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 30, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
This is one of my patients who developed an abscess and wound dehiscence following an ankle reconstruction. We were worried that he might be developing osteomyelitis. He works at a plant and uses an infrared thermometer to check for hotspots in the mechanical...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 28, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, US Wound Registry
Every Tuesday this month we’ve been having some straight talk about a US Wound Registry Quality Measure. I’d like to talk about the measure “Appropriate use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for diabetic foot ulcers”. This was the first HBOT measure the USWR asked CMS to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 27, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made public more hospital and physician billing data. The 2013 data covers about 950,000 providers who received $90 billion in Medicare payments. Medicare’s highest physician payments went to hematologists and...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 23, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
They say the ancient Egyptians used honey as a dressing. Interesting that we came back around to it as an industry only to have CMS decide NOT to cover it. Caroline Fife, M.D.Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes...
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 16, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Remember when the only advanced dressing we had was Duoderm? I still love that stuff. It is still one of the best debriding agents there is. I take Duoderm paste (not gel but PASTE) and cover it with a Duoderm pad and in about 3 days the autolytic debridement is...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 13, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Last week I asked how things were going with getting eCQMs into your EHR. You need to do this to avoid negative payment adjustments but also because your performance on quality measures may very likely be the way that payers decide WHETHER they will send patients to...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 9, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
There are a lot of wonderful cleansers out there but some of my patients can’t afford them. This is the recipe that I give them to make a 0.25% acetic acid solution if they have the classic neon green drainage of Pseudomonas: 3 Tbsp white vinegar in 1 quart distilled...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 7, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
Here’s great photos of “neon green drainage.” It’s a bit hard to see how green it is so here’s a wound photo that shows the drainage can be so green it’s nearly black. Caroline Fife, M.D.Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient...
