As the co-chair of the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders, I am asking for your support for the Alliance. No other organization has done more to help wound care practitioners and organizations. COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon. Help us advocate for wound care. — Caroline
The COVID-19 epidemic has disrupted and rapidly transformed wound care. Many hospitals have decided to or are considering whether to close wound care clinics. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued sweeping policy changes. Throughout, the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders has been taking action on behalf of the wound care community to ensure that policymakers, government agencies and hospital administrators understand the value of wound care when they make decisions.
We’re writing today to ask for your support as an association, business entity or individual by donating to our COVID-19 Emergency Fund to ensure that the Alliance can continue our tremendous advocacy and education efforts to protect wound care practices and patients.
No other organization is doing the work for wound care that the Alliance is doing on behalf not only of its members, but the wound care community as a whole.
It takes tremendous effort to stay on top of each change, interpret the implications for wound care, and bring together diverse stakeholders into a strong, single voice to defend essential wound care services.
Since its founding in 2002, the Alliance has been the collective voice of wound care physician and clinical associations, manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, and wound care clinics advocating for appropriate coding, coverage and payment with regulators and policy makers. In this age of COVID-19, our work is more important than ever.
When it became apparent that significant changes in the healthcare system would disrupt wound care practice due to COVID-19, the Alliance for Wound Care Stakeholders immediately jumped into action:
- We helped keep wound care clinics open: We quickly galvanized our members to disseminate a powerful statement to ensure that wound care is identified as “essential”: “Wound Care is an Essential Not Elective Service.”
- As a result, many wound care clinics that had been threatened with closure remain open to treat patients.
- We succeeded in attaining wound care regulatory relief from CMS in order for clinicians to treat patients more efficiently, and for clinics and manufacturers to obtain clarity with new regulations. Throughout this emergency, we are in continuous contact with CMS to ensure that our issues are addressed.
- Our most recent “win” came on April 30 when CMS released its updated Interim Final Rule related to COVID-19 provisions and, in it, highlighted “wound care” plus incorporated some of the significant changes we requested in our detailed April 6 letter to CMS and Health and Human Services (HHS) leadership.
- We established wound care’s COVID-19 Action and Resource Center as the “go-to” place for timely information, analysis, reimbursement and clinical articles – solely devoted to wound care!
Today, we need your support.
Join other businesses, associations and individuals whose wound care products and services are impacted by CMS’ quickly evolving policy revisions.
Ensure that the Alliance can continue its herculean advocacy efforts.
If you have questions or wish to learn more about the value of Alliance membership, contact executive director, Marcia Nusgart.
Thank you in advance for your generous support.
Sincerely,
Caroline Fife, MD, CWS, FUHM
Matthew G. Garoufalis, DPM, FASPS, FACFAOM, CWS
Co-Chairs, Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
The opinions, comments, and content expressed or implied in my statements are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the position or views of Intellicure or any of the boards on which I serve.
