6240 Calculating Saved Costs When Using Platelet-Rich-Plasma Gel in Place of NPWT in 17 Complex Wound Patients

Janice Wilson, RN, CWOCN, Asheville Specialty Hospital, Wound Care Coordinator, Asheville, NC and Karl Branch, RN, Asheville Specialty Hospital, Wound Care, Asheville, NC
Purpose:  To compare costs between using platelet rich plasma (PRP) and NPWT on complex wounds in the LTAC setting.

Methodology:  We used PRP(1) on 25 wounds in our LTAC setting between Dec 2009 and July 2010.  Conservatively, 17 of those wounds would have had NPWT applied to them.  For each patient we calculated the number of days using PRP as days we did not use NPWT.  The costs of PRP on those days compared to the costs that would have been incurred had we used NPWT yielded our cost savings. Cost of NPWT was calculated knowing our daily rental rate (less than $65.00/day) and assuming using 2 canisters and 3 medium black Granufoam dressings per 7 days per patient.

Results: We used PRP for 289 days on 17 patients on whom we would have used NPWT.  Total cost for NPWT would have been $26,169.31.  Total cost for PRP was $11,850.00.  Savings = $14,319.31. 

            In addition, our wound results did not suffer.  We continued to see significant and observable wound healing in these difficult-to-heal wounds when PRP was applied.

Conclusion: We have achieved continued excellent wound healing outcomes while cutting our costs $14,319.31 for 17 patients  by using platelet-rich-plasma gel in a 1.3X platelet concentration.

(1) AutoloGel® platelet-rich-plasma gel System, Cytomedix, Gaithersburg, MD 20877