Specialized wound care has emerged as both a clinical necessity and financial opportunity for rural hospitals struggling with staffing shortages and patient retention. This eye-opening conversation with Joe Eberwein of Corstrata reveals how virtual wound care models are transforming outcomes for facilities that often “hold their breath” when admitting complex wound patients.
Rural hospitals face a perfect storm of challenges: limited access to wound specialists, knowledge gaps in evidence-based treatments, and alarming out-migration patterns. The data paints a stark picture – only 45% of wound-related ER patients stay local compared to 65-70% for other conditions. Without specialized expertise, these facilities experience longer lengths of stay, more complications, and potential pressure injuries, creating a cascade of negative clinical and financial outcomes.
Ready to explore how virtual wound care could transform outcomes at your facility? Visit corstrata.com to learn more about implementing specialized wound care services in your rural setting, or watch the full webinar at shplc.com/webinars.
Virtual wound care models offer rural hospitals a clinically urgent and financially strategic solution to address specialized care gaps while improving patient outcomes and retaining revenue within communities.
• Rural hospitals often “hold their breath” when admitting wound patients due to lack of specialized expertise
• Without wound care specialists, hospitals experience longer lengths of stay, complications, and higher readmission rates
• Only 45% of wound-related ER patients remain at rural facilities vs. 65-70% for other conditions
• Virtual wound care provides on-demand access to board-certified specialists through telemedicine
• Case study: Alaska hospital avoided medevacking a patient 500 miles away, retaining $2000/day in revenue
• Typical rural hospitals could gain $400,000-$500,000 in net revenue by implementing virtual wound care
• Benefits include improved documentation, legal defensibility, survey readiness, and quality metrics
• No capital investment required as system integrates with existing telemedicine equipment
• Patients and families avoid emotional and financial burden of transfers to distant facilities
For more information on implementing virtual wound care in rural settings, visit corstrata.com or watch the full webinar at shplc.com/webinars.
Guest: Joe Ebberwein, CFO, Corstrata
Joe & Corstrata can be found at:
Transcript
Speaker 1: 0:32
Welcome to Beyond the Stethoscope, Vital Conversations with SHP, where we’re breaking down insights from a recent webinar hosted by Corstrada and Strategic Healthcare Partners. Today we’re focusing on a topic that’s both clinically urgent and financially strategic for rural hospitals, and that’s specifically wound care and how virtual models can change the game. Joe Eberwein returns to the microphone to help fill in some additional details since the webinar that we hosted a few weeks ago. Speaking of the webinar, while you can enjoy this Q&A without having heard it, we will reference some things from the webinar directly, so head to our website to watch the full webinar at shpcom slash webinars. Welcome back to the podcast, Joe. We’re glad that you were able to join Jason and I today.
Speaker 2: 1:18
Great to be with you today and looking forward to the conversation.
Speaker 3: 1:22
Absolutely, joe. Yeah, appreciate the time and that was a great webinar, which, for folks that go on our podcast archive page, it was June of this year, 2025. We’re recording this a month later, joe, why don’t you catch us up Anything worthy in this last month that may impact some of the listeners?
Speaker 2: 1:42
Yeah, it’s been a busy month and I think there are a number of new developments in the rural health space, particularly around the passing of the OBBA, or the Big Beautiful Bill, which does have significant impact to rural health from the standpoint of Medicaid cuts and programmatic changes in Medicaid related to a number of different things eligibility, ongoing eligibility and, interestingly, simultaneously, the provision for a $50 billion rural health fund which rural systems can tap into. So some consider it to be good news, some consider it to be challenges with respect to Medicaid reimbursement. So we’ll see how it all shakes out. But what’s really interesting is and this came out of the webinar that we did with SHP there are opportunities for expanding service lines within rural communities related to wound and ostomy care.
Speaker 3: 2:53
So super excited to talk about that as well wound and ostomy care, so super excited to talk about that as well. Yeah, you and Mike and, for those that aren’t aware, Mike Scribner, our principal, is who conducted the webinar in tandem with Joe you guys did a great job defending on clinical care gaps and then the financial burden out, migration patterns, things of the like and you mentioned as we go back and recap the webinar I recall during that time you mentioned a lot of the challenges that the rural hospitals face, in particular staff shortages, wound care, specialist shortages and the negative impact that has on evidence-based medicine and other clinical care gaps. Given all that perfect storm and the impact that has, how do those clinical care gaps impact these rural hospitals financially?
Speaker 2: 3:41
Yes, great question. And what we hear from our customers is, you know, to put it quite candidly, they hold their breath when they admit a wound patient because they don’t have the internal expertise to really manage that care effectively. They’re not always utilizing the latest evidence-based, you know, advanced wound dressings, for instance, and so they do the best they can. That often leads to complications with the wound, longer length of stay, sometimes development of pressure injuries, which are, you know, a negative impact on quality metrics, and then just really the potential readmissions. But I would say probably the length of stay is the biggest issue that we hear.
