A Mobile Application Wound Management System: A two-year retrospective study of three acute care hospitals for quality, coding, and financial impact

Novel pressure injury (PI) assessment technologies and staff wide policies are constantly evolving as healthcare organizations seek better quality patient care. We sought to determine if the use of a wound management system (WMS) consisting of a novel wound assessment tool that incorporates photography and a smartphone app, implemented within a newly created structured wound department, had an effect on the trends in coding and MS-DRG related reimbursement potential for PIs across three acute care facilities.

We undertook a two-year retrospective review of hospitalized patients from 200-bed, 400-bed, and 700-bed acute care facilities between 10/01/2017 and 09/30/2019, before and after the introduction of the WMS. On 10/01/2018, the use of the WMS was rolled out across the hospital staff at each of the three facilities. The WMS includes a tool for staging and measuring the PI, and uses a smartphone application to integrate a photographic staged timestamp of the PI. Additionally, on this date a staff wide PI prevention and treatment department that included a focus on staff education was fully implemented.

After the implementation of the combined intervention, the total number of wounds coded as present on admission (POA) increased by 98.48%, 91.29%, and 45.83%, with an increase in MS-DRG reportable coding for stage 3 and 4 PIs by 78%, 68%, and 31% at the 200-bed, 400-bed, and 700-bed facilities, respectfully.

The use of the WMS, combined with organizational and education initiatives, enhanced the ability to capture an increased amount of PIs that were POA. An increase in number of PIs is reflective of more transparent and uniform coding across the facility. Additionally, the WMS was able increase revenue potential for the treatment of stage 3 and 4 PIs POA by effectively capturing more MS-DRG reportable PIs.

Trademarked Items (if applicable): NE1

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