Wound Conversations

In this episode of WoundConversations, learn more about emerging thinking about AI in wound care and in healthcare as a whole.

How do reimbursement, documentation, and coverage policies influence wound care decisions? In this episode of WoundConversations, host Dr. Jayesh Shah continues his conversation with Dr. Helen Gelly to explore the business realities every wound care clinician must navigate.

From Medicare reimbursement and coverage policies to audits, documentation, denials, and advanced wound care products, Dr. Gelly shares practical advice on balancing ethical, evidence-based patient care with the financial sustainability of a wound care practice. Learn why strong documentation, collaboration with billing and coding teams, and mastering the fundamentals of wound management can help clinicians improve outcomes while reducing compliance risk.

Whether you're new to wound care or an experienced clinician, this episode offers actionable insights to help you practice confidently in today's increasingly complex reimbursement environment.

Topics discussed include:

Wound care reimbursement and CMS policy changes

Documentation best practices

Audits, denials, and appeals

Coverage policies for cellular tissue products (CTPs/CAMPs)

Ethical clinical decision-making

Building a financially sustainable wound care practice

Practical advice for new wound care clinicians

Listen now to gain practical strategies you can apply in your practice tomorrow.

One of the biggest challenges in wound care is accurately identifying what you're seeing in the wound bed. Terms like granulation tissue, slough, eschar, epithelial tissue, and biofilm may seem straightforward in textbooks, but real-world wound assessment is often much more complex.

In this episode of Wound Conversations, host Kathy Milne welcomes back Jeanine Maguire, PhD, PT, CWS, President of the Post Acute Wound and Skin Integrity Council (PAWSIC), for a practical discussion on tissue identification and why it matters.

Together, they explore how tissue types influence wound healing trajectories, treatment selection, dressing choices, reimbursement, documentation, and regulatory compliance. Dr. McGuire shares clinical pearls for distinguishing healthy granulation tissue from nonviable tissue, avoiding common assessment mistakes, and using imaging to improve consistency during transitions of care.

The conversation also highlights how accurate wound assessment requires more than simply looking at the wound bed. Understanding patient history, anatomy, healing phases, and previous wound documentation can help clinicians avoid misdiagnosis and make more informed treatment decisions.

Whether you're new to wound care or looking to sharpen your assessment skills, this episode offers practical strategies you can immediately apply in clinical practice.

Understanding wound care reimbursement is just as important as understanding wound healing—and it's a topic many clinicians never learn during training.

In this episode of Wound Conversations, host Jayesh Shah MD sits down with Helen Gelly, MD, a nationally recognized expert in hyperbaric medicine, wound care reimbursement, and healthcare policy. Dr. Gelly breaks down the fundamentals of wound care coding, documentation, insurance coverage, and reimbursement in a practical way designed specifically for clinicians early in their careers.

Listeners will learn:

The difference between CPT codes and ICD-10 diagnosis codes

How documentation impacts reimbursement and medical necessity

Common coding mistakes that lead to denials and audits

What prior authorization really means—and what it doesn't

How Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), LCDs, and NCDs affect wound care practice

Strategies for improving documentation and reducing claim denials

Listen today and apply tomorrow.

Every wound care clinician learns the phases of wound healing—hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling—but real-world wounds rarely follow a textbook path.

In this episode of WoundConversations, host Cathy Milne sits down with Jeanine Maguire, PT, CWS, and President of the Post Acute Wound and Skin Integrity Council (PAWSIC), to discuss how clinicians can apply wound healing science in everyday practice.

Dr. Maguire shares practical strategies for identifying where a wound is in the healing process, recognizing when healing has stalled, and avoiding common mistakes that can delay closure. The conversation explores the importance of accurate wound diagnosis, differentiating normal inflammation from infection, evaluating granulation tissue, and understanding why successful wound care requires looking beyond the wound itself to the whole patient.

Designed especially for clinicians who are new to wound care, this episode provides actionable guidance on wound assessment, clinical reasoning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and treatment selection.

Whether you're a nurse, podiatrist, therapist, advanced practice provider, or wound care professional seeking greater confidence in your assessments, this discussion will help you better understand the wound healing process and improve patient outcomes.

Burnout is one of the biggest challenges facing wound care clinicians—especially those early in their careers. In this follow-up episode of Wound Conversations, Dr. Jayesh Shah and Dr. Desmond Bell, DPM, shift from recognizing burnout to solving it.

This episode focuses on practical, real-world strategies to help clinicians protect their energy while continuing to deliver compassionate care. Dr. Bell shares why learning to say “no” is one of the most powerful skills clinicians can develop—and how setting professional boundaries can actually improve both patient care and personal well-being.

