Rx Pad

A question that we get frequent phone calls about is regarding physician supervision of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO). Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions . . .

Do you worry about not having a big enough patient load at your wound care and hyperbaric medicine clinic? Do you struggle with marketing due to low budget and not enough resources?

There has been a lot of communication in the marketplace, as well as confusion and misunderstanding, over the past few weeks regarding the final publication details and implementation notice of the Medicare Administrator Contractor’s, Novitas LCD on hyperbaric medicine for hospitals and physicians. The LCD takes effect July 24th, 2014. A major development with MAC’s and commercial insurance products recently, is their taking a stance on practice requirements. They are dictating credentialing standards. This most recent LCD from Novitas reflects that positioning as well. In this blog post we give you straight answers that will provide clarity and assist you in understanding how the revised requirements will impact you and your program staff.

Is it a goal of your clinic to achieve 100% staff credentialing? If not, your facility is missing a huge opportunity. Having a fully credentialed staff sends the message to referring physicians, patients, and your local community that meeting a national standard of high quality health care is your clinic's #1 priority. Being fully credentialed also sends the message that your clinic has a very competent clinical team. And when faced with making a patient referral, wouldn't you rather refer a patient to a facility that you trust to be competent and provide the highest quality of care?

By providing community education to potential patients you are, in the words of John Peters, incoming Executive Director of UHMS and Managing Partner of Wound Care Education Partners, “building awareness, and with that awareness we’re able to impact healing outcomes for patients in our community.”