Pressure ulcer care and public policy: exploring the past to inform the future.

Over the last 25 years, the quality of pressure ulcer (PrU) care has significantly changed because of sweeping public policy changes from the federal government. In fact, how clinicians think about PrU prevention and treatment can be traced back to several landmark changes made by the federal government that affect the continuum of healthcare. Moreover, the types of reimbursements for providers and institutions have dramatically changed in the last 25 years. The purpose of this article is to briefly review some of the major changes in long-term care, acute care, and home healthcare that have been impacted by public policy over the last 25 years.