Clinical, Operational, and Economic Benefits of a Digitally Enabled Wound Care Program in Home Health: Quasi-Experimental, Pre-Post Comparative Study.

Abstract

Background: The demand for home health care and nursing visits has steadily increased, requiring significant allocation of resources for wound care. Many home health agencies operate below capacity due to clinician shortages, meeting only 61% to 70% of demand and frequently declining wound care referrals. Implementing artificial intelligence-powered digital wound care solutions (DWCSs) offers an opportunity to enhance wound care programs by improving scalability and effectiveness through better monitoring and risk identification.

Objective: This study assessed clinical and operational outcomes across 14 home health branches that adopted a DWCS, comparing pre- and postadoption data and outcomes with 27 control branches without the technology.

Methods: This pre-post comparative study analyzed clinical outcomes, including average days to wound healing, and operational outcomes, such as skilled nursing (SN) visits per episode (VPE) and in-home visit durations, during two 7-month intervals (from November to May in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022). Data were extracted from 14,278 patients who received wound care across adoption and control branches. Projected cost savings were also calculated based on reductions in SN visits.

Results: The adoption branches showed a 4.3% reduction in SN VPE and a 2.5% reduction in visit duration, saving approximately 309 staff days. In contrast, control branches experienced a 4.5% increase in SN VPE and a 2.2% rise in visit duration, adding 42 days. Healing times improved significantly in the adoption branches, with a reduction of 4.3 days on average per wound compared to 1.6 days in control branches (P<.001); pressure injuries, venous ulcers, and surgical wounds showed the most substantial improvements.

Conclusions: Integrating digital wound management technology enhances clinical outcomes, operational efficiencies, and cost savings in home health settings. A reduction of 0.3 SN VPE could generate annual savings of up to US $958,201 across the organization. The adoption branches avoided 1187 additional visits during the study period. If control branches had implemented the DWCS and achieved similar outcomes, they would have saved 18,546 healing days. These findings emphasize the importance of incorporating DWCSs into wound care programs to address increasing demands, clinician shortages, and rising health care costs while maintaining positive clinical outcomes.