by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 28, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitute Arrests, CTP / Skin Substitutes
Yesterday (June 27th) the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the two wound care company owners have been accused of accepting more than $330 million in kickbacks as part of a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for amniotic grafts. The report states that more...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 27, 2024 | Nutrition & Wound Healing
In a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Tirzepatide for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Obesity, Tirzepatide (the medication in the weight-loss drug Zepbound and also the diabetes treatment Mounjaro), appeared to reduce the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 26, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes, Fight the Good Fight
How much do you think that price impacts the way that CTPs (skin subs) are selected in the office setting? One reader sent me this thought – which is testable statistically (although I do not have access to the data to do it): “Dr. Fife, I could be wrong, but I think...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 20, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight
Here I am at dinner with the illustrious Hyperbaric Medicine and wound care team from the Philippines at the UHMS meeting in New Orleans! This small group of physician leaders is revolutionizing care for an entire country. These are the kind of people who start new...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
Paracelsus.-Fife-for-handout Here’s the PDF of the presentation I gave at the recent Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society meeting on using the PARACELSUS scoring system to diagnose pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) – since you can’t trust a biopsy! I am NOT a Dermatologist...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 14, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes, Fight the Good Fight
I have blogged a lot about the problems in the CTP/skin substitute industry. If a product is say, 10 times more expensive than another one, then it needs to be 10 times better, right? Otherwise, why is it more expensive? (Pretend that making a profit off of the cost...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 12, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Tales of the Medicare Disadvantaged, The Patient's Voice
Dr. Fife, I read your article about the problem with physician payments from Medicare. I agree that Medicare should pay physicians more. But right now, I am struggling with the rate increases on all my insurance plans! I am a disabled person who pretty much lives in...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 7, 2024 | Dr. Marissa Carter, Fight the Good Fight
Check out the live interview that Dr. Marissa Carter and I did about why patients with chronic wounds are so sick! This project began a few years ago when I was testing the feasibility of a quality measure that could be reported by wound care practitioners as part of...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 6, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Join me for the pre-meeting on “Advances in Wound Management” at the annual Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society meeting next week in New Orleans! It will be a fantastic meeting! Check out the program and register here: Pre-course 2 – Undersea &...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 4, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Quality Payment Program
The AMA has a series called “What’s Wrong with Medicare Physician Payment,” and 4 of the 6 points in this article address the weaknesses of the Quality Payment Program (QPP). Three of those focus around issues related to the Merit Based Incentive Payment System...
