by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 13, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Lymphatic Imaging & Lymphedema
“Blue Monday” was a Victorian expression about wash day in the era before the washing machine when doing the laundry required back breaking manual labor. Our understanding of lymphatic function is still stuck in the Victorian era, but I hope it won’t be for much...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 12, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
It doesn’t look like much is going on in this photo, but you need to know the back story. The patient in the total contact cast (TCC) on the right had refused to try one for his refractory diabetic foot ulcer for more than a year — and for very understandable...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 6, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
Here they are, boxed and ready to go – 2 patient chart audits for Palmetto, courtesy of Dr. Helen Gelly. The hidden costs of chart audits are immense. When ALL records are requested for a one year period (notes from all the providers and all the laboratory and...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 5, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
A very special thanks to Dr. Rafael Rafos, MD for today’s guest post. He sent me this case, and it was so interesting that I asked that he guest blog it for us. Always trust your instinct! Whenever a wound bed looks “off” or something feels “just not right”,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 29, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
This is a retired healthcare professional with insulin dependent diabetes. The ankle lesion she has this time doesn’t look too bad (see above), and she has a normal arterial supply, based on skin perfusion pressure assessment. However, I’ve taken care of her...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 28, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
This 34 year old patient is a Type 1 diabetic status post kidney pancreas transplant on life-long immunosuppressive medications who now has a neuropathic foot ulcer. That’s dog hair all over the dressing, which the patient argued was nothing to worry about because the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 24, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
I call this the “positive Reese’s sign.” Caroline Fife, M.D.Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 22, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
United Healthcare has determined that amniotic tissue products are unproven and will therefore not be reimbursed because of “insufficient clinical evidence of safety and/or efficacy.” As I have mentioned before, the Medicare Advantage plans in my area have been...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 20, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Lymphatic Imaging & Lymphedema
Of 17 patients with wounds I saw in a single day last week, 11 had lymphedema (64%). They include: 1 with a history of prostate cancer radiation 1 with congestive heart failure and a history of lung cancer 1 with breast cancer lymphedema 1 with scleroderma 3 with...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 17, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
First, let me say that I have the most amazing wound clinic staff EVER. Second, this Deborah Belasquez, my receptionist, who is so thrilled with her FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device, she’s showing it to a patient. I’ve blogged about...
