Table 2.

Comparison of 20‐week costs for NPWT and two scenarios of wet‐to‐moist therapy with differing numbers of nursing visits per day

Cost	NPWT group	Control group (wet‐to‐moist therapy)
		One nursing visit/day	Two nursing visits/day
Weekly nursing cost ($)	336	784	1568
Number of visits/week	3	7	14
Cost/visit* ($)	112	112	112
Weekly physician cost ($)	33	33	33
Number of visits/week	0·5	0·5	0·5
Cost/visit ($)	66	66	66
Weekly treatment cost ($)	749	74	74
Applications/week	7	21	21
Cost/application ($)	107	3·50	3·50
Total weekly cost ($)	1118	891	1675
20‐week expected cost† ($)	16 733	15 258	28 691

NPWT, negative pressure wound therapy.

^* Cost/visit is based on $112/visit, as reported by Ovington 31, 32, and adjusted by ∼4% per annum for 3 years to account for inflation. Such a fee‐for‐service reimbursement is only true for some private payors, but payment reflects cost‐to‐system for a nursing visit and is therefore relevant to a Medicare setting as well.

^† Incorporates therapy outcomes as well as direct equipment/medical personnel costs (see text for method of calculation).