Caroline E. Fife, MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM

MACRA

Thoughts from the Eye of the Healthcare Storm Part 1: The HOPD’s Role in Reporting Quality Measures

03/07/2017

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

Many wound care practitioners may not realize it, but we are currently sitting in the “eye of a healthcare storm” due to the impact of quality payment programs, MACRA, and MIPS.

Many wound care practitioners...

03/07/2017

Today's Wound Clinic

Addressing the Need for Noninvasive Vascular Testing in the Outpatient Clinic: A Case Study

06/16/2015

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

Vascular screening is advisable for every patient living with a chronic, nonhealing, lower extremity ulcer. This article will discuss methods for establishing vascular screening protocol in the wound clinic.

Vascular screening is advisable...

06/16/2015

Today's Wound Clinic

From the Editor

Confessions of a Doctor With Lipedema

03/14/2023

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

It is hard to understand how demoralizing it is. Lipedema affects your entire life, starting in the teenage years.

It is hard to understand how...

03/14/2023

Today's Wound Clinic

Self-Reporting of PQRS Measures in 2016: What You Choose to Report Does Matter!

03/30/2016

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

This is the first installment in a series of articles that will explain how CMS will use healthcare providers’ QRURs to determine their Medicare Part B payment rates.

This is the first installment in...

03/30/2016

Today's Wound Clinic

Letter from the Editor

From the Editor: Treating the Underinsured

04/08/2011

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

I went to a medical meeting in China in October and it was an eye-opening experience. We toured several hospitals, which serve a city of a mind boggling 30 million people in central China. The way in which modern technology meets the...

I went to a medical meeting in...

04/08/2011

Today's Wound Clinic

Pressure Injuries

A Closer Look at the Legal Implications of Pressure Injuries

10/06/2020

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

Malpractice lawsuits are common for patients with pressure injuries, and their consequences can follow clinicians even when the charges are dismissed. This author takes a look at how plaintiffs can prevail in pressure injury lawsuits, and how...

Malpractice lawsuits are common...

10/06/2020

Today's Wound Clinic

From the Editor

Hyperbaric Medicine’s New Specialty Coding

01/09/2019

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

You may have heard a few firecrackers on New Year’s Eve, but the biggest fireworks in our industry went off Jan. 7. That’s because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has established a new physician specialty code for Undersea...

You may have heard a few...

01/09/2019

Today's Wound Clinic

Medical Necessity

Medical Necessity in the HOPD: Are You Seeing the ‘Right’ Patients?

05/03/2014

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

Toni Turner , RCP, CHT, CWS, FCCWS;

In August 2000, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) created the hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS). CMS projected that in 2013 the cost of services provided to Medicare beneficiaries under OPPS would be...

In August 2000, the Center for...

05/03/2014

Today's Wound Clinic

From the Editor

The Fairy Tale is Over in the Wound Center

06/07/2021

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

In this unhappy tale, no prince is going to show up on his white horse to rescue me from the confines of the HOPD and the evil forces of so-called insurance, but honestly, it’s the patients who need rescuing.

In this unhappy tale, no prince...

06/07/2021

Today's Wound Clinic

Online Exclusive: The Medicare Trust Fund: Should Clinicians Be Worried?

08/14/2012

Caroline E. Fife , MD, FAAFP, CWS, FUHM;

Depending on how you calculate the effect of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare will go bankrupt in either 2024 or 2016, perhaps sooner. Really?

Depending on how you calculate...

08/14/2012

Today's Wound Clinic