by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 24, 2026 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes
Guest Blog by Michael Crouch Dr. Fife – Like you, I follow the blog of well-known healthcare attorney, Knicole Emanuel, and her recent post “The End of Chevron Deference: How Loper Bright Could Help Defendants Challenge Materiality in False Claims Act Cases |...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 22, 2026 | Nutrition & Wound Healing
I have watched many patients suffering from months of chronic non-healing wounds completely heal within a few weeks of normalizing their Vitamin D-25 levels (a treatment which cost about $10). The list of benefits of Vitamin D continues to grow and now includes a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 20, 2026 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Quality Payment Program
Last week I got a call from a hospital that employs two practitioners in their Hospital Based Outpatient Wound Center (HOPD). The clinic manager and the hospital quality officer said that they have employed these practitioners for years, and that, “We just heard about...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 17, 2026 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
If you prescribe medications electronically through your electronic health record (EHR), you have almost certainly encountered a “formulary alert” from a patient’s pharmacy benefit plan warning you that you must select a “lower tier” drug before the drug you are...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 15, 2026 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy, Tales of the Medicare Disadvantaged
Despite the hope that Medicare Advantage (MA) plans would offer valuable supplemental benefits (including dental, vision and hearing benefits), recent studies do not show that MA beneficiaries are getting more supplemental services than those enrolled in traditional...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 6, 2026 | Obesity & Wound Care
On Wednesday 4/1/26, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Eli Lilly’s new oral weight-loss pill, orforglipron, a GLP-1 drug that works like the widely used injectable medications. It’s the second daily oral medication to treat obesity and other...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 3, 2026 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes
In response to the dramatic change in CTP (“skin substitute”) payment methodology, an organization representing many skin substitute manufacturers and distributors sued the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Dr. Ryan Mathis, Director of Global Medical...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 1, 2026 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
The 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) included a one-year, 2.5% positive update for 2026 Medicare payment. It was better than nothing, but still does not come close to adjusting for inflation. (Physician payments are among the few sectors of medicine that do...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 30, 2026 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
I have blogged a lot about the boring topic of Medicare’s contract with Acumen to develop a cost measure for “non-pressure” ulcers (which means diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, arterial ulcers, and “generic” chronic ulcers – surgical wounds and traumatic...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 17, 2026 | Fight the Good Fight, Medicare Audits
The final MIPS reporting deadline for the 2025 performance year is March 31, 2026. In other words, you have until the last day of March to report MIPS data – that is, if you are required to report. The purpose of this article is to explain the unnecessarily...
