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 EXTREME HUMAN TOLL:
Pain
- "Heel ulcers can be physically debilitating and painful and can lead to serious complications such as infection, cellulitis, osteomyelitis, septicemia, limb amputation, or death, and can increase healthcare and litigation costs."1
Length of stay
- One study finds length of stay principally for pressure ulcers was nearly three times longer than hospitalizations with no pressure ulcers (14.1 days versus 5.0 days).2
Infection risk
- National multiple cause-coded death records show septicemia is the cause of death in 40% of pressure ulcer patients.1
Amputation
- Pressure ulcers on the feet precede 85% of all non-traumatic, lower-limb amputations.3
Death
- Death occurs in 4.2% of stays principally for pressure ulcers, and in 11.6% of stays with pressures ulcers noted as a secondary diagnosis.2
ENORMOUS FINANCIAL COST:
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will not reimburse hospitals for Stage III or IV pressure ulcers not present on admission (POA).4
- The annual cost of treating heel pressure ulcers is a staggering $2.2 to $3.6 billion.5
- Costs can range from $2,000 to $30,000 for a Stage I, II or III ulcer, to $70,000 for a complex, full-thickness Stage IV ulcer.6
- CMS estimates the cost of treating just one Stage III or IV pressure ulcer is $43,180.7
- CMS estimates it cost $11 billion to treat pressure ulcers in 2007.8
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