by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 23, 2020 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
In February of 2019, CMS approved hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as a topic for audit by the RACs (Recovery Audit Contractors) (see links below). I have not heard of any hospital getting a RAC audit, perhaps because of the COVID crisis, but it doesn’t appear that...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 22, 2020 | COVID-19, COVID-19 & HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Yesterday there was a news report on one of the clinical trials using hyperbaric oxygen therapy to reduce the need for intubation in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. There is nothing magic about a hyperbaric chamber for COVID-19 related hypoxia. It is simply a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 14, 2020 | Healthcare Payment Policy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
I was asked to take a look at a 50-page report on a wound center’s post-payment review of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) services. Nearly all the wounds that were treated were truly limb-threatening, and most of the patients got better. Unfortunately, their...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 18, 2019 | Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, US Wound Registry
Nearly every week I get a question about the different registry participation options for wound care and hyperbaric medicine. We need all the data we can get in the fields of wound care and hyperbaric medicine. The thought process should not be that one approach is...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 17, 2019 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
The table below is from one of my Quality and Resource Use Reports (QRUR). You can see the “ambulatory care-sensitive conditions include the conditions I mentioned on my last blog: bacterial pneumonia, urinary tract infection, dehydration, diabetes complications,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jul 10, 2019 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Fight the Good Fight, Healthcare Payment Policy
A few people are starting to whisper about their experience with the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) process directed at claims for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). The Medicare Administrative Carriers (MACs) are supposed to educate the doctor, but so far, the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 15, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
The following patients with leg ulcers were referred to me (sometimes by the vein center) after undergoing venous ablation for documented venous reflux. The first is a 92 year old, alert little lady referred from a local vein center. A circumferential leg ulcer had...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 10, 2019 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
Here are two patients with “livedoid” skin changes. Are they the same thing? Case #1: A 66 year old woman with a narcotic addition who fell asleep on her heating pad and suffered a burn on her buttock (see above). She has livedoid changes to the skin – a reticulated...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 21, 2019 | Healthcare Payment Policy
I’ve got a lot of patients who have had very targeted local radiation. Some of them got radiation years ago for really questionable reasons, the others for only recently. The non-healing wounds present in the irradiated field can be small but really persistent. The...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Nov 8, 2018 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
I received an email from a physician who expressed how difficult it was to stay updated on the requirements for HBOT documentation. Dr. Helen Gelly has written about this extensively and I have posted blogs about this before. I reviewed the HBOT documentation...