Speaker 3: 4:36
Fantastic. And then during that time you and Mike also hit on sort of the service line cascading impact that such things can have, right. So out-migration patterns and why those come about or the perception that a hospital may have because of such things, touch on that, if you will, from what you’ve seen or what you spoke of during the webinar, in terms of those gaps and the negative out-migration you know patterns and such that you guys spoke of.
Speaker 2: 5:07
Yeah so Mike did a really good job and I think the webinar is really worth tuning into. Related to some of the data around out migration, I think everyone was kind of surprised when we dug into the data, just the number of cases that were leaving the rural community, and we all know that once a patient starts receiving care outside of the community it’s really difficult to get them back. So out migration migration is a big, a big issue and a lot, of, a lot of non retention, even from the ED. That was one stat that Mike mentioned. That was was pretty compelling as well.
Speaker 2: 5:49
You know, what we’re seeing is that the nurse at the bedside typically is not experienced in wound care. So if there is a complex wound, whether that be a lower extremity ulcer or pressure ulcer or diuretic foot ulcer, they’re typically not extremely knowledgeable about caring for those, and so it does cause for a lot more dress-up changes. Really, as you said, kind of a cascading effect to not only clinical quality outcomes but also the financial outcomes of just having to manage a patient that they’re really not equipped to manage. And that’s where Courserata comes in. We can rather than being a new hire, if you will, for a resource that they typically cannot find anyway in rural, which is wound ostomy nurses. We can be a consume as needed and more of a variable cost, but with high clinical and financial outcomes.
Speaker 1: 6:55
So go into maybe some more detail about that. How does Core Strata help close that gap? What does that model actually look like in practice?
Speaker 2: 7:05
Right. So imagine that a patient is admitted and that patient does have a complex chronic wound. Currently the facility is admitting the patient doing a wound. Certified nurse was participating in that skin integrity assessment, identifying potential pressure injuries on admission, looking for other issues with skin integrity or potential wounds really a comprehensive assessment but then also really looking at what is the best care plan for that patient and what is going to optimize clinical outcomes while really trying to reduce length of stay or optimize length of stay for that patient. So it’s all virtual. It is a true telemedicine visit with one of our board-certified nurses and whoever is administering care at the bedside in the rural facility. Did that kind of paint the picture, aaron?
Speaker 1: 8:19
Yeah, very useful. So you’re not having to staff up for something that you might never really see a whole lot of, but when you do see them, it costs you a lot of money. So it sounds like it fills in. Yeah, that’s great see them.
Speaker 2: 8:29
It costs you a lot of money so that it sounds like it fills in. Yeah that’s great. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. And really some of our customers they may have maybe five wound patients a month. Some months they may have 10, some they have five. Well, they don’t have to try to worry about the staffing of that kind of the fluctuation and census.
Speaker 3: 8:50
They just call on us as they need you mentioned too, joe, during the webinar, or you and mike, did you got into the numbers? Maybe we can just kind of close on this point. Uh, you had a case in alaska, for example, or hospital alaska, I’m sorry where being able to manage those patients locally versus the transfer of costs. And then you guys talked about, of course, the retention rates within your community and the potential net revenue impact I want to say was close to half a million dollars on kind of a typical rural hospital point. Elaborate further on how that is. It’s the particular alaska hospital and those retention numbers a little bit right.
Speaker 2: 9:33
So we do work in all 50 states and one pretty dramatic case in alaska was a patient with a pressure injury. The hospital was looking for resources. They did not have internal resources that really could manage this complex wound. They were considering medevacking that patient 500 miles to the next higher acuity hospital. But they reached out to us and our nurse did an assessment, was able to come up with with a treatment plan that they felt comfortable with administering in the facility and they were able to keep that patient. So it was about almost $2,000 a day in revenue retention, but also that patient remained in the community. It’s a critical access hospital so we helped transition to a swing bed and really helped maximize that patient’s clinical and financial outcomes. Again, somewhat of a dramatic case, but we hear it all the time across the country.
Speaker 3: 10:41
No, but you had a good point, as you and Mike talked about, with the out-migration patterns, I believe, in particular for wound care was a lot less of a retention rate than many other medical conditions as far as retaining those patients within the county versus the out-migration to other areas, and as well as that potential net gain even though it’s low volume to your point, the low cost equaling that $400,000 or $500,000 net revenue impact of retaining such a patient load was a lot more eye-catching than I think even we anticipated.
Speaker 2: 11:24
I agree, there’s elaborate data points.
Speaker 3: 11:27
I think that you and Mike discussed on that bottom line just from the out-migration patterns, if nothing else, and you know I think we talked through too as well the sort of startup pro forma, if you will, that many CFOs if you’re listening have to go through. Well, there isn’t the upfront capital cost to Joe’s point, there is the net revenue, potential retainment that you’re losing, so kind of a win-win, even if you think there’s a low volume service such as this. With all that said, joe, any wrap-up points around how you and Mike sort of painted the whole picture from both the clinical and financial side behind such a service.
