On October 8th, Med Page Today published an opinion piece by physicians Thomas Lally and Michael Millie about the increasing use of skin substitutes in chronic wounds. Their independent medical group cares for more than 100,000 seniors across 17 states, which gives the practice an opportunity to see the way that skin substitutes are being used across a wide geographic area and in many different patients. They describe the cases they have seen of patients receiving skin substitutes at the end of life, in the absence of appropriate basic wound care, in excessive amounts (e.g., 30 applications over 5 months without wound closure), and becoming septic when wound infections went unrecognized. It is hard to balance patient access with overuse, but in their view, the proposed fixed rate payment model proposed by CMS would be an improvement.
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.
