Is Your Wound Documentation Legally Defensible? Does it Support Reimbursement? Let's Explore the Challenges

In a changing healthcare environment where reimbursement regarding pressure ulcers is changing and litigation surrounding pressure ulcers is at an all time high, appropriate wound documentation is critical to success.

A major foundation reports that 17,000 lawsuits are related to pressure ulcers each year. Settlements and judgments with nurses named as co-defendants have reached $1,000,000 and higher.

Appropriate wound documentation in the medical record serves as an important vehicle to support reimbursement. Such documentation allows us to determine that a plan of care was developed, carried out, and revised as needed. It also tells us whether pressure ulcers were avoidable or non avoidable and provides evidence of patient compliance. The medical record is always admissible in court and is a record of the care provided. For these reasons it is important to create a consistent and accurate document that can serve as the first line of defense in a malpractice case.

Using examples from actual cases that have been litigated, this session will explore problems with documentation that have produced negative outcomes and provide an opportunity to learn from mistakes others have made.

Participants will learn strategies and skills in documenting for appropriate reimbursement and developing documentation that is legally defensible.