by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 14, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes, Fight the Good Fight
I have blogged a lot about the problems in the CTP/skin substitute industry. If a product is say, 10 times more expensive than another one, then it needs to be 10 times better, right? Otherwise, why is it more expensive? (Pretend that making a profit off of the cost...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 12, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Tales of the Medicare Disadvantaged
Dr. Fife, I read your article about the problem with physician payments from Medicare. I agree that Medicare should pay physicians more. But right now, I am struggling with the rate increases on all my insurance plans! I am a disabled person who pretty much lives in...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 7, 2024 | Dr. Marissa Carter, Fight the Good Fight
Check out the live interview that Dr. Marissa Carter and I did about why patients with chronic wounds are so sick! This project began a few years ago when I was testing the feasibility of a quality measure that could be reported by wound care practitioners as part of...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 6, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Join me for the pre-meeting on “Advances in Wound Management” at the annual Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society meeting next week in New Orleans! It will be a fantastic meeting! Check out the program and register here: Pre-course 2 – Undersea &...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 4, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Quality Payment Program
The AMA has a series called “What’s Wrong with Medicare Physician Payment,” and 4 of the 6 points in this article address the weaknesses of the Quality Payment Program (QPP). Three of those focus around issues related to the Merit Based Incentive Payment System...
by M. Mark Melin MD & Davis Melin MPH | May 28, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight
Guest blog by M. Mark Melin MD and Davis Melin MPH A recent Nature article entitled “Active self‑treatment of a facial wound with a biologically active plant by a male Sumatran orangutan”1 is a fascinating description of Rakus, a mature, male orangutan who lives in...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 27, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
In honor of Memorial Day, here is a re-post from 2020. –Caroline My Dad was a veteran of WWII and Korea and my husband was a veteran. On Memorial Day I find myself wanting to go somewhere to pay tribute our service men and women. My Mother, my son and I usually...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 15, 2024 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, CTP / Skin Substitutes, Fight the Good Fight
If you are at [a certain national wound care meeting I won’t name] this week and you missed the email blast below, it may not be too late to have dinner on the Cellular Tissue Product (CTP) company circulating the invitation. Per their email (forwarded to me by...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 8, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight
If you are attending the SAWC Spring 2024 Conference next week, come listen to Dr. Marissa Carter and I discuss, “Why are all My Chronic Wound Patients so SICK?” The session is Wednesday May 15, from 1:45 PM – 2:45 PM Eastern, in Crystal K. In the session, we...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 7, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
CMS recently announced that the Total Per Capita Cost (TPCC) cost measure is now open for comment. CMS (through its contractor, Acumen) is gathering comments on the TPCC measure to determine updates to the measure’s attribution methodology (“attribution” is the...
