The Wound Company

The Wound Company (also referred to as The Wound Co., legal name The Wound Company, Inc.) is a Minneapolis-based health care company that delivers wound and ostomy care virtually and in person to patients in homes, facilities, clinics and hospitals nationwide. Care is provided by WOCNCB-certified wound and ostomy specialists who create wound and ostomy management plans, provide supply recommendations, education on wound assessment, SOP development, and unlimited coordination and consultation with patients and their existing care teams via text, email, phone and video.

The company pairs this clinical staffing model with a technology platform that includes clinical documentation, SMS/email/phone/video communication, iOS and Android applications, workflow automation for wound and ostomy billing, coding and documentation, EMR/customer data integration, clinical reporting, predictive analytics and AI. The platform is used to identify and triage patients by wound risk, predict healing outcomes and intervene early. Conditions addressed include complex surgical wounds, pressure injuries, leg ulcers, diabetic foot wounds, malignant wounds due to cancer, ostomies and incisions. The company also provides the Virtual Ostomy Clinic offered through the United Ostomy Associations of America (UOAA), a 30-day program combining telehealth ostomy assessments by Zoom, supply and pouching recommendations, skin complication management, and ongoing support by email and SMS.

Founding story

Co-founders Nima Ahmadi (CEO) and Dr. Sanford Roberts (Chief Medical Officer), a general surgeon, met while studying at Stanford University. Ahmadi, originally from California, moved to Minnesota for a role at health care software firm Icario and previously worked at Cardiovascular Systems, later acquired by Abbott, where he served as head of innovation; he had earlier started a mobile care-management and preventative health platform that managed 15 million Medicare Advantage and Medicaid patients for health plans. Wound care was personal for Ahmadi, whose uncle became a double amputee from improperly healed wounds; after working on prosthetics for amputees he shifted toward preventing amputations.

Business model

The company operates a B2B model: it contracts with health plans, risk-bearing providers, hospices and home care agencies rather than serving patients directly, and states that its services are available to patients only through partnerships with other health care organizations. It employs its own internal team of specialist nurses to maintain consistency of care.

Arrangements described include acting as a preferred in-network provider for health plans to reduce PMPM costs, subcapitated/guaranteed savings or shared savings contracts with risk-bearing providers, and fixed per-patient fees paid by home health and hospice partners.

Traction

At the time of its June 2023 seed announcement the company employed about 25 people, many of them wound-certified nurses, offered virtual care nationally and was authorized for in-person care in a small number of states including Minnesota, and reported partnerships with some of the largest health systems in Minnesota as well as home care and hospice providers in the state. The company reports averaging 58% cost savings PMPM on total wound care spending and a healing rate for complex wounds achieved despite 80% of wounds being more severe based on BWAT scores; earlier coverage cited cost savings of up to 50% on wound care spending for providers.

Latest developments

The company markets a Virtual Ostomy Clinic provided in conjunction with the United Ostomy Associations of America, a 30-day telehealth ostomy support program including comprehensive Zoom assessments, supply selection guidance and ongoing text and email support.