Hospital-acquired pressure injuries could cost U.S. hospitals more than $26.8 billion a year, according to a study in the International Wound Journal. About 59% of that cost comes from a small share of Stage 3 and Stage 4 wounds. Those are the injuries that start small and get missed.
Most hospitals still rely on turning schedules and periodic skin checks to prevent them. Those protocols work only as well as staff memory and charting allow. CMS will soon measure the results publicly, so pressure injury prevention technology has moved from “nice to have” to a quality and reporting priority.
Pressure injury prevention technology is any system that helps care teams detect risk, prompt repositioning, and document care before skin damage develops. Ambient vision AI, such as VirtuSense’s VSTOne, does this with camera-based edge AI. It observes patient movement and position in the room and processes everything on the device, so no video leaves the room.
This post covers how the technology works, what pressure injuries cost, what CMS’s new measure requires, and how the main approaches compare.
Key takeaway: Pressure injuries are costly and largely preventable, but turning schedules and periodic skin checks leave gaps. Pressure injury prevention technology, especially ambient vision AI like VirtuSense’s VSTOne, monitors patient movement continuously, alerts staff when a patient hasn’t moved, and logs repositioning automatically. CMS’s Hospital Harm – Pressure Injury measure is mandated for the CY 2028 reporting period, so hospitals that build reliable documentation now will be better prepared.
Pressure injury prevention technology works by tracking how long a patient stays in one position. It alerts staff before risk builds and records each repositioning, so care is documented rather than assumed.
Repositioning is the foundation of pressure injury prevention. The hard part is doing it consistently for every at-risk patient on every shift. A busy unit can’t watch every patient continuously, and a missed turn may not show up until a Stage 2 injury appears.
Ambient vision AI closes that gap in five steps:
The result is a prevention protocol that runs all the time, not only when someone has a free moment to check.
U.S. hospital-acquired pressure injuries could cost more than $26.8 billion a year in acute care (in 2016 dollars). Roughly 59% of that comes from Stage 3 and Stage 4 wounds.
That figure comes from a national cost analysis published in the International Wound Journal in 2019. It points to a clear lesson: costs climb steeply with severity. A Stage 2 injury caught early is far cheaper to manage than a full-thickness wound found late.
For hospital leaders, prevention and early detection are the most direct ways to control pressure injury costs. They also protect length of stay, patient experience, and quality scores.
CMS’s Hospital Harm – Pressure Injury measure (CMS826v3) counts new pressure injuries that develop during an inpatient stay. Reporting is mandated for the CY 2028 reporting period.
According to the eCQI Resource Center and the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP), the measure:
Because CMS will abstract data from the EHR, documentation quality matters as much as clinical practice. For a full preparation checklist, read CMS’s New Pressure Injury Rule: What Hospitals Must Do Before 2028.
Each approach covers a different part of the problem. The differences are in what gets monitored, what gets documented automatically, and what the patient has to wear or lie on.
Many hospitals use more than one of these together. Ambient vision AI stands out because it requires no patient contact and builds documentation automatically.
VirtuSense’s VSTOne is an ambient vision AI platform that supports pressure injury prevention without wearables, pressure pads, or patient contact. Its camera-based edge AI tracks patient position and movement, alerts staff when repositioning is due, and logs each turn. All processing happens on the device. No one views a live feed, and no video is sent to servers.
VSTOne also covers fall prevention on the same platform, so hospitals don’t need two separate systems (read why one platform matters). Health systems using VSTOne have reported strong returns. Froedtert ThedaCare Health reports 4.5x ROI and Kaiser Permanente reports 4x ROI.
How can hospitals prevent pressure injuries with technology?
Hospitals can use technology that detects when a patient has stayed in one position too long, alerts staff, and logs repositioning. Options include pressure-mapping surfaces, wearable sensors, and ambient vision AI. VirtuSense’s VSTOne uses camera-based edge AI to monitor patient movement without contact or wearables.
Can AI help reduce hospital-acquired pressure injuries?
AI can make repositioning more consistent and better documented, which strengthens prevention protocols. Evidence varies by product, so hospitals should ask vendors for outcome data from comparable units. VirtuSense’s VSTOne uses on-device AI to flag patients who are not being repositioned on schedule.
What is the CMS Hospital Harm – Pressure Injury measure?
It is an electronic clinical quality measure (CMS826v3) that counts new Stage 2–4, unstageable, and deep tissue pressure injuries that develop during an inpatient stay. Reporting is mandated for the CY 2028 reporting period. Hospitals need accurate present-on-admission status and timely skin exam documentation.
How much does a hospital-acquired pressure injury cost?
A 2019 study in the International Wound Journal estimated U.S. hospital-acquired pressure injury costs could exceed $26.8 billion (in 2016 dollars). About 59% of those costs come from Stage 3 and Stage 4 wounds. Costs rise sharply with severity, which is why early detection matters.
Preventing pressure injuries and documenting that prevention are now the same problem. Turning schedules and skin checks remain essential, but they depend on manual effort that breaks down on busy units. Continuous, privacy-safe monitoring helps make sure repositioning happens and gets recorded. With CMS reporting coming in 2028, now is the time to see how ambient vision AI fits your pressure injury program.
See how VSTOne supports pressure injury prevention — request a demo