by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 11, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
ICD-10 has completely consumed my time in the past few weeks. Let’s talk straight about how this is going to work for wound care and hyperbaric medicine. There are 2 fundamental ways coding has ALWAYS worked, even with ICD-9. Option #1: The doctor knows the codes...
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 6, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Miscellaneous Musings, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, US Wound Registry
I have been thinking a lot about whether we have or haven’t improved how we keep patient health records. Here’s a record from the 1800’s when the primary purpose of the record was to remind the doctor what the patient had complained about and what he had done about...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 5, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
This is the axillae of a woman who had breast cancer a year ago and underwent radiation to the axillae after a lymph node biopsy. She developed a seroma which was drained and then became infected. She has a large wound about the size of an orange that you can’t see...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 4, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
There is a lot going on about hyperbaric oxygen therapy documentation. The start of the prior authorization demonstration program for non-emergent hyperbaric oxygen therapy was delayed a bit but is it now active in Illinois, Michigan, and New Jersey. If prior...
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 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...
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...
