Welcome to my blog. I am a retired plastic surgeon in Seattle and was in private practice since 1991. I've seen more than a few interesting faces and cases through my years spent in the exam room, the operating room and the emergency room. And I have an opinion on just about everything relating to plastic surgery (and a lot of unrelated stuff). If you like my blog, let me know. Thanks for reading! Lisa
Today, October 1, 2015, is the day that doctors have to switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10 diagnosis codes. Up until today, we doctors had to rely on a mere 18,000 ICD-9 codes to describe patient diagnoses. Doctors rely on these mandatory codes for reimbursement from insurance companies. Years ago, when I was doing a lot of insurance work,Continue reading…
Financial Issues, Government and Politics, This Makes Me Cranky.
Seattle Plastic Surgeon reports the winner of “The Dom” at this week’s annual meeting of the Northwest Society of Plastic Surgeons. This year’s meeting featured many excellent presentations on clinical outcomes, clinical research, operative techniques, patient management and lab research. And then there was the practice management paper presented by Dr. Geoff Yule on employeeContinue reading…
Seattle Plastic Surgeon discusses how Obamacare will affect (or not) her practice. There was a time about 10 years ago when I would have been totally stressing out over the changes coming with the Affordable Care Act a.k.a. Obamacare. But that was then and this is now and I’m not stressing out because I don’tContinue reading…
Financial Issues, Government and Politics, Health Care Costs
Seattle Plastic Surgeon discusses the difference between reconstructive and cosmetic surgery and what that has to do with April 15th and the Girl Scouts of America. This time of year I get numerous requests from patients who want to “write off” plastic surgical procedures for tax purposes. I am always happy to provide my clinicContinue reading…
Seattle Plastic Surgeon discusses a very thoughtful mother’s last wishes. One question I always ask when a patient is thinking about having a plastic surgery procedure is “why now?” The answer can be very interesting and often very relavent. Here are some answers I have received over the years: I’ve always wanted to do this butContinue reading…
Body Contouring, Breast Contouring, Financial Issues, Mommy Makeover
Seattle Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder, blogs about Medicare. I just can’t help but comment on the current national discussion regarding the future of Medicare. To understand how some doctors (me, for example) feel about Medicare, it may be enlightening to look at this graph. This ugly graph shows what doctors in private practice (me, for example)Continue reading…
@lisalynnsowder
