Another look, earlier
Don’t keep treating wounds that have stopped healing. A virtual evaluation answers the question in days.
Virtual Wound Care · Surgical Intervention · Washington, DC
Virtual wound care, with surgical intervention when a wound stalls.
CWS is the go-to for a stalled wound. We meet patients virtually, wherever they are, then deliver advanced surgical care in our own ambulatory surgical center when it is appropriate. A virtual consultation, and surgery when the wound needs it, without the wait.
The problem
Access to wound care has narrowed, right when a stalled wound needs it most.
Coverage changes and reimbursement cuts have thinned the options for patients whose wounds have stopped healing. When a wound has been treated for a while with no measurable progress, the answer is not another dressing. It is a second opinion from a surgical wound specialist, and CWS was built to bridge that gap.
The CWS Surgical Escalation Pathway™
From stalled healing to surgical recovery.
01 · Foundation
Conservative treatment
Dressings, offloading, compression, and evidence-based local care with the existing provider. Most wounds heal here.
02 · The signal
Healing stalls
No measurable progress despite appropriate care. The wound has plateaued, and the plan deserves a second look.
03 · The missing step
Virtual consultation
- Virtual consultation, usually within days
- Wound-certified provider assessment
- Bedside nurse validates the wound in person
- Surgical candidacy determined
04 · When appropriate
Move straight to surgery
- Transportation to the ASC arranged
- Debridement
- Surgical care reconstruction
- Biologics & peptides
05 · Continuity
Return to community
- Home health
- Skilled nursing
- Assisted living & LTC
06 · To closure
Virtual follow-up
Healing tracked to closure, with structured notes back to the existing care team after every encounter.
That pathway is what makes CWS different.
Why CWS
Not every wound needs surgery. But every wound that stops healing deserves another look.
CWS doesn’t replace the care team. We extend it: with surgical decision-making, virtual access, and an ambulatory setting built for same-day recovery when intervention is appropriate.
01 · Advanced expertise
Surgical wound specialists.
Board-certified, wound-certified surgical specialists who evaluate complex wounds and determine whether intervention may be appropriate. Evaluation first, always.
02 · Virtual surgical access
Expertise without the hospital visit.
Providers and families reach surgical wound expertise virtually, usually within days. Wound history, imaging, and photos reviewed before anyone travels anywhere.
03 · ASC-based intervention
Same-day recovery, when appropriate.
Our own ambulatory surgical center sits sixty feet from the clinic. When surgery is the right call, it happens without an unnecessary hospital stay.
When to consider an evaluation
Has this wound plateaued?
These indicators suggest a wound may deserve surgical evaluation. Any one of them is reason enough to ask the question.
- 01No measurable size reduction
- 02Increasing bioburden
- 03Persistent undermining
- 04Recurrent cellulitis
- 05Exposed tendon or bone
- 06Failed advanced dressings
- 07Recurrent wound breakdown
- 08Minimal improvement despite appropriate evidence-based care
A wound that is no longer progressing deserves another level of evaluation.
Request a Surgical Evaluation →Why an ASC
Advanced wound care without an unnecessary hospital stay.
When intervention is appropriate, it happens at Capital Surgical Center: the CWS ambulatory surgical center, sixty feet from the clinic. A real OR, not a procedure room with extra labels: sterile surgical environment, anesthesia support, imaging, and specialized equipment.
Patients arrive in the morning and recover at home the same day when clinically appropriate. The only DC wound practice with its own ambulatory surgical suite, and it exists to make the pathway shorter.
Inside the surgical center →
For providers
We don’t replace the care team. We extend it.
CWS works alongside the providers already caring for the patient, and the patient goes back to them.
Care that stays in place
Keep patients in place whenever appropriate. Evaluation, intervention, and return, with notes after every encounter.
Continuity by design
Earlier evaluation. Appropriate intervention. Continuity of care, back in the resident’s own environment.
The right level of care
Help reduce avoidable admissions when clinically appropriate, with an ambulatory surgical pathway for stalled wounds.
Three written commitments to every referring partner: intake in seven days or less, a structured note after every encounter, and same-day recovery without a hospital stay when a procedure is appropriate.
How we work with providers →Same patient, two paths
The old pathway, and the CWS way.
Earlier evaluation can help patients access the right level of care before complications become more severe.
The old pathway
Wait, worsen, escalate.
- Conservative care continues, visit after visit, without measurable progress.
- The wound stays open. Weeks become months.
- A complication forces the decision: an ED visit or a hospital admission.
- Surgery happens urgently, with a team meeting the patient for the first time.
- Recovery starts in a hospital bed, away from the original care team.
Where it ends
Later intervention, more disruption, and a harder road back to the patient’s own environment.
The CWS way
Evaluate earlier. Intervene when appropriate.
- Conservative care with the existing provider. The foundation stays.
- Healing stalls, and the plateau is recognized early.
- Virtual surgical evaluation, usually within days. History and imaging reviewed.
- When appropriate: ASC intervention with same-day recovery.
- Return to home, SNF, or assisted living. The original team continues care.
- Virtual follow-up tracks the wound to closure.
Where it loops back
The right care, at the right time, in the right setting, with the existing care team kept in the loop, and the patient’s quality of life protected throughout.
Continuity of care
The surgeon who evaluates the wound is the surgeon who operates when intervention is appropriate, and who follows the healing after.
Jonathan Johnson, MD, MBA, CWSP
Board-certified wound-care surgeon · Surgical Director, CWS
Meet Dr. Johnson →
For patients & families
Has your wound stopped improving?
In plain language: it isn’t getting smaller. It keeps reopening. Bone or tendon is visible. It keeps getting infected. It has been months. It stops you walking or sitting. It’s getting worse even though you’re following the treatment plan.
Our residents used to wait weeks to get in front of a wound specialist. Now we have same-week access to the clinic and the surgeon. The continuity is night and day.
What we needed was one call, one team, and a clean note back. We got all three. Our ED transfers for wound infections dropped noticeably in the first quarter.
My mother’s surgery was done in their own surgical center, not a hospital. Home that afternoon. The same surgeon she’d already met. I can’t overstate how much that mattered.
One question is enough to start: “Should I have this evaluated by a surgical wound specialist?”
Information for patients →
Dr. Wounds™ Direct Wound Care™
Expert wound care, wherever you are, for patients, providers & facilities
Get Wound Care Now
Virtual consultation · Surgery when appropriate · Return home
When healing stalls, don’t just wait.
Book a virtual consultation, and move straight to surgical care when the wound needs it. Whether you’re a patient, a family member, or the provider already managing the wound, protecting quality of life starts with one conversation.