by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 29, 2017 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
I have good news. Two months in a row, the U.S. Wound Registry (USWR) and Intellicure, Inc. had ground breaking papers published in Wound Repair and Regeneration, our field’s top journal. The U.S. government had a “big idea” when it passed...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 28, 2017 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Quality Payment Program
I’ve attached a link to a Kaiser Health News article that came out today (June 28) about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) that is less than flattering, and another in the Washington Post printed yesterday by the same author. Some of the battles we face in...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 15, 2017 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
In 2011, we published a paper entitled, “Why is it hard to do the right thing in wound care?” in which we documented that only 17% of venous ulcers were treated with adequate compression every time they were seen at a wound center. Those statistics were...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 31, 2017 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
ALERT! “Targeted” Pre-payment review of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to occur in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska The Medicare Administrative Carrier “WPS” has announced a Targeted Medical Review (TMR) of 100 claims for hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the states of...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 15, 2017 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
The New England Journal has this article out about “Online Patient Reviews” that is worth a read. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1610136 I have a negative review on Yelp from a patient who I never even saw, but who is upset with me because I...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 30, 2016 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
The Hyperbaric oxygen therapy prior authorization project has been in effect a little more than a year and CMS is in the process of reviewing its impact to prepare an interim report. As the Medicare coffers dwindle, we have to ask ourselves how we can best utilize...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 26, 2016 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Quality Payment Program
An important paper has been released by the U.S. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Registry (HBOTR) detailing its work in Medicare reimbursement issues. “Rapid analysis of hyperbaric oxygen therapy registry data for reimbursement purposes,” a technical paper by Caroline E....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 4, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
Good morning and Happy Friday! Friday’s on the blog are reserved for “Ask the Physician Friday.” If you have any questions for me please feel free to leave them in the comments below, ask on Twitter (@carolinefifemd), or on Facebook (@Woodlands Wound Physicians). I...
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 29, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
A lot of patients with chronic venous disease develop lymphedema. The “red legs” they get can be mistaken for cellulitis although they are usually the commonly seen vasodilation of blood vessels seen with lymphedema, sometimes superimposed on hemosiderin...
