Impact, Cost & Policy Implications of Chronic Wounds

To fully understand the economic burden and impact of chronic nonhealing wounds to Medicare, the Alliance sponsored a comprehensive analysis that resulted in the study “An Economic Evaluation of the Impact, Cost, and Medicare Policy Implications of Chronic Nonhealing Wounds,” published in Jan. 2018 the International Society For Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research’s Value in Health journal. The study analyzed the Medicare 5% Limited Data Set for CY2014 to determine the cost of chronic wound care for Medicare beneficiaries in aggregate, by wound type, and by setting. Topline findings show that chronic wounds impact nearly 15% of Medicare beneficiaries (8.2 million) at an annual cost to Medicare conservatively estimated at $28.1 to $31.7 billion. Read key findings and policy implications.