by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 21, 2020 | Miscellaneous Musings
Physician burnout is at an all-time high – and with it, the physician suicide rate. I don’t meet many nurses who say they love their job. Since I work with an amazing team, I can vouch for the fact that a good healthcare team can achieve clinical goals for the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 20, 2020 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, Healthcare Payment Policy
I feel like I should start this blog like the beginning of Star Wars, “Long ago, in a galaxy far away…“ Back in 2013, when insurance was less complicated, the US Wound Registry provided data for a medical student project under the supervision of Dr. Adelaide...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 19, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
To assist the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders in making its comments to CMS about the proposed “episode of care” payment model for Cellular and/or Tissue Based Products (CTPs) – sometimes referred to as “skin substitutes,” the US Wound Registry...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 18, 2020 | Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Healthcare Payment Policy
There is lot of interest in surrogate measures of wound outcome to capture important aspects of treatment beyond closure. Because it provides insight into the patient’s experience, Quality of life (QOL) is an obvious surrogate for healing rate. For your own safety,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 17, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
In 1787, Catherine II (also known as Catherine the Great), a Russian Tsarina, set out on a tour of the Crimea, an area Russia had annexed from the Ottoman Empire. The area had been devastated by the Crimean War and was a mess. Grigory Potemkin, governor of the Crimea,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 14, 2020 | Miscellaneous Musings
Did you know St. Valentine is the patron saint of lovers, epileptics and beekeepers? And also Wound Care nurses… definitely wound care nurses. Caroline Fife, M.D.Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 14, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
I was asked to take a look at a 50-page report on a wound center’s post-payment review of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) services. Nearly all the wounds that were treated were truly limb-threatening, and most of the patients got better. Unfortunately, their...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 12, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Excerpted from Today’s Wound Clinic The hospital supply contracting process is complicated and slow. Physicians, however, can make purchasing decisions quickly and directly. Manufacturers need to get prepared for a dramatic shift to less-expensive wound...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 11, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
I changed my specialty code to Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine a few months ago. It was necessary because since I am Family Practice Board Certified, the data on Medicare spending for my patients was being compared to that of FP’s across the country. However, I...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 10, 2020 | Miscellaneous Musings
I didn’t think it was possible for routine outpatients in the Wound Clinic to get sicker, but apparently it is. At the end of a long and defeating day of unsolvable problems, my last patient was a retired physician in his 90’s with a cardiac ejection fraction of 15%....
