by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 14, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitute Arrests, CTP / Skin Substitutes
Susan Paquette, the VP of the Wound division of SmartTRAK, recently posted an article on that company’s blog about the Cellular Tissue Product (CTP) / skin substitute industry. SmartTRAK provides market intelligence on industry trends and has been closely watching the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 8, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes, Fight the Good Fight, Quiz / Survey
Thanks to everyone who voted! As over 40% of you correctly guessed, the correct answer is D. An amniotic rep bragged that he had sold >$1.5 Million to a one practice in one week. Caroline Fife, M.D.Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 6, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes, Fight the Good Fight
A few weeks ago, I got a message from a Cellular Tissue Products / skin substitute sales rep telling me about the great results seen using his product in Wagner grade 3 DFUs, specifically over bone and tendon. I wondered how he could make those claims given that, as...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 1, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes, Fight the Good Fight, Quiz / Survey
Thanks to everyone who voted! As almost 60% of you correctly guessed, the correct answer is C) Paying for a criminal defense attorney if the practitioner is prosecuted for Medicare fraud Stay tuned tomorrow for another “just for fun” poll related to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 30, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes
The Minnesota Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a $1.63 million settlement with Tareen Dermatology, P.A. and Dr. Mohiba Tareen in a qui tam case initiated by two whistleblowers (United States of America, et al., ex rel. Carrie Cremin and Susanne Polzin v. Tareen...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 24, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes
Dr. Fife, I wanted to illustrate how an office-based doctor using Cellular Tissue Products / Skin Substitutes is often unable to cover the cost of this treatment – if they follow the Medicare rules. At the very least, in many cases, I wanted to illustrate why an...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 19, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitute Arrests, CTP / Skin Substitutes
District of Arizona | Seven Charged in Arizona as Part of the Department of Justice’s 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action | United States Department of Justice The fallout continues from the indictments of Alexandra Gehrke and Jeffrey King on charges of...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 17, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes, Dr. Marissa Carter
Dr. Marissa Carter and I have published, “Counting the Cost of Cellular and/or Tissue-Based Products in Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Is There a Justifiable Price Limit per Square Centimeter?” now available in Advances in Wound Care. Recently I asked readers to predict what...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 12, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes
Thank you for participating in the poll to guess how ridiculously high amniotic prices will go. It looks like $5000 per cm may be the winner of this perverse method of helping to bankrupt Medicare and line the pockets of unscrupulous practitioners! I will keep you...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 11, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the proposed rule for the 2025 Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS). The big question in our field was whether CMS would start “package pricing” CTPs/skin subs in the physician office. They didn’t –...
