The Courage to Do the Right Thing
Summary: In this reflective blog post, Dr. Caroline Fife draws on Alexis de Tocqueville’s warning that “laws are no substitute for public morality” to underscore a powerful message for healthcare: true reform only happens when individuals choose ethical behavior—even under financial pressure. With Medicare facing insolvency, she highlights how costly overbilling, driven by lax otherwise trusted professionals, fuels the crisis.
Key Insights:
- Dr. Fife shares how, early in her career, she helped develop an EHR with built-in, point-of-care coding logic to ensure accurate, compliant billing—ultimately supporting the launch of Intellicure and later the US Wound Registry.
- Despite the complexity of billing (e.g., over 6,000 possible E&M coding combinations), structured systems can reduce clinician burden and improve accuracy.
- The post highlights that over 30% of Medicare billing is inappropriate—and wound care accounts for a disproportionate share—emphasizing the need for transparent quality measurement and registry-based benchmarking.
- Dr. Fife concludes that doing the right thing—prioritizing accuracy, compliance, and honest outcomes—takes courage but is essential to sustain Medicare and deliver high-quality care.
Read the full post by Caroline Fife, M.D.
Keywords:
Caroline Fife,
accurate billing,
EHR coding,
Medicare compliance,
US Wound Registry,
ethical practice,
doing the right thing