Boom in Elderly Population Will Spark Higher Wound Care Costs. New York Treating chronic wounds costs the U.S. health system $20 billion to $25 billion a year - 5 percent of the combined annual spending for Medicare and Medicaid - and is expected to escalate, according to wound care experts at an editorial roundtable convened in New York by the Wound Healing Society.

"Unless we focus on solutions now, chronic wounds will become a demographic time bomb as the population ages," said Peter Stevens, Ph.D., president of Colleyville, Texas-based Growth & Innovation Strategies. "It is estimated that one in four older adults will suffer with pressure sores in their later years."

About 15 percent of the elderly population suffers from chronic wounds, and the number of individuals 65 and older will double during the next 30 years, experts said. The panel estimated that 5 million Americans suffer from chronic wounds today. While the number of patients with pressure sores is increasing by 5 percent annually, the panel reported that the incidence of diabetic foot ulcers is growing at a rate of 14 percent per year and accounts for 80 percent of all chronic wound costs.

"Wounds are one of the greatest causes of deformity and death in the world, and are a tremendous financial burden on the health care system," said Kelman Cohen, M.D., professor of surgery and director of the Wound Healing Center at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. "Yet, unfortunately, they remain an unimportant issue for most Americans until an accident or personal tragedy calls attention to the problem."

According to the panel, cuts in Medicare spending have negatively affected wound care treatment. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 forced many home health care agencies and skilled nursing facilities to shut down. As a result, the panel said, 65-80 percent of wound care patients receive treatment in alternate care settings, such as their homes.

"Increased public understanding about the incidence, severity and economic impact of wounds coupled with new advances in wound healing technology will not only improve the quality of our care but also the quality of our patients' lives," said Gregory Schultz, Ph.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and president of the WHS.