit their data to the CMS to receive credit under quality payment programs, facilitating the creation of a data repository for clinical research. To better understand this complicated topic, attend one of the AAWC Clinical Track sessions at 2017 SAWC Spring on health care reform. More information is available at  www.uswoundregistry.com/.

AAWC online store 

The AAWC Member Discount Store is found within the Members-Only portal. Nonmembers can purchase items  from the public store. Among the quality items available for purchase, the Association has:

• Educational Wound and Skin Care Brochures (6 informative choices, including the newest brochure on infection prevention); 
• Educational Wound Image Series (5 unique CDs); 
• Patient Education Posters (11 inches x 17 inches. You pay only for postage and handling);
• Membership Mailing List (name and address on labels when approved for educational purposes); and
• Wound Care Clinic Directory, available in PDF or in Excel format (various contact information to fit any need).

AAWC members: be sure to download and use the AAWC “Proud Member” logo on websites and materials. The logo can be found in the Members-Only Store.

AAWC Website Update

A multidisciplinary team from the United States and Canada came together to give the website a facelift. This team, the AAWC Website Task Force (WTF), met over the last 2 years to accomplish this goal. The updated website (www.aawconline.org) was released in February of this year. Members and the public weighed in, and the WTF worked diligently to respond to ideas and suggestions, including mobile device access, easy- to-read screens, the ability to update their membership, and news of noteworthy changes in this ever-changing environment. Need to download a patient teaching guide in Spanish regarding pressure ulcer prevention? That can be found here, too. New to the website? 

While the WTF has jettisoned old or outdated information and links, the work doesn’t end here. The Task Force is striving to achieve the best search engine optimization possible. This will attract more patients, caregivers, and wound care providers to the website. The WTF constantly reviews web content to add and subtract material as necessary. Keeping things fresh makes a difference. Visit the Research page in the Professional Resources center for helpful links.

Contact Karen Strauss (kstrauss@aawconline.org) to volunteer on this task force or just communicate thoughts about the website. As a member of this organization, be active and be proud. 

About AAWC

AAWC is the largest, not-for-profit membership organization in the United States dedicated to interprofessional wound healing and tissue preservation. AAWC’s mission is to advance the care of people with and at risk for wounds. The Association’s focus is on education, public policy, and the application of evidence-based wound care practice. AAWC offers membership and associated benefits to everyone involved in wound care, including clinicians and other healthcare professionals, patients, lay-caregivers, clinics/facilities, corporations, students, retirees, and advocates. Learn more about financial and other benefits, activities and programs, and/or join at www.aawconline.org