Must Wound Clinics & Mobile Practitioners Report Pressure Injuries at Home as Serious Reportable Events?
In a recent post, Dr. Caroline Fife alerts healthcare providers to key updates from the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) new 2025 Serious Reportable Events (SREs) guidelines, which now impact outpatient and mobile wound care professionals. Community-based pressure injuries—including those that develop at home—may need to be reported under the revised definitions.
Key Highlights:
- Expanded SRE Scope: The 2025 update extends SRE reporting requirements to ambulatory settings, explicitly including hospital-based outpatient wound centers, office-based specialty clinics, and mobile wound care providers.
- Pressure Injuries Included: Stage 3, Stage 4, and deep tissue injuries that are both “acquired after admission” and deemed “likely avoidable” now qualify as reportable events—covering injuries that emerge in the home.
- Key Definitions Challenged: The terms “likely avoidable,” “patient harm” (including emotional or functional impairment), and “after admission” create complexities in outpatient contexts—especially when patients were not “admitted” in the traditional sense.
- Reporting Ambiguity: Dr. Fife notes uncertainty around responsibility: Will mobile practitioners and clinics be held accountable? Must cases be reported to state health departments through HOPD or hospital systems?
- Stage Shift Concern: Since 2016, classification updates by NPIAP mean even superficial lesions may be labeled Stage 3, raising concerns that minor wounds could now trigger mandatory SRE reporting.
This advisory calls for practitioners to review the proposed SRE language and submit comments by the July 1, 2025 deadline—especially regarding definitional clarity in outpatient settings.
Source: Caroline Fife, M.D. – “Must Wound Clinics & Mobile Practitioners Report Pressure Injuries / Ulcers Occurring in the Home as SREs?” June 20, 2025.
Keywords: pressure injuries, serious reportable events, ambulatory settings, mobile wound care, regulatory policy