32 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • JANUARY 7, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy (TOWT) FACTS What it does: Topical Oxygen Therapy is the delivery of 100% oxygen directly to an open moist wound at a pressure health slightly higher than atmospheric pressure. It helps cure chronic, hard-to-heal wounds caused by diabetes and other diseases. How does it work? A patient, in the comfort and familiarity of his or her own home, applies the oxygen directly to the wound with easy-to-use FDA-cleared topical oxygen products provided by GWR Medical. A patient applies topical oxygen for 90 minutes per day for four consecutive days and takes three days off. Treatments continue until a doctor considers the wound healed. What kinds of wounds are treated? Topical oxygen is most used to treat wounds related to diabetes. Other FDA-cleared uses include pressure ulcers, venous ulcers, skin grafts, burns, amputations, infected stumps, frostbite, post-surgical infections and lesions. When is topical oxygen used? Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy is used to treat chronic wounds when other standard wound treatments have failed. In many cases, that means the next option is in-hospital treatments that are more expensive and less effective, or amputation. How effective is TOWT? Nearly 50% of the time, chronic wounds treated with Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy completely heal, and 75% of the time wounds are healed enough that they respond to other treatments. Additionally, data from the US Food and Drug Administration show that Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy is one of the safest wound care therapies available. Who benefi ts from TOWT? All New York Medicaid members have access to TOWT as an eligible benefi t. The vast majority of GWR Medical’s patients live in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Harlem. Is it expensive? Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy is the least expensive advanced treatment for these wounds and is 23-87% cheaper than the alternatives. Plus it allows patients to be treated in their homes and to avoid expensive, inconvenient and often physically taxing transportation to a hospital or outpatient clinic. What is happening to preserve this treatment for New Yorkers? Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy has been available to Medicaid patients since 2008. Legislation was introduced in 2015 to ensure Medicaid coverage for Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy remains available permanently. This legislation was subsequently passed unanimously by the NYS Senate and is pending in the NYS Assembly. The legislation is sponsored by Assistant Assembly Speaker Felix W. Ortiz (D-Kings), Senator Kevin Parker (D-Kings), an d Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr. (D-Bronx). For more information: Paul Basciani, GWR Medical: (917) 891-1100, pbasciani@woundrx. com, or visit our web site: www.woundrx.com Ms. Faviola Serrano (right) is interviewed by NY1 Health Reporter Erin Billups in March 2015 Brooklyn resident Fabiola Serrano suffers from HIV, asthma and diabetes. In danger of having both her feetamputated, her doctors prescribed a last resort topical oxygen wound therapy, which circulates oxygen justto the area around the wound. “The oxygen treatment was the best thing that ever happened, because I couldhave lost my leg,” she said. See Erin Billups’ NY1 story here: http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/health-andmedicine/ 2015/04/21/medicaid-wound-therapy-option-now-in-jeopardy.html Dr. Jaideep Chopra, DPM, SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Private Practice in Brooklyn. LEADING DOCTOR ENDORSES TOPICAL OXYGEN WOUND THERAPY “Patients suffering from chronic wounds related to diabetes, amputations, vascular dis- eases and arterial insuffi ciency and other ailments can benefi t from Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy. These patients deserve to have access to a treatment that can heal their wounds while being administered in the comfort of their home. “Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy has a very good success rate, and is used only when other treatments have failed. In Brooklyn, I see a great many patients with chronic wounds related to diabetes or vascular diseases that this treatment can help. This is a safe and effective therapy for chronic wounds that should be available to all who need it.”
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