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  • 02/27/2024 8:01 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The 2024 JWC Award winners have now been announced!

    The American Professional Wound Care Association (APWCA) is honored to be the recipient of the Silver Medal in the award category of Cellular, Acellular, and Matrix-like Products (CAMPs). This achievement was made possible thanks to the innovative research carried out by our exceptional APWCA members.

    The JWC awards event, also known as 'The Olympics of Wound Care,' held its annual celebration of excellence in research on February 23rd. Nominees included individuals, teams, organizations, societies, companies, and charities whose work has made a significant impact over the previous year.

    Congratulations to all the winners of the Journal of Wound Care Awards 2024. Your remarkable contributions to the field of advanced wound care have had a substantial impact on the lives of patients worldwide. You can find the complete list of winners at https://lnkd.in/gcbrJ7tp.

  • 02/16/2024 8:59 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The American Professional Wound Care Association (APWCA) is pleased to introduce our newest educational offering. Throughout 2024 there will be quarterly webinars sponsored by our generous sponsors each season. Please save the dates to join us for these informative online events:

    • SPRING: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
    • SUMMER: Wednesday, June 12, 2024
    • AUTUMN: Wednesday, September 11, 2024
    • WINTER: Wednesday, December 11, 2024

    APWCA is honored to announce that Organogenesis is the inaugural sponsor of the very first webinar in the 2024 Quarterly Series!

    In thanks to their generous sponsorship, this webinar is FREE TO ALL!


  • 12/31/2023 11:35 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)
    • There were around 230 people onsite
    • Over 100 exhibitor representatives from:
    • 34 different companies & other non-profits
    • 18 different educational sessions presented by:
    • 32 faculty presenters
    • A dozen companies participated in the Hands On Skills Workshop
    • 2 Preconference Workshops and:
    • 1 Post Conference Workshop were offered
    • The American Board of Wound Healing (ABWH) Exam was conducted
    • 8 MAPWCA designations were awarded
    • There were nearly 60 poster presentations and:
    • A half-dozen oral abstracts were presented
    • 27.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for Physicians were available.
    • The same 27.75 ANCC were available to Nurses and CEPU to Dietitians


  • 12/22/2023 10:50 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Great News!!! CMS has issued a correction to the 2024 rates for outpatient hyperbaric oxygen therapy, reversing the 41.5% rate cut and increasing reimbursement from the 2023 rates. This would not have been possible without the advocacy of wound care providers, such as our APWCA members, as well as from the support of health care institutions, associations and stakeholders which included NetHealth, RestorixHealth, the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society, The National Group, Epstiein Becker & Green, Healogics, the American Professional Wound Care Association, Dobson and Davanzo, The Alliance of Wound Care stakeholders, and the American Hospital Association.  The CMS took extraordinary efforts to investigate this matter and to issue a correction prior to the end of the year.

    The CY 2024 HBO2 APC rate is $132.21. The APC rate increased $7.14 or 5.7% over the current year 2023.

    You can find the updated payment files here for OPPS and here for ASCs. 


    May this make your Holiday Season a little Merrier. 

  • 12/02/2023 4:05 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Collective letter to the HSS Secretary Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure

    As you may be aware, Medicare reimbursement for hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy will be cut by 41.5% in 2024 if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) does not issue a correction to the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) fine rule. These cuts will devastate patient access to HBO2 therapy across the United States.

    Stakeholders are encouraged to sign this letter to the HSS Secretary Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to urge CMS to reverse these cuts and implement a 3% increase in the reimbursement that was initially noted in the 2024 OPPS proposed rule.

    If you are inclined, please click this link to sign the letter here, along with the hundreds of other stakeholders.

    Signatures due by Friday, December 8th!

  • 11/29/2023 8:46 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    URGENT: CALL TO ACTION!

    Comments to CMS must be submitted before December 10th

    On November 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized Medicare payment rates for Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) services for calendar year (CY) 2024.

    In the final rule, the facility fee (APC rate) for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (G0277) was reduced to $73.64 per 30-minute segment from the current rate of $125.07 per 30-minute segment.

    This is an unsustainable 41.5% decrease. CMS provided no warning or rationale regarding this unexpected change from the proposed rate of $134.51 (initially published in July 2023). Had this been published in the proposed rule, stakeholders would have had the opportunity to comment.

    This reduced rate will go into effect on January 1, 2024, unless successfully challenged

    APWCA is urging all members to submit comments directly to CMS before December 10th.

    New APWCA President, William H. Tettelbach, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FUHM, MAPWCA, CWSP, has provided a sample letter for reference and welcomes everyone to draw from his message if they like.

    In commenting, please refer to file code CMS-1786-FC and submit in one of these ways: 

    • Electronically. You may submit electronic comments on this regulation to https://www.regulations.gov. Once there enter CMS-1786-FC in the search box then follow the "Submit a comment" instructions.
    • By regular mail. You may mail written comments to the following address ONLY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services; Attention: CMS-1786-FC, P.O. Box 8010, Baltimore, MD 21244-8010.
    Please allow sufficient time for mailed comments to be received before the close of the comment period.
    • By express or overnight mail. You may send written comments to the following address ONLY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: CMS-1786-FC, Mail Stop C4-26-05, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850. 
  • 11/16/2021 3:20 PM | Anonymous

    From 5th edition of Wound Care Essentials Practice Principles

    Using the International Skin Tear Advisory Panel (ISTAP) classification system, what type of skin tear is seen here on the upper extremity?

    A. Type I
    B. Type 2
    C. Type 3
    D. Type 4

    Check your answer at apwca.org/trivia-tuesdays every Wednesday!

  • 11/10/2021 3:52 PM | Anonymous

    From 5th edition of Wound Care Essentials Practice Principles

    Which of the following would be considered abnormal in the inflammatory phase of wound healing?

    A. Redness
    B. Bleeding
    C. Pain
    D. Swelling
    E. Heat

    Check your answer at apwca.org/trivia-tuesdays every Wednesday!

  • 10/26/2021 12:03 PM | Anonymous

    Submitted by M. Mark Melin, MD, FACS, RPVI, FACCWS, FAPWCA

    Choose the false statement about scurvy;

    A. A severe problem of sailors during the great explorations of the 15th and the 16th century
    B. considered a disease of the past only
    C. results in altered collagen synthesis causing blood-vessel fragility, bleeding gums, gingival hypertrophy
    D. People living in social isolation and affected by psychiatric disorders (such as autism and anorexia nervosa), alcohol abuse disorders, or malabsorption (especially caused by digestive surgery) are at increased risk of scurvy
    E. The most common laboratory finding of scurvy is normochromic normocytic anemia

    More information on scurvy here.

    Check your answer at apwca.org/trivia-tuesdays every Wednesday!

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