by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 23, 2021 | Healthcare Payment Policy
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) moves slowly but once they start down a path, they don’t stop (no matter who is the President). In 2008 they started down a path to link Physician payment to patient outcome. It doesn’t seem real yet. If you do...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 19, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
This interview with one of my patients was filmed one day before my hospital closed to visitors at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The story is so incredible I wanted the patient to tell it herself so I was thrilled when, a few days ago, the Microgen team sent me...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 16, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Miscellaneous Musings
You have to watch this! Dr. Monique Abner is a Plastic Surgeon and Wound Care Physician and she’s also one of the most creative and FUN people I know. A few years ago (in the good old days when we got to physically see each other at medical meetings), a group of us...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 16, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
This past Saturday morning (August 14th), a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit southern Haiti. To make matters worse, a tropical storm is headed that way which will complicate search and rescue. If you are moved to donate money in the face of these tragedies, I’d like to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 11, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight
My Father’s 2 year old baby brother died of tetanus in about 1929 after a minor cut to his foot. I’ve read about tetanus but thanks to modern vaccines, I’ve never seen a case. (If you want to read a chilling description of a death from tetanus, read about the death of...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 10, 2021 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Tales of the Medicare Disadvantaged, The Patient's Voice
Why my patient with Medicare Advantage does not have any wound dressings, even though he has had “skilled home health” for 3 weeks. And to make this more fun, my hospital says we are spending too much staff time on each patient so we need to see them faster. This...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 6, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Miscellaneous Musings
I love practicing medicine because every day there is a mystery to ponder and I also hear great patient stories! The daughter of one of my patients is a remarkable woman whose amazing dog has been trained for search and rescue and as a “cadaver dog.” These are tough...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 5, 2021 | COVID-19, COVID-19 Diaries
I’m sorry to say that the courageous author of “COVID Diaries” is back working in the ICU, preparing for another wave of critically sick COVID patients. In my own suburban hospital, there are 75 COVID patients hospitalized right now, 72 of whom are unvaccinated...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 2, 2021 | Miscellaneous Musings
A lot of hyperbaric medicine physicians got into the field because they loved scuba diving. But, when the pressures of life and work take over, we often stop doing the things we love and then wonder why the joy has gone out of life. I recently met Joe Poe, an...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 21, 2021 | Healthcare Payment Policy
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has just released the proposed rule for Calendar Year (CY) 2022 on the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Centers (APCs). If you are currently working in a hospital-based outpatient...
