by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 26, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Lymphatic Imaging & Lymphedema
I was reflecting on my day in clinic yesterday in which there was an unusual amount of good news in terms of wounds improved or closed. Of course the patients with congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation were desaturating and short of breath – but they did...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 20, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
In 2017, many wound care practitioners failed MIPS Quality Measures because the EHRs they paid good money for didn’t do their freaking job. In 2017, the US Wound Registry (USWR) reported Merit Based Incentive Payment Program (MIPS) data on behalf of wound care...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 19, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
On Friday December 14, 2018 a federal judge ruled that the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) was unconstitutional. The ruling came almost exactly 245 years after another famous American dispute over taxes. On December 16, 1773, a group of colonists...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 17, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
I just read this incredible post by Michael Lynch, the CEO of Trinity Pharmaco-Solutions. While I have reservations that earlier use of a cellular product will be THE answer (given that nearly one third of the chronic wounds and ulcers are the “wounds with no name”...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 17, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
The 2018 Quality Payment Program Exception Application period ends on December 31, 2018 If you are a practitioner who is subject to the Merit Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), for the 2018 reporting year, there are two types of exceptions for which you might be...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 13, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
Two of my patients have told me that during open enrollment (which just ended) they were told that traditional Medicare was no longer available and they had to choose a Medicare Advantage (MA) Plan. I have advised several wound care patients to change from an MA plan...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 12, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
Austin Public Health and the Austin Transportation Department is partnering with three CDC epidemiologists to look at the health risks of dockless scooters. I’m waiting for the CDC to investigate injuries from patient scooters, which I am seeing with increasing...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 10, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
Last week CMS rejected a quality measure developed by the US Wound Registry (USWR) which was the Appropriate Use of Surgical Dressings from a DME for patients with wounds. That quality measure was designed to drive the electronic ordering of wound dressings for home...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 6, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
This week I saw a lady who has already lost one leg due to ischemia. Now her right foot has been “turning red” (her words) and she’s started sleeping in a chair due to foot pain. I showed her the way her foot changes color from dependency (photo 1)...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 4, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
Late last Friday night my son called to tell me that President George HW Bush had died. The students at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M were on their way to the Bush school campus for a candlelight vigil, a few photos of which...