by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 8, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
Twitter.com@CarolineFifeMD Last week we established that the risk of not participating in PQRS is not limited to the penalties of PQRS. There are penalties for your Value Modifier tied to PQRS. You have two options for participating in PQRS as a wound care and/or...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 24, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
CMS recently published a final rule that specifies criteria that eligible professionals (EPs) must meet in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. EHR Incentive Programs Final Rule Provisions The new...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 9, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) opened the Physician Compare quality measure preview period on October 5th. The 30-day preview period closed on Friday, November 6th. It provided an opportunity for individuals and group practices to review their...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 13, 2015 | Quality Payment Program
CMS will be publicly reporting a sub-set of the 2014 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) measures on Physician Compare. Starting October 5, 2015, CMS is has set up a 30-day preview period for select quality measures through the PQRS portal—Provider Quality...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 14, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
Are you thinking that PQRS is only for practitioners? More and more hospitals are on the hook to get PQRS right. This year, the Physician Quality Reporting System payment “adjustments” officially move from the incentive to the penalty phase. I’ve talked a lot about...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 10, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
I have big news. The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) has partnered with the US Wound Registry (USWR) to sponsor The Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Registry (HBOTR). Submitting data to this registry will satisfy the requirement of a specialty registry...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 3, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
I have previously blogged about big changes that could affect the delivery of hyperbaric oxygen therapy services. I’m keeping my eye on a House Ways & Means health subcommittee (chaired by Kevin Brady from my own district). A few days ago, the subcommittee...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 19, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
More and more of my patients are on Medicare “advantage” plans. Just this week I asked one of them why she decided to take a Medicare replacement plan rather than a traditional Medicare plan. I was pretty sure I knew the answer because my husband got Medicare this...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 14, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
Every Tuesday this month we’ve been having some straight talk about a US Wound Registry Quality Measure. In the June/July issue of Today’s Wound Clinic (TWC) I present a case history of a 30 year old man who had been treated for a year at another wound center for a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 6, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
I don’t know how many of you have actually downloaded any of the USWR electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) and then gotten them installed into your wound center EHR. Downloading them is easy because the programming is open source and you can use the link below...