by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 24, 2020 | Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy, US Wound Registry
There’s a big focus on finding surrogate measures for wound outcome. I thought I could save anyone working in this area some wasted time by letting you know what outcomes CMS doesn’t care about. I can’t speak to what the FDA might care about. Under the Merit Based...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 20, 2020 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, Healthcare Payment Policy
I feel like I should start this blog like the beginning of Star Wars, “Long ago, in a galaxy far away…“ Back in 2013, when insurance was less complicated, the US Wound Registry provided data for a medical student project under the supervision of Dr. Adelaide...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 19, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
To assist the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders in making its comments to CMS about the proposed “episode of care” payment model for Cellular and/or Tissue Based Products (CTPs) – sometimes referred to as “skin substitutes,” the US Wound Registry...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 18, 2020 | Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Healthcare Payment Policy
There is lot of interest in surrogate measures of wound outcome to capture important aspects of treatment beyond closure. Because it provides insight into the patient’s experience, Quality of life (QOL) is an obvious surrogate for healing rate. For your own safety,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 17, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
In 1787, Catherine II (also known as Catherine the Great), a Russian Tsarina, set out on a tour of the Crimea, an area Russia had annexed from the Ottoman Empire. The area had been devastated by the Crimean War and was a mess. Grigory Potemkin, governor of the Crimea,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 14, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
I was asked to take a look at a 50-page report on a wound center’s post-payment review of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) services. Nearly all the wounds that were treated were truly limb-threatening, and most of the patients got better. Unfortunately, their...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 12, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Excerpted from Today’s Wound Clinic The hospital supply contracting process is complicated and slow. Physicians, however, can make purchasing decisions quickly and directly. Manufacturers need to get prepared for a dramatic shift to less-expensive wound...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 11, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
I changed my specialty code to Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine a few months ago. It was necessary because since I am Family Practice Board Certified, the data on Medicare spending for my patients was being compared to that of FP’s across the country. However, I...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 7, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Even though I was a child, I remember the space race of the 1960’s. That’s because my Dad was at the School of Aerospace Medicine, where human physiology research was being conducted at a breakneck pace. To handle the problem that ink pens didn’t work...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 4, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
The reclassification of all services in the Hospital Based Outpatient Department (HOPD) to “general supervision” away from “direct supervision” has the potential to create chaos. While general supervision may be acceptable for some services (e.g. NPWT dressing changes...
