by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 24, 2020 | COVID-19, Fight the Good Fight
The Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders continues its strong (and successful) advocacy helping wound management practitioners care for their patients and help patients access care during the COVID-19 crisis. The Alliance has collated important information and put it...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 23, 2020 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
In February of 2019, CMS approved hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as a topic for audit by the RACs (Recovery Audit Contractors) (see links below). I have not heard of any hospital getting a RAC audit, perhaps because of the COVID crisis, but it doesn’t appear that...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 22, 2020 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Yesterday there was a news report on one of the clinical trials using hyperbaric oxygen therapy to reduce the need for intubation in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. There is nothing magic about a hyperbaric chamber for COVID-19 related hypoxia. It is simply a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 21, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Here’s a guest blog from Dr. Helen Gelly on the topic of off-campus facility reimbursement, which has implications regarding the prospect of “site neutrality”. For more information on the topic of site neutrality, read this article by Dr. Helen Gelly, “Uncharted...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 20, 2020 | COVID-19
With Texas hospitals nearly at capacity, this past Tuesday, the state saw its highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases (10,859). There are now 281,085 known cases statewide. The same day, three top officials in the Center for Disease Control (CDC) published a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 17, 2020 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT
If you are interested in understanding more about helmet oxygenation systems, here is a fantastic app that will walk you through it. Here is additional information about the helmet system vendors and pricing (with thanks to Julio Garcia who provided the information...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 16, 2020 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
This article was provided by my friend and colleague, Julio R. Garcia RN, WCC, ACHRN, Program Director for the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine at Springhill Medical Center. “Helmet-based ventilation” may become even more vital as battles continue with...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 15, 2020 | COVID-19
Check out this free JAMA article by Wiersinga and colleagues that provides a concise review of the pathophysiology, transmission, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. In the same online issue of JAMA is an article discussing the high prevalence of persistent symptoms...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 14, 2020 | COVID-19, Dr. Marissa Carter
Here’s another fascinating article by my friend and colleague, Dr. Marissa Carter. I believe she is an unbiased voice in the cacophony of experts, and provides insights unavailable elsewhere. I appreciate her taking the time to write these articles and share them....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 13, 2020 | COVID-19
Here is a guest blog from Helen Gelly, MD. I could not have said it better. — Caroline Bright, intelligent, and (reasonably) well-educated medical professionals have seemingly lost their minds — tweeting and re-posting articles on social media about how...
