Editorial Board & Staff News

Kathleen D. Schaum, MS, a founding editorial advisory board member of Today’s Wound Clinic, has announced her retirement from Smith & Nephew (S&N), a multinational medical equipment manufacturing company for which she served as director of medical products and reimbursement since 2012. Widely considered to be a go-to source for wound care reimbursement information, Schaum has been sharing her knowledge of medical reimbursement in general for 50 years as a salesperson, consultant, advisor, and educator. Her journey through the reimbursement world began with her position as nutrition services payment specialist (she holds her master’s degree in medical dietetics) at The Ohio State University (OSU) Hospitals. While working to computerize the operational processes of the OSU department of dietetics, she began learning about the various payment programs for both the hospital and the physicians. A few years later, she took the opportunity to work in one of the first New Jersey-based hospitals to implement the diagnosis-related groups payment system. While watching patients get discharged earlier to various other sites of care, she learned how the various postacute providers were paid. Because of her intimate reimbursement knowledge of both acute and postacute providers, Schaum was recruited into medical sales, where her customers benefited greatly by her understanding of how they were reimbursed for the products she sold (eg, intravenous pumps and supplies, enteral feeding pumps and supplies, wound care products). She was named sales representative of the year in her second year of medical sales at BIMECO, Largo, FL, in 1985. 

After 15 years of sales and sales management experience, she was particularly attracted to the wound care industry, and in 1997 launched her own wound care reimbursement strategy consulting company: Kathleen D. Schaum & Associates Inc., Lake Worth, FL. Since that time, Schaum has shared her reimbursement expertise with wound care providers and management companies, manufacturers, investors, journals, and symposia (local, regional, and national).  

Simultaneous to running her own consulting company, Schaum has also worked as the medical products reimbursement director for Johnson & Johnson Medical, Arlington, TX, where she received the Golden Key Award for obtaining Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes for more than 60 wound care products, including collagen dressings. She also spent 12 years with Healthpoint (acquired by S&N in 2012), where she received one of the first Core Value Awards for her reimbursement education of executives, sales representatives, and customers. In 2008, Schaum helped TWC parent company HMP Communications LLC launch Wound Clinic Business, a daylong live conference held throughout the year across the country that educates wound care professionals on proper reimbursement, documentation, and other business-related issues.

To honor her recent retirement, Schaum and her husband Karl (the couple also recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary) have set sail on an 80-day Asia-Pacific cruise. They will visit 30 major ports in Alaska, Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawaii during their vacation. Having traveled on approximately 50 cruises to date, the couple will also be celebrating her 70th birthday and Karl’s 75th birthday. When it comes to her plans for after the cruise, Schaum said: “I am thrilled to spend more time with my family and my husband, who has been very supportive of my work for the past 50 years). Karl and I do plan to travel more, but nothing as extensive as our 80-day celebration cruise. Therefore, I would be bored to death if I did not continue my own reimbursement education and if I did not share my reimbursement knowledge with the wound care industry. Since I seem to have inherited many traits from my mother, I should be able to continue my consulting business for quite a few years — my mother is celebrating her 99th birthday this fall. Therefore, after the cruise, I will return to my consulting business and will finalize the curriculum for our 2018 Wound Clinic Business meetings, which will be held in 10 cities throughout the United States (and will be celebrating its 10th anniversary). I will continue writing my monthly wound care reimbursement columns — Business Briefs in TWC and Payment Strategies in Advances in Skin & Wound Care. I will also continue to serve on the boards of TWC and Wound Source. When I am invited, I will share reimbursement information at local, regional, and national symposia, such as the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care. I will continue to consult with wound care clinics, providers, and management companies either via onsite consultations or my ever-popular teleconsultations. (Many wound care professionals refer to this service as their ‘reimbursement lifeline.’) I will continue to consult with investors and wound care manufacturers during their ‘due diligence’ work. And, last but not least, I will continue to educate wound care sales and marketing personnel about coding, coverage, and payment for their products and services throughout the continuum of care.” Additionally, TWC asked Schaum to share some thoughts about her 50-year career: “First, I want to thank my parents for giving me the opportunity to be the first female in our entire family to earn a four-year college degree,” she said. “Second, I want to say a special ‘thank you’ to Karl, the love of my life, for supporting me in every way possible, which allowed me to continue my education and to share my reimbursement knowledge — even when it meant traveling throughout the country several days every week. We have been true partners and best friends for the past 50 years! Third, I want to tell my colleagues that I have appreciated all our collaborations throughout the years and look forward to more ‘reimbursement wins’ for the next 10 or 15 years! Finally, I want to thank all wound care professionals, manufacturers, management companies, publishing companies, symposium planners, investors, etc. for giving me the unbelievable opportunity of working with each of you. As you often hear me say, maintaining reimbursement knowledge would be very boring if I could not share it with the wound care industry that I love.” 

Aviles to Host Wound Healing Roundtable

Frank Aviles Jr., PT, CWS, FACCWS, CLT, a member of the editorial advisory board for Today’s Wound Clinic, will host one of his continuing education and Wound Healing Roundtable events Sept. 28 at Natchitoches (LA) Event Center. Themed “Management of Challenging Wounds,” the daylong program will feature panel speakers Kerry Thibodeaux, MD, FACS; William A. Ball Jr., MD, FACS; and Aviles. Jason Bland, LPTA, president of the Trinity Outdoor Disabled Adventures, a nonprofit organization that helps individuals living with disabilities be involved in activities such as hunting, fishing, camping, and faith-based camps, will serve as a guest speaker. 

Continuing education units will be offered to attending nurses on courses including wound differentiation and wound bed preparation. Other non-credited courses include compression education, and negative pressure wound therapy and cellular tissue labs. Industry sponsors include MiMedx^® Group, Marietta, GA; Juzo,^® Cuyahoga Falls, OH; and Acelity,^™ San Antonio, TX. Admission is free, and lunch and dinner will be provided. To RSVP, contact Aviles at frank.aviles@nrmchospital.org or 318-228-5056. 

Shindell Named To HIMSS Indiana Chapter Board

Roger Shindell, MS, CHPS, CISA, a member of the Today’s Wound Clinic editorial advisory board, has been elected as a board member of the Indiana chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). As a member of the board of directors, Shindell, the president and chief executive officer of Carosh Compliance Solutions, Crown Point, IN, a national HIPAA compliance consultancy, will hold the position of “member at large” effective July 7, 2017, until June 2020. During this time, Shindell will serve to assist in the continued success of this acclaimed chapter. The Indiana chapter of HIMSS is one of more than 50 affiliated chapters of the organization, the largest healthcare information systems professional organization in the nation, according to HIMSS officials. Each chapter’s purpose is to bring healthcare professionals together to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge among colleagues and to assist members in professional growth through educational seminars/conferences, networking opportunities, and a forum for the exchange of ideas among those committed to the goal of improving patient care through effective use of information technology. Shindell’s company Carosh specializes in HIPAA compliance consulting for small to midsize practices and their business associates. He has more than 30 years of multidisciplinary experience and has served as an advisor and principal to a number of healthcare technology and service companies.