Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), with either durable or disposable devices, is a method of wound care to manage wound fluids and help wounds heal. The vacuum assisted drainage collection (i.e., NPWT) may be applied to try to cleanse the wound by removing fluids and stimulate healing.
In NPWT, your clinician will use a device that will apply negative pressure (suction) to the wound. Negative pressure is applied under airtight wound dressings to promote the healing of open wounds resistant to prior treatments.
Durable NPWT devices are powered with electrically or battery. Disposable devices do not use electricity but rather energy from batteries (e.g, PICO, V.A.C. Via, Prevena) or a spring mechanism (e.g., SNaP, CISNAP) to ensure portability. Durable NPWT can be bulky and interfere with normal activities. Disposable NPWT devices are portable, and can be applied more quickly and easily. Patients can wear under their clothing and continue their normal daily activities.
For Medicare to cover this product, it needs to be ordered and applied by your clinician. A patient cannot purchase it directly from a Durable Medical Equipment (DME) store and receive reimbursement from Medicare for it. However, this product is also available for purchase from some stores on an out-of-pocket basis (with no reimbursement from Medicare).
