Hospitals Could Improve Outcomes for Patients and Save Millions According to Hill-Rom 10th Annual Pressure Ul...( Close to 1 million Medicare patient...),Health

Close to 1 million Medicare patients develop pressure ulcers costing the

system more than $10 billion annually

BATESVILLE, Ind., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, findings of the 10th Annual International Pressure Ulcer Prevalence Survey (IPUPS) were released by Hill-Rom, the health care unit of Hillenbrand Industries (NYSE: HB) and a leading provider of medical technology for hospitals and other care sites around the world. These results document the potential for decreasing by half the incidence rate of pressure ulcers in acute care facilities and substantiate an opportunity for hospitals to dramatically reduce hospital-acquired pressure ulcers through specially designed prevention programs. The study is of particular interest following the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recent announcement that treatment of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers would no longer be reimbursed.

The broad and in-depth survey documented that nearly half of all adult patients in acute care facilities were assessed to be at high risk for the development of pressure ulcers. Although hospitals are beginning to incorporate comprehensive pressure ulcer prevention programs, still over 75 percent of the high risk patients did not receive such a program. Implementing a comprehensive approach like the new Safe Skin(TM) Program offered by Hill-Rom was shown in the IPUPS data to significantly decrease the incidence rate of pressure ulcers from 7.8 percent to 3.8 percent in the high risk group.

Based on the survey prevalence, it can be estimated that over 900,000 Medicare patients annually will develop pressure ulcers. According to a 2003 study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the excess cost of treating a hospital-acquired pressure ulcer is $10,845, potentially leading to more than $10 billion of total Medicare reimbursements annually. The recent CMS announcement regarding pressure ulcer treatment
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