by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 10, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Check out the article in the March issue of Today’s Wound Clinic by Dr. Helen Gelly – Patient Relationship Codes: Why We Need Them and the Unintended Consequences of Using Them. The patient relationship codes are vital to both Wound Management and...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 9, 2020 | Fight the Good Fight
I know I will get flowers on my birthday because nearly every year, it’s when the Texas wildflowers bloom. A dense field of Texas bluebonnets waving in the wind creates the optical illusion of water. It’s a tradition to photograph children among the bluebonnets. This...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 6, 2020 | Miscellaneous Musings
My clinic is small, and I share an office with my amazing nurses. It is positioned in such a way that I can see patients as they make their way down the hall to an examination room. We typically see patients once they are situated for our viewing pleasure, sitting on...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 4, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
I’ve blogged before about the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) process. I’m under a TPE over the handful of patients I treated with Medicare Fee for Service (FFS). I thought to myself, “OK the TPE process is clearly not triggered by patient volume so maybe it’s just...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 2, 2020 | Fight the Good Fight
Even when it’s not possible to fix what is physically wrong with patients, we can often improve their mental well-being. Sometimes the most important thing we can dispense is what I would call “grace.” I worry that it’s gotten harder to find healthcare professionals...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 28, 2020 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy, US Wound Registry
The Wound Care Evidence Summit will take place in Washington, D.C. April 1-2. If you are involved in this area, you need to register now because spots are limited. The meeting will convene commercial and government payer medical directors, the FDA, NIH senior staff,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 26, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Medicare review contractors (Medicare Administrative Contractors, Recovery Audit Contractors and the Supplemental Medical Review Contractor) develop and maintain lists of reasons for denying payment for Medicare covered services like hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT)....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 26, 2020 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
The Wound Care Evidence Summit will take place in Washington, D.C. April 1-2. If you are involved in this area, you need to register now because spots are limited. The meeting will convene commercial and government payer medical directors, the FDA, NIH senior staff,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 25, 2020 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
The Wound Care Evidence Summit will take place in Washington, D.C. April 1-2. If you are involved in this area, you need to register now because spots are limited. The meeting will convene commercial and government payer medical directors, the FDA, NIH senior staff,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 24, 2020 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy, US Wound Registry
There’s a big focus on finding surrogate measures for wound outcome. I thought I could save anyone working in this area some wasted time by letting you know what outcomes CMS doesn’t care about. I can’t speak to what the FDA might care about. Under the Merit Based...
