Today's Wound Clinic - Winter 2008 - (Page 46) incentive ticipate in a management contract entered into by five other hospitals in the system in the year 2000. Our center continued to generate revenue when the system management contract was terminated early for financial reasons, resulting in the closure of the other locations. TWC: What were the center’s initial challenges? VW: Because there were no formal wound care courses, the center’s physicians and nursing staff had to be facility trained. At the time, only Unna’s boots were available for compression.The center constantly reviewed new products entering the market for inclusion in the formulary. Affiliation with the University of Texas Health Science Center allowed the center’s participation in clinical trials for becaplermin topical and bilayered skin substitute and use of negative pressure wound therapy only 2 years after its FDA approval.The center addressed the need for proper cost accounting associated with clinical trials by creating a separate cost center to capture labor and other expenses. TWC: What efforts have been made in advertising and marketing? VW: If the center were under a management contract, there would be extensive print advertising. However, the center has operated with a small advertising budget and owes the stable referral base in part to the venerability of the program and a well developed website (www.uth.tmc.edu/anes/wound1.htm). The center also credits its promotion to the correspondence regularly sent to referring physicians and copied to all of the patient’s treating physicians. The speed and ease of referrals have been made possible through utilization of an electronic medical record specific to wound care and hyperbaric medicine that generates follow-up letters and automatically appends photographs. TWC: How have you incorporated computer technology into the center’s workflow? Houston’s Healers: Approaching 20 Years of Wound Care The Memorial Hermann Wound and Lymphedema Center HOUSTON, TEXAS T 46 he Memorial Hermann Wound and Lymphedema Center Houston, Tex, will soon mark its 20th anniversary. Opened as the Hermann Center for Hyperbaric Medicine in 1989 with one nurse and a technical staff, it evolved in response to the needs of patients and the changing field of wound care. Wound healing (which includes a venous stasis clinic) and lymphedema divisions were added to the center’s operations in response to the lack of facilities available for patient referrals requiring chronic wound care. Winter 2008 Today’s Wound Clinic The center has met many challenges from educating the staff to integrating computer technology, operating with a small advertising budget, and adjusting to changes in Medicare. TWC asked Vonda Wall,Administrative Director Outpatient Diagnostic and Procedural Services for Memorial Hermann Hospital, to fill in some of the details of the center’s operations. TWC: Is your center independently managed or overseen by a management company? VW: The center has remained a hospital-managed facility, choosing not to par- http://www.uth.tmc.edu/anes/wound1.htm
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.