ABOUT THE US WOUND & PODIATRY REGISTRIES

The US Wound Registry and US Podiatry Registry are part of the Chronic Disease Registry, one of the nation’s largest QCDRs (Qualified Clinical Data Registries).
INQUIRE HERE

The US Wound Registry and US Podiatry Registry are part of the Chronic Disease Registry, one of the nation’s largest QCDRs (Qualified Clinical Data Registries). For more than 13 years, the US Wound Registry has led the Wound Care industry in its defense against governmental regulations that threaten to shut down or greatly impair the specialty. In doing so, the US Wound Registry and US Podiatry Registry have amassed a large share of clinician registrants who understand the importance data makes in clinical practice. We value our customers and our profession very highly.

The Chronic Disease Registry was created in 2005 in response to the ongoing need for clinicians to aggregate data about patients to support the public policy attacks against the Wound Care specialty. Every day CMS and private payors must find ways to cut costs to the Medicare and private healthcare system. We have evolved into a world where you must justify the basis for your fees, or watch them be cut, often dramatically.

Impacting Government Influence

Recently, the U.S. Hyperbaric industry almost vanished overnight. The American Medical Association’s RUC was reviewing the justification for the basis of the hyperbaric physician in attendance code, and without supporting data to back up claims of “our patients are ill and need these advanced services,” the relative value rate for that service was set for a significant reduction. The US Wound Registry provided concrete, real world experience based data to support the hyperbaricists arguments and the value rates, while lower, where no where near where they were originally headed, averting a tragic payment impact.

About the Chronic Disease Registry

The Chronic Disease Registry maintains nine distinct registries. The Chronic Disease Registry is a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) recognized annually by CMS since 2013 and has been a PQRS Registry since 2007.

The Chronic Disease Registry is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. As a nonprofit corporation and a tax-exempt organization, the Chronic Disease Registry is subject to restrictions to ensure its assets are used in furtherance of its charitable mission and not for private gain. Its mission and purpose is to create and operate data registries of patient data, chronic diseases, medical products and devices. Each registry within the Chronic Disease Registry is governed by its own unique data governance board.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CAROLINE FIFE, MD

Dr. Caroline Fife received her BS and MD degrees from Texas A&M University College of Medicine (AOA). After a residency in Family Medicine at the University of Texas, Southwestern in Dallas she completed a 2-year Fellowship in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine at Duke University (subspecialty board-certified in UHM by Preventive Medicine) and then joined the faculty of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 1990 where she was a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, initiating the Memorial Hermann Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine and the Lymphedema Center. After 22 years in academics, Dr. Fife retired from the University of Texas in 2012 and is now the Medical Director and practicing physician at the St. Luke’s Wound Care Clinic in The Woodlands, Texas.

Dr. Fife maintains a close eye on governmental regulations in the healthcare industry and keeps an active blog at CarolineFifeMD.com.

GUY CLIFTON, MD

Guy Clifton, MD, neurosurgeon and clinical investigator, joined the University of Texas-Houston Medical School faculty as head of neurosurgery in 1990. He received a B.S. from Texas A&M University in 1971 and an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston with high honors in 1975. He is the founding Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and served in that capacity until 2004. During that time, he also served as Chief of the Neurosurgery Service at Memorial Hermann Hospital. The recipient of a number of research grants, he is currently principal investigator for a $15.6 million multicenter randomized study designed to test moderate systemic cooling as a treatment for acute, severe brain injury. Dr. Clifton is founder and Chairman of Save Our ERs, a coalition of Houston business and health professionals dedicated to solving the emergency care crisis in Texas. Save Our ERs took a statewide leadership role in 2003 in the passage of legislation to fund uninsured trauma care in the state. He has served as Chairman of the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Emergency/Trauma Care Policy Council, which seeks to coordinate provision of emergency services in the 13 counties of the Houston metropolitan area so that timely emergency services are available to its residents.

CHARLES COWAN, PHD

Charles Cowan, Ph.D., has 30 years of experience in statistical research and design. He consults for numerous public and private sector entities on the design, implementation, and evaluation of research, the use of sampling methods for a wide variety of counting and valuation problems, and the combination of sampling techniques with financial econometrics for the valuation of portfolios, properties, and other groups of assets. Dr. Cowan has designed some of the largest and most complex research programs conducted by the Federal Government, including the Post Enumeration Program conducted by the Bureau of the Census to evaluate the 1980 Decennial Census, the Economic Cash Recovery valuations conducted by the Resolution Trust Corporation in 1990-95, and many evaluation studies conducted for the Justice Department, the Department of Defense, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Treasury Department. Dr. Cowan teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in survey methods, statistics, and computer methods for analysis. He is the co-author of two books, one on evaluation of survey and census methods and one on econometric measures related to the welfare of the U.S. economy. Outside of UAB, Dr. Cowan runs a consulting firm, Analytic Focus LLC, specializing in Federal research and work for financial institutions and law firms. Previously, he was with Price Waterhouse, where he specialized in financial research, survey research, and audit sampling. From 1991 to 1996, Dr. Cowan was the Chief Statistician for the Resolution Trust Corporation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where he designed research necessary to measure the loss from the Savings & Loan Crisis of the late 1980’s and capitalization requirements for the RTC funds from the U.S. Treasury.

ROBERT CARRAWAY, MD

Dr. Robert Carraway received an A.S. degree at Marion Military Institute Junior College and a B.S. degree from Birmingham-Southern College. He is a graduate of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine and completed his surgical residency at the University of Alabama Hospitals and Carraway Methodist Medical Center. He began his general surgery practice at Carraway Medical Center in 1978 and quickly established a reputation as an innovator. He was the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Carraway Methodist Health Systems from 1993 to 2001. He was able to maintain a clinical practice in surgery and wound care for thirty-four years despite demands upon his time from administrative and academic responsibilites as a faculty member in the surgery residency program at CMMC. Dr. Carraway was instrumental in establishing the Carraway Level One Trauma Center, the Carraway Life Saver EMS Helicopter Service, the Carraway Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Department, and the Carraway Advanced Wound Care Center and HBOT Unit, all firsts in the state of Alabama. He retired from clinical practice and his company, Carraway Surgical Associates, LLC, in July 2012. He is now interested in wound care consulting and research.