by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 12, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight
Dr. Fife, Recently I was interviewing a WOCN nurse for an inpatient wound care position. The nurse told me that at her previous hospital, she performed bedside surgical wound debridements in hospitalized patients (e.g., 11042) and reported the CPT code to be included...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 9, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight
I just read an article in the American Medical Association (AMA) news focused on residency training that identified “8 traits that make great doctors.” The author, Ami DeWaters, MD, explained that when assessing their own competency, resident physicians (probably like...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 8, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
CMS has published an Outpatient Payment System (OPPS) correction notice in the Federal Register which contains additional information about the data error that led to CMS to arrive at an inaccurate cost for the hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) hospital facility fee...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 7, 2024 | Miscellaneous Musings
February 1st was “World Leprosy Day” and I confess, I did not have that on my calendar. I have actually seen a patient in the wound center with leprosy. It’s endemic in Texas and about 200 new cases are reported each year. I thought the way that the leprosy awareness...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 6, 2024 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Like most folks, I am thrilled that patients with lymphedema might have access to much needed supplies like compression bandages, stockings and garments, thanks to the Lymphedema Treatment Act! However, whenever a new “benefit” is added by Medicare, it invariably has...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 5, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
I know there are people out there who eat, sleep, and breathe Excel spreadsheets of clinical codes. God bless you if you are one of those people! That means we need you to comment on the design of the cost measure for “non-pressure ulcers.” I’ve provided the links to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 2, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight
I have posted a lot of articles about why under Medicare’s Quality Payment Program (QPP), the future of wound care practitioners is in jeopardy because we do not have a recognized specialty. In 2017 when CMS was still providing very detailed performance reports (which...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 1, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
Cost Measures in the Quality Payment Program (QPP) As I have discussed before, CMS thinks that I practice family medicine. Since nearly half the patients with chronic non-healing wounds have heart failure, CMS thinks that I am their primary care doctor (PCP) because I...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jan 26, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Quality Payment Program
The data submission period for Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) 2023 performance year is underway, and closes April 1 at 7 pm CT. At stake is a pay cut of up to 9% in the 2025 payment year. MIPS-eligible physicians and health professionals must...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jan 25, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight
On Tuesday, January 30th at 12:00 pm ET, the Amputation Prevention Alliance will host a webinar, Preventing Diabetes-Related Amputations: Missed Opportunities in the Patient Care Journey. The Webinar is being released in conjunction with the American Diabetes...
