by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 29, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Nutrition & Wound Healing, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Earlier this month, I showed you some photos of a malnourished patient who I think has improved because of Argenaid. While there may be some things in the past that I miss, I confess that in the past I did not pay sufficient attention to nutritional issues. I’m...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 28, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
This is a photo of the patient I mentioned previously this month. It may be hard to get your bearings, but the gauze is over his tracheostomy at the anterior neck. The wound is on the lateral neck and you can see his major neck vessels exposed. This is metastatic...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 26, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
On September 28, 2015, CMS made available the 2014 Supplemental Quality and Resource Use Reports (QRURs) to every medical group practice and solo practitioner nationwide. Providers are identified in the Supplemental QRURs by their Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 23, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
It’s not IF but WHEN you get the notice of a payer audit. One day you will open your mail and receive the Notice of Audit. It’s no longer IF, but WHEN. What are you doing RIGHT NOW to ensure you will be successful when your time comes? Preparation is the key. ...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 22, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Today I saw a patient who would have benefitted incredibly from ultrasonic debridement. She has cutaneous calcinosis, terrible pain and her wounds are horribly colonized with nasty drainage like a lava flow. Last year I had an ultrasonic debriding machine on loan for...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 21, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
This is not “what is it” but “who is it?” Wednesday. This is Mario Martinez, cped. I am showing this slide as a reminder about how HARD off-loading can be. I can’t take any credit for this serendipitous situation, but it turns out that a terrific Orthotics group is in...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 20, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy
I saw a man who had been treated for tonsillar cancer a few years prior. He had recently undergone a biopsy of a lymph node in the left anterior cervical area and had developed an open draining wound on his neck. He had an HMO insurance policy from a major private...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 20, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
How can we get out of this silly problem of trials that don’t enroll our patients to get coverage for patients who really don’t need the product anyway? We need a way to risk stratify wounds that includes patient factors. Thanks to partial funding from a grant by KCI...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 16, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
Good morning and Happy Friday! Friday’s on the blog are reserved for “Ask the Physician Friday.” If you have any questions for me please feel free to leave them in the comments below, ask on Twitter (@carolinefifemd), or on Facebook (@Woodlands Wound Physicians). I...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 15, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Today I got an in-service on a new product and my Program Director informed me that since we were moving to a new system for ordering supplies and charging them, it was about to become darn near impossible to get new products. I remember back in the early 1990’s I...