by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 7, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
Well, it sounded good – the idea that Medicare had removed the requirement that a patient fail 4 weeks of conservative therapy to get a pneumatic compression device (PCD) – referred to in the coverage policy as Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC). But...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 7, 2023 | COVID-19, COVID-19 Diaries, Fight the Good Fight
It’s no secret that clinician burnout is a serious issue, and in a world drastically changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the rates of burnout have only increased. Dr. Sandra Wainwright, Author of “The COVID Diaries” will make a keynote address that...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 31, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
Thanks to advocacy from the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders, and as a result of the successful case United States District Court, District of Columbia decision in Greenwald v. Becerra (Decided June 7, 2022), the DMEMACs released an updated Local Coverage...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 18, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
These are screen captures of an ad campaign, “How to become a wound care millionaire with 25 patients or less.” It’s true that CMS did not implement package pricing of “skin subs” in the doctors’ office setting for 2024, but there’s little doubt it will have to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 12, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
The Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders sponsored an updated analysis of the cost chronic wounds among Medicare beneficiaries and the paper, “Chronic Wound Prevalence and the Associated Cost of Treatment in Medicare Beneficiaries: Changes Between 2014 and 2019,” just...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 12, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
Yes, more evidence that Vitamin D is good for you A study by Arayici and colleagues just released in the journal “Nutrients”* summarizes the pooled analysis of numerous meta-analyses of serum 25(OH)D levels, vitamin D intake and cancer risk. The researchers found that...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 10, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
This topic is like taking an Ambien in the middle of the day. Don’t read this article. I’m serious – watch some kittens on You Tube or read an article about what foods will make you lose weight. This topic will determine the future of the field of wound care, but like...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 26, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
This is a young woman with Rheumatoid Arthritis. She required a total knee replacement, and the surgical wound just fell apart. Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) was started, but the foam just fell out of the wound without creating any visible change in the wound...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 22, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
More than a decade ago I was in Washington, D.C. at the annual National Quality Forum (NQF) meeting when the winner of the prestigious John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award was announced. Named after the former administrator for the Agency of Healthcare...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 20, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight
On your way home, instead of NPR or the depressing news, listen to this uplifting and fascinating podcast that Brian McCurdy of HMP and I did with Morgan Wells. If you’d prefer to read the transcript, you can find it here. PODCASTS Helping The Patient Throughout A...
