by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 14, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
The Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders and the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) are seeking more information on the posted rate for 2024 hyperbaric facility fees. Both organizations have urged practitioners to wait to submit comments to CMS until they...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 9, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
The Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rule was published a few days ago and buried in a table was the new rate for G0277, the “facility fee” for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). The rate for 2024 is $73.64 for a 30-minute segment from the current...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 9, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Medicare Audits
This is part of my series of articles about Useful Information on Medicare Audits. I am posting a series of blogs with information directly from the websites of the various MACs. Anyone can access this and I feel a little silly posting it, but several clinicians have...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 7, 2023 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Medicare Audits
I have been posting information from the MAC websites about audits and required documentation, particularly for HBOT. The Palmetto MAC website has detailed information about certain specific HBOT indications if you sufficiently medicated to manage the intense...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 3, 2023 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Medicare Audits
I have been posting information from the MAC websites about audits and required documentation, particularly for HBOT. The Palmetto MAC website has a lot of detailed information about certain specific HBOT indications. The website is “cute” – you hover over the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 14, 2023 | Dr. Helen Gelly, Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Recently, a clinician inquired about Medicare documentation requirements for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). In particular, they wanted to know once a patient has started HBOT, how often the follow up visits with the physician should be performed, and what should be...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 10, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Dr. Anıl Eker and colleagues at the Izmir Bozyaka Education and Training Hospital in Turkey just published a prospective study on the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for erectile dysfunction (ED). If you have been around HBOT for a few years, you have heard...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 6, 2022 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation estimates more than 23 million Americans have been affected by long COVID, which is why it is being described as a “mass disabling event.” It’s officially a disability under the Americans with Disability Act...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 5, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
The American Medical Association (AMA) has just adopted a resolution opposing the unsafe use of so-called “mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy” in “mild hyperbaric facilities.” You can find more information below and in the link, but let me first illustrate WHY this issue...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 22, 2022 | Cellular / Tissue-Based Products, Fight the Good Fight, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
I will probably get a lot of unhappy messages about this post, but given the sweeping changes that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed for cellular and/or tissue-based products (CTPs), it might be time to “say the quiet part out loud.”...