From the Editor

When was the last time that you received a handwritten note in the mail with an actual stamp on it? I got one recently from Suha Sreeram, MD. Inside a beautiful card she had sent to me was an even more beautifully written note, thanking me for an article in Today’s Wound Clinic (TWC) about healthcare reform.¹ Her kind note was incredibly encouraging because we tackle many complex topics in this journal that can be as difficult to read as they are to write. That we have arrived at our 10th anniversary of this publication is a testament to the hard work of our editorial board and you, our readers. We on the TWC staff hope that, like Dr. Sreeram, you have found the articles in this publication to be useful in some way and that you will give us feedback about them. No article in TWC is the work of only one individual. Even if there is only one author named, the article always requires copyediting and often requires content editing by someone on the editorial board. Then, every article must be formatted and have artwork added to better convey the message. Over the years, we have tackled some big projects. One of the toughest articles I remember working on was in 2011, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services changed the way debridement services were billed, aggregating wounds together to bill by total surface area debrided, as well as type of tissue removed.²

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Along with my fellow board members Dot Weir, RN, CWON, CWS, and Kathleen D. Schaum, MS, I helped put together numerous photographic vignettes to illustrate this new method, spending hours identifying photos with wounds the right size undergoing the right type of debridement for each scenario. Thanks to Kathleen in particular, we have kept you abreast of the latest changes in coverage policy, billing, and coding. In fact, TWC has a long track record of being the first to raise awareness of issues that are important to the field of wound care. For instance, we brought attention to the potential for HIPAA violations in association with wound photography as far back as 2011. TWC alerted wound care providers about the various types of audits occurring in the wound care space, and has explained the confusing details about programs such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy prior authorization and prepayment review (which are not the same thing, but which are easily confused). TWC was also the first journal to discuss the risk of criminal litigation in relation to pressure ulcers and was the first to have articles on wound care quality measures and the Quality Payment Program. Throughout, TWC has been the place to find information on the way to actually implement quality of care, with articles on vascular screening, diabetic foot ulcer offloading, venous ulcer compression, the surgical dressing policy, and every aspect of correct billing and coding. You cannot find all this vital information assembled together anywhere else. For several years, I framed the first page of my favorite TWC articles in the office hallway at Intellicure, The Woodlands, TX, where I serve as chief medical officer. A few years ago, I ran out of hallway space (see photo below). I should hasten to add that most of my favorite articles are not written by me. One of the best things about TWC is that it provides a forum for newcomers and young writers to hone their writing skills. If you have an idea for an article, we are always on the lookout for new contributors. The TWC staff, especially managing editor Joe Darrah, serves a mentoring, encouraging role for aspiring and seasoned authors alike. Send us an email about your idea (cfife@intellicure.com or jdarrah@hmpcommunications.com). I just re-read my first TWC editorial, now a decade old, in which I revealed the real truth about the origin of my career in wound care (my former chairman made me start the wound center at UT Houston, against my protestations).³ By 2007, when TWC printed its first issue, I had already been practicing wound care for 17 years. In that first editorial, I said, “The definition of intelligence is the ability to learn from experience. However, the definition of wisdom is the ability to learn from the experience of others.” After a decade in print, that continues to be the hope of TWC — to allow you to learn from the clinical experience of others, so that you can have the expertise of all the contributors (but without at least some of the gray hair). Thank you all again for your support of our journal over the past decade. 

Caroline E. Fife is chief medical officer at Intellicure Inc.; executive director of the U.S. Wound Registry; medical director of St. Luke’s Wound Clinic, The Woodlands, TX; and co-chair of the Alliance of Wound Care Stakeholders.

References

1. Fife CE. From the editor. TWC. 2016;10(11):4. 

2. Fife CE. The debridement dilemma returns. TWC. 2011;5(1):14-7. 

3. Weir D, Fife CE. From the editor: meet the editors. TWC. 2007;1(1):4-6.