The conversation also explores the emotional weight of long-term patient relationships in wound care, and how clinicians can stay empathetic without becoming emotionally depleted. You’ll also learn how mentorship, coaching, and leadership roles can build resilience, reduce isolation, and create a strong professional support system.

Whether you’re a nurse, podiatrist, APP, or other new clinician entering wound care, this episode offers actionable insights to help you prevent burnout and build a sustainable career.

Guest: Desmond Bell, DPM – Executive Physician Coach, Wound Care Leader

Host: Jayesh Shah, MD

Building trust is one of the most critical—and often overlooked—skills in wound care. In this episode of Wound Conversations, Catherine Milne, APRN, sits down with Dr. Maria Goddard, a board-certified wound care specialist, to explore practical strategies for improving patient relationships and clinical outcomes.

Designed especially for early-career clinicians, this conversation breaks down what truly impacts wound healing beyond dressings and procedures. Dr. Goddard shares how to approach the first patient visit, use active listening to uncover barriers to healing, and set realistic expectations for slow or unpredictable wound progression. She also emphasizes the importance of treating the whole patient—not just the wound, including social, emotional, and environmental factors.

Listeners will gain actionable insights on:

Building trust quickly in time-constrained settings

Using interdisciplinary teams to improve care

Communicating effectively with patients and caregivers

Asking “why” to uncover root causes of non-healing wounds

Whether you're a nurse, APP, physician, physical therapist, occupational therapist, or other new wound care clinician, this episode will help you strengthen patient connections and improve outcomes in any care setting.

Mobile wound care is transforming how clinicians deliver treatment across long-term care, home health, and beyond—but success requires more than clinical knowledge. In this episode of Wound Conversations, Catherine Milne, APRN, sits down with returning guest Pamela Scarborough, PT, DPT, to break down the day-to-day realities of mobile wound care practice.

Designed for early-career clinicians and those new to wound care, this episode explores the critical role of interdisciplinary collaboration, with a special focus on the often underutilized value of physical therapy in wound healing. Dr. Scarborough explains how integrating therapeutic exercise, compression, and conservative sharp debridement can significantly improve outcomes—especially in venous insufficiency and lymphedema.

Listeners will also gain practical insights into mobile wound care operations, including how to prepare your “clinic on wheels,” manage supplies, and navigate environmental challenges in the field. The conversation highlights key business and regulatory considerations, such as understanding F-tags in long-term care, avoiding costly compliance mistakes, and ensuring proper documentation and infection control practices.

Whether you're entering mobile wound care or looking to optimize your current practice, this episode delivers actionable strategies to help you improve patient outcomes, reduce complications, and work more effectively as part of a wound care team.

Burnout among wound care clinicians is more than just stress—it’s often the result of ongoing imbalance between professional demands and personal well-being. In this episode of Wound Conversations, Dr. Jayesh Shah sits down with Dr. Desmond Bell, DPM, to explore how burnout develops, why it’s so common in healthcare, and what early-career clinicians can do to recognize and address it before it escalates.

Dr. Bell shares personal insights from his career and discusses how burnout often presents subtly—through irritability, disengagement, loss of control, and increasing frustration with administrative burdens like EHR documentation. He reframes burnout as a disruption in life balance and emphasizes the importance of physical, mental, and emotional self-care for clinicians who manage complex patient populations daily.

This episode is especially valuable for early-career wound care professionals—including nurses, , physicians, and advanced practice providers—who may be building their careers while navigating heavy workloads and high expectations. Listeners will gain practical perspective on identifying burnout early, the role of mentorship and team-based care, and simple daily habits that can improve resilience and long-term career satisfaction.

🎙 Guest: Desmond Bell, DPM – Founder, Save A Leg, Save A Life Foundation; Physician Coach; Wound Care Leader

Mobile wound care is transforming how clinicians manage complex wounds—especially for patients who can’t easily access traditional clinics. In this episode of Wound Conversations, Cathy Milne sits down with Pamela Scarborough, PT, DPT, MSCWS, FAAWC, to break down what mobile wound care is, why it matters, and how it improves patient outcomes.

Designed for a broad sector of practitioners, and clinicians new to wound care, this episode explains how bringing wound care directly to the patient—whether in the home, long-term care, or assisted living—can improve access to care, timeliness of treatment, and continuity of care.

You’ll learn:

What “mobile wound care” actually means in clinical practice

How it helps prevent complications like infection and hospitalization

Why understanding the patient’s environment improves healing outcomes

How mobile wound teams support bedside clinicians and caregivers

Key traits needed to succeed in mobile wound care practice

Dr. Scarborough also shares practical insights from decades of experience, including how clinicians can deliver effective care without disrupting a patient’s daily life.

If you're building confidence in wound care or exploring new care delivery models, this episode offers practical, real-world guidance you can apply immediately.