by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 19, 2022 | Healthcare Payment Policy
SESSION 1: Keeping Payments After An Audit Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 5 pm EST Join Kathleen Schaum and me, as we explore the trends and threats of audits hitting wound care practitioners across America. Attendees are invited to ask questions and provide their...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 14, 2022 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, Healthcare Payment Policy
Check out the newest article about CMS NEWS in Today’s Wound Clinic – “Could Proposed Policy Changes in the 2023 Physician Fee Schedule Increase Amputations and Infections in Patients With Wounds?” by Marcia Nusgart, RPh. The Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders is...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 13, 2022 | Don't Miss This, Fight the Good Fight
My friend and colleague, Dr. Heather Hettrick, is a clinician and scientist whose boundless intellectual curiosity may be unraveling a mystery in the field of marine biology. Her work with green sea turtles represents “translational science,” this time from humans to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 6, 2022 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation estimates more than 23 million Americans have been affected by long COVID, which is why it is being described as a “mass disabling event.” It’s officially a disability under the Americans with Disability Act...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 30, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is an inflammatory skin disorder that causes excruciatingly painful skin ulcerations. It’s supposed to be rare, but it’s only rarely diagnosed. At any given time, I will have 8 or 10 patients with PG in my practice. Biopsies fail to diagnose...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 18, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
This is a story that only happens in the world of chronic wounds. It illustrates why wound care practitioners need to keep asking “What is this wound a symptom OF?” It also illustrates why patients often get worse care as a result of medical specialization because the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 15, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
Attention everyone in the Novitas jurisdiction! Novitas will host an Open Meeting on Friday, August 26, 2022, at 10:00 AM ET to allow the public to provide feedback about proposed Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs). The Open Meeting will be held via Webinar only....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 10, 2022 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, Healthcare Payment Policy
I’ve previously posted information about the sweeping changes to office-based payment of Cellular and/or Tissue-Based Products (CTPs) recently proposed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Office-based physicians will no longer be separately...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 9, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight
A few months ago, a woman brought her father in to see me for his leg edema. She had intervened when his health and his mental function deteriorated dramatically. When I walked in the door, I could tell he had sleep apnea. He was falling asleep as I talked to him, his...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 8, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight
My husband’s 10-year journey with dementia has been over for several years, but nearly every week I discover another friend or colleague who has embarked on the long goodbye. I can’t pretend to give anyone advice, but here are a few things I learned from my husband’s...
