by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 7, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Miscellaneous Musings, Nutrition & Wound Healing
This is an initial and a follow-up photo of a woman with an autoimmune disease that is causing horrible leg ulcers primarily on her knees. Her biggest problem, however, is that she weighs 88 lbs and doesn’t eat. I admitted her for malnutrition early in her course,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 28, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
ICD-10 is almost here. In a previous blog I discussed the unique thought logic that would be required to correctly code “late effects of radiation” in ICD-10. Now I am just going to say it—best of luck to those of you who do not have Intellicure. Intellicure is using...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 24, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
I remember about 20 years ago a coder came to talk to me about my wound care documentation. I can’t remember if she was sent from the University or the hospital. I was a relatively young faculty member and the wound center I started at UT Houston had not been open for...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 21, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented a prior authorization model for non-emergent hyperbaric oxygen therapy in Illinois, Michigan, and New Jersey. It is the position of CMS that it can reduce spending on HBOT services while...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 17, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
This month I am reminding you about some educational materials to mitigate litigation risk available in a new book by my friend Kevin Yankowsky. Check out a presentation Kevin and I did at Medline’s “Prevention Above All” conference a few years ago entitled,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 10, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Last week I told you about the new book on preventive legal care by my friend Kevin Yankowsky who often speaks at national wound care meetings. You would have to pay to see him at the SAWC, but you can access a video training workshop for free. Topics include: The...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 7, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
The drug industry, patients and consumers are urging the FDA to find better ways to integrate the patient perspective in drug development, as well as a way to use “real world” data in drug development. It will be interesting to see how the FDA reacts to the growing...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 3, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
I wanted to alert you to a great new (short but information packed) book, Preventative Legal Care: A Practitioner’s Guide to Medical-Legal Fitness, by my friend Kevin Yankowsky, at Norton, Rose Fulbright. This easy to read book provides practical, real-world...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 31, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
I mentioned a “pay for performance” model that CMS is trying out for Home Health Agencies. Well, an AHRQ study published in the British Medical Journal explored ways in which data were collected and used in Nursing Homes as a result of participation in a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 27, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Here are 2 binders full of nursing notes on a patient with a pressure ulcer. I spent about 6 hours trying to find an entry that was different from the ones “auto-populated” day after day after day for weeks. In other words, the previous days observations were just...
