Preventing Amputations Before They Begin

One in five Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes has undiagnosed peripheral artery disease. Eighty-five percent of amputations start as an untreated diabetic foot ulcer. Together, that makes limb loss one of the most preventable catastrophic outcomes in Medicare care — and one that standard practice usually doesn't catch until infection or ulceration has already set in.

Screening before the wound forms

Zero DFU screens for the vascular problem before it becomes a wound. Every enrolled practice receives rapid ABI/TBI screening for peripheral artery disease, performed in-office. At-risk patients go home with a connected foot-temperature monitor — a deviation of 2.2°C or more between feet triggers an automatic alert through the SYNC-PREVENT™ service, with confirmed risk routed straight to a wound care or vascular specialist. Podiatrists, who see this population daily, are a core referral partner in the model rather than an afterthought.

“PAD and DFU screening routinely surfaces overlapping cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic risk — most of these patients move into the broader SYNC-PREVENT™ service from here.”

The program also moves the CMS quality measures that carry the most weight for a practice — Acute Hospital Utilization, readmissions, and CAHPS patient experience — with the potential to lift Star ratings. More patients retain independent mobility. The rest is cost avoidance the health system keeps.