by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jan 16, 2020 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
My friend from England has an expression she learned from her Mother, an ambulance driver during the London Blitz: “It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.” The field of wound management is in for a lot of big changes in 2020. As with anything...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 9, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
Last week my editorial in Today’s Wound Clinic stimulated a lot of comment and I was (perhaps rightly) criticized for implying that national wound care meetings are not important. My point is that scientific meetings become a lot less relevant if Wound Management...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 6, 2019 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
Re-printed from Today’s Wound Clinic We are at an important crossroads in the field of wound management. From the perspective of new technologies, the future is bright. Unfortunately, the future of the field itself is dismal. Under Medicare’s new Quality Payment...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 3, 2019 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
The Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders parterned with the US Wound Registry (USWR) to develop a suite of wound care relevant quality measures. This year, 3 of those CMS approved quality measures were selected for depiction on Physician Compare. An article about this...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 2, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight
A few weeks ago we began an experiment right here on this blog, taking a look at a complicated wound care case and “crowdsourcing” the diagnosis. We thought it would be fun to share some of the comments to date, along with some follow-up comments from me....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 27, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
Re-printed from November 25, 2015 The Mayflower left the port of Southampton in August 1620 but was forced to put into Plymouth, England for repairs. The 102 passengers and 30 crew members finally left Plymouth for America on September 16, 1620. Blown off course by...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 12, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight
Netflix has a new series called “Diagnosis.” The star is Lisa Sanders, MD, a columnist for The New York Times Magazine which publishes her column, also called “Diagnosis,” in which she presents a puzzling medical case and people from around the world help her figure...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 7, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
With his permission, I’m posting this amazing photo of my friend and former patient, Kevin – whose mobility limitations do not keep him down. He’s also helping others experience the challenge and excitement of hunting, even if they hunt on wheels. You can support his...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 2, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight
Dear Diary, I AM SO SPECIAL! Today I was treated with another new “Cellular and/or tissue based product!” Sometimes it’s big enough to be cut and put on all of us, and sometimes it’s so small that only one of us can get the special treatment. I always say, “PICK ME!...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 25, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Have you ever seen an oxygen toxicity seizure? You can see one on this You Tube, produced by the U.S. Navy many years ago. Here are the verbatim comments of hyperbaric technicians (from the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Registry) who observed oxygen seizures during...