by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 10, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has issued the report below, estimating that the Medicare Trust Fund will become insolvent in 2024, two years sooner than the previous estimate, because of the pandemic. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) members...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 9, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Novitas and First Coast have retired their Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). Because the National Coverage Determination (NCD) for HBOT remains in place, theoretically coverage for HBOT should not change as a result. At least...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 13, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Check out this article I wrote on the development of a wound-specific Quality of Life Questionnaire – and why it failed as a surrogate for wound outcome – posted on the eKare website. Caroline Fife, M.D.Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 7, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) are resuming post-payment reviews of items/services provided before March 1, 2020. The Targeted Probe and Educate program (intensive education to assess provider compliance through up to three rounds of review) will restart...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 21, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Here’s a guest blog from Dr. Helen Gelly on the topic of off-campus facility reimbursement, which has implications regarding the prospect of “site neutrality”. For more information on the topic of site neutrality, read this article by Dr. Helen Gelly, “Uncharted...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 9, 2020 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) has been used for many decades to treat a variety of maladies which have as their common denominator low tissue oxygen levels (hypoxia). Thanks to the pioneering work of Steve Thom and others, HBOT has also been proven to mitigate the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 6, 2020 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Healthcare Payment Policy
I am a huge fan of attorney Knicole Emanuel’s legal blog. Here’s a link to her most recent post about the current expiration date of the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency (PHE). Unless it is renewed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS),...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 25, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Quality Payment Program
As a result of COVID-19, CMS has extended the 2019 MIPS reporting deadline to April 30, 2020. Click here to read the full press release. Caroline Fife, M.D.Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 19, 2020 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Healthcare Payment Policy
Special guest blog post by Marissa Carter, PhD Predicting Healing on the First Visit (for venous ulcers and other wound types) There is a lot of interest in “predictive models” for chronic wounds and ulcers. The ideal predictive model can predict at the FIRST VISIT...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 11, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy
Check out the guest editorial by Dr. Traci Kimball in the March issue of Today’s Wound Clinic: Can a Unique Wound Management Program Be a Model for Wound Care? I invited Traci to write this guest editorial, because we need to hear from wound management physicians who...
