by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 9, 2024 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Medicare Audits
I have been posting warnings about the increase in Medicare audits, especially for CTPs/skin subs and hyperbaric oxygen therapy for many years. Because everyone was being audited, I KNEW that my hospital-based outpatient department (HOPD) was going to be audited. The...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 5, 2024 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
(Plus a reminder from me about the possible benefit of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) To better understand and manage “long COVID”, physicians must first be able to define the condition. It’s been impossible to do that without consensus on the diagnosis. The National...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 4, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes
There’s a “problem” with the proposed LCD on CTPs/skin subs that no one is talking about. It’s a problem we’ve largely ignored for more than 20 years. To explain, I have to go back to 1998 when I was one of several sites for both the Apligraf and the Regranex clinical...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 3, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Dear Dr. Fife, For years you have been asking why it is so hard to do the right thing in wound care. I don’t know the answer, but this case is a great illustration of the problem. Here’s the photo of a patient I recently saw. He has had this diabetic foot ulcer for...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 29, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Miscellaneous Musings
Wang and colleagues recently published an article in JAMA Dermatology about primary cutaneous cryptococcus. The article is not available open access, so we can’t look at the photos of the case. However, in 2012, Dr. Adelaide Hebert and I published a case report of...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 28, 2024 | Miscellaneous Musings
This Medscape article caught my eye thanks to its attention grabbing title: ‘Blood Everywhere’: Nurses Control Intense In-Flight Crisis. It’s a well-written account of an in-flight emergency in which the writer, a nurse, saves the day. She describes the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 26, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
Noridian, besides being the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) for Medicare benefits within a specific area of the country, also handles Durable Medical Equipment (DME) benefits for Jurisdiction D. As a DME MAC, Noridian recently issued an “update” on the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 23, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitute Arrests, Skin Perfusion Pressure (SPP)
Last week I gave a talk at the Amputation Prevention Symposium entitled, “Elevate the CLI Patient’s Voice: Why it is so Important to do the Right Thing?” I have to confess that when the meeting organizers first asked me to explain why it’s important to do the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 21, 2024 | Lymphatic Imaging & Lymphedema
About six months ago I spent two days with some of my favorite people doing real time lymphatic imaging. The results have now been published as Case Report: The effect of automated manual lymphatic drainage therapy on lymphatic contractility in 4 distinct cases....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 19, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight
An article published in JAMA discusses the results of a survey to understand the “acceptability” of hospital-at-home care and the “potential capacity for caregiver burden.” Hospital at home provides hospital-level care for patients “with low to moderate acuity in the...