Speaker 2: 12:04
Yeah, I totally agree with you that the data was much more compelling than we even thought it could be. You know, I think you mentioned the whole ER out migration and the data indicated that only about 45% of patients with WUD-related ER visits were retained, compared to 65, 65 to 70% for other conditions. And then when you add in the loss follow up care, you know it was a significant exposure but also a significant opportunity and the return on investment. As you mentioned, it’s almost no capital investment to engage with Core Strata because we have a very streamlined workflow. We tap into whatever equipment the facility is currently using for telemedicine or documentation, and so really the true cost is just that variable component on having access to a board-certified wound specialist seven days a week.
Speaker 1: 13:10
And I have to imagine more than just the financial benefit to an organization. There has to be patient satisfaction increased too, because they’re not having to transfer or their wound actually starts to heal, you know, and overall better patient outcomes. So I think there’s definitely a non-fiduciary benefit to this kind of service.
Speaker 2: 13:34
It’s a great point, aaron, and so a couple of points on that. I think just the standpoint of the patient and family being able to remain in the community. I mean in that one Alaska example that patient’s family was gonna have to travel 500 miles to be with that patient, that’s just almost criminal. But then also just the protection of the hospital as far as documentation, legal defensibility, survey, readiness, quality metrics, all of those play into it as well. That are maybe less, you know, financial metrics but certainly much higher quality metrics.
Speaker 1: 14:19
That’s great, joe. I know we’re coming right up on time. Thank you so much for joining us yet again behind our microphones here, and thank you for helping with that webinar a few weeks ago. I do want to remind our listeners the webinar is available on our website, shplccom slash webinars, and you can watch the full webinar. There’s some great slides. Mike and Joe spent close to an hour breaking it down. So, joe, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: 14:52
Thank you so much, aaron. You know I think Mike and I are both somewhat data geeks and I think we would love to really explore with persons listening whether there may be some opportunities to explore expansion of wound care programs in the rural setting.
Speaker 1: 15:13
If someone wanted to reach out to you, joe, how would they do that?
Speaker 2: 15:18
Sure. So Corsstradacom is easy to remember the website and has a lot of information. We’ve recently done a lot of information. We’ve recently done a lot of blog posts on how to really maximize wound care in the rural setting, and there’s a lot of ways to get in touch through our website, corseradacom.
Speaker 1: 15:40
Corseradacom. Okay, we’ll also have a link in our show notes for those that are interested in learning more. And with that, jason, you want to land this plane.
Speaker 3: 15:50
Yeah, thanks again everybody for listening to us and for Joe for taking the time again to webinar now. Recap of the webinar. Appreciate the time and listen out for us next time as we recap and preview future events. With that. Hope everybody have a wonderful day. Future events With that.
Speaker 1: 16:04
I hope everybody have a wonderful day, and that’s it for this episode of Beyond the Stethoscope Vital Conversations with SHP. I’m Aaron Henry.
Speaker 3: 16:14
I’m Jason Crosby, still talking to the mic as if it was my full-time job.
Speaker 1: 16:23
This podcast is a production of Strategic Healthcare Partners, where healthcare meets data and still somehow ends up in a podcast. Our executive producers are Mike.
Speaker 3: 16:27
Skrimner and John Crew, who keep this train on the tracks even when Aaron and I try to derail it.
Speaker 1: 16:33
We’re doing our best. Speaking of doing our best, our editor, nyla Weave, deserves an award for turning our verbal chaos into something somewhat coherent Kudos for sure.
Speaker 3: 16:44
Let’s also give a shout out to our social media. It’s handled by Jeremy Miller at boost by design, so if you liked it, give him some applause. If not, let’s blame Aaron.
Speaker 1: 16:53
It wouldn’t be the first time our transcription is by a robot, but it’s been lightly massaged into readable English by your two hosts, oh, for whom are supposedly human debatable and if you really like the transcription, dig through our podcast archive or check out our services at shplccom slash podcast.
Speaker 3: 17:12
Go ahead, click around, have some fun while you’re at it. We’ll wait for you.
Speaker 1: 17:15
And also come find us on social media. We’re on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can send us a question, leave a comment, troll us a little bit or, more importantly, tell Jason that his dad jokes need some work. That one stings a little bit.
Speaker 3: 17:30
Thanks for hanging with us everybody. We’ll be back soon in your feeds.
Speaker 1: 17:34
Assuming no one pulls the plug, or trips over it, for that matter. But until then, stay curious, stay healthy and keep asking the vital questions, maybe stay hydrated.
Speaker 3: 17:45
Just a thought. Bye y’all.
Speaker 1: 17:52
So, Jason, I just got a text message here. My friend’s bakery just burned down.
Speaker 3: 17:58
Oh man.
Speaker 1: 17:59
Yeah, his business is toast oh.
Speaker 3: 18:03
Ha, ha, ha oh.