Cathy oversees clinical and professional services for Net Health. Cathy gained over 25 years of expertise in various acute care, long-term care, sub-acute care facilities, home-health agencies, and outpatient wound care department settings. She is the author of The Clinical Wound Manager™ Manual Series, Clinical Guide to Skin and Wound Care – Seventh Edition (also translated into Italian and Portuguese).
The novel coronavirus pandemic has radically changed our personal and professional lives, perhaps forever. The lessons learned in these last few months have made us stop, think, and change how we move forward and communicate with one another and our patients. One of these changes has been the opportunity to implement telemedicine and telehealth. These…
Staying abreast of the regulatory changes related to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and navigating its impact on your wound care practice can be a daunting task given the sheer number of announcements that have amassed. The regulatory changes during this pandemic, coupled with the need to socially distance, may provide the impetus for your…
CMS recently released an updated IFR advancing and relaxing regulations regarding telehealth for healthcare providers. What this means for wound care providers is that telehealth is now a viable option that gives you a way to continue providing high quality care for your Medicare beneficiaries within the walls of an outpatient wound care department or…
We are living in unprecedented times. At the time of writing, the World Health Organization declared the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.1 This virus can potentially affect anyone, including healthcare workers, patients, families, friends, and neighbors. Before COVID-19, in any health care setting, engaging face-to-face with our wound care patients…
The burden of chronic wounds is high. Associated morbidity, decreased quality of life, and, in some cases, mortality are among the many reasons significant interest is focused on the prevention and treatment of wounds and the patients you serve each and every day. It has been estimated that a single diabetic ulcer carries a cost…
Specialty electronic medical records (EMRs) have revolutionized the way data are collected, collated, and delivered at the press of a button. But are you sure that the information that you are documenting within your specialty EMR is truly reflective of your Clinical, Operational, Regulatory, and Economic (CORE)* processes? Understanding how the final documentation is compiled is…
In 2019, wound/ulcer management providers and professionals experienced many reimbursement changes. Because confusion still exists about many of these issues, this author recommends taking the self-test below. After you complete the test, download the answers to see how you did. Give yourself 4 points for every correct answer. Hopefully, everyone will score 100 points! If…
It has been quite a busy year! Although this column is not intended to exhaustively cover all rules and regulations, let’s look back at what we learned this year about the Quality Payment Program (QPP) and other documentation approaches to plan ahead using smart strategies. And remember, it is your responsibility to understand the rules…
The most critical function of the medical record’s multiple purposes is to plan and provide continuity of care for a patient’s medical treatment. However, in many instances, we as healthcare providers forget that the medical record offers additional provisions including the following: information for financial reimbursement to hospitals, healthcare providers, skilled nursing facilities, and patients;…
I have the good fortune to work with wound care departments and providers all over the US. When I meet with these departments, I am working with them to understand their Clinical, Operational, Regulatory, and Economic/financial (CORE) processes, which is imperative for compliance with hospital or facility standards. Once the collective process is understood, the…