Practice Management

"Good public and economic policy must align costs, benefits, and incentives; currently, all costs are incurred by physician practices, and all financial savings and benefits from prior authorization accrue to health insurance plans, leading to perverse incentives,” says Alex Shteynshlyuger, MD.

"The implications for urology, and every specialty, are immense. It does improve care, and it helps the patient. I think this is what it will be, it just may take some time," says Vipul Patel, MD.

"Per CPT coding instructions, when procedures or services performed by physicians do not have a valid or descriptive CPT or Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code, the service should be reported using an unlisted code," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

“What is becoming increasingly evident is that the traditional health care model is falling short for patients in rural regions,” says Ramy Abou Ghayda, MD, MPH, MBA candidate.

The EdgeFlow UH10 bladder scanner utilizes high-resolution ultrasound imaging to non-invasively measure postvoid residual urine in the bladder.

"[Telemedicine] really has demonstrated itself to be a tool that can be used in a variety of ways, according to the discretion and ingenuity of the urologist," says Aaron Spitz, MD.

The AACU is excited to announce its March 19, 2024 8PM EST webinar with Congressman Murphy.

In this interview, Joshua Langston, MD, highlights a session on Medicare reimbursement reform from the 7th Annual AUA Urology Advocacy Summit.

"An excess contribution into a Roth IRA can be a hassle, but it is correctible," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

"I think these results particularly apply to practicing urologists that have the opportunity to train residents," says Kathryn Marchetti, MD.

For 90-tablet prescriptions, the greatest costs saving were observed for solifenacin and oxybutynin, used for overactive bladder, and tadalafil, used for erectile dysfunction

"We identified that in our site, we were ordering almost 1600 cystoscopy packs. A lot of the materials that were in those packages were unnecessary for an outpatient procedure," says Malissa Williams.

"It sounds so cheesy to just say it, but if you're really feeling grateful, you can't feel anything of a lower vibration or frequency at the same time," says Anne M. Suskind, MD, MS, FACS, FPMRS.

"I think it's important to try to mix up your visits with patients that you think might be a little shorter, like a vasectomy consult, vs a new patient visit for infertility that may take a little bit longer, so that you don't run over time," says Helen L. Bernie, DO, MPH.

"Urologists may wish to review their policies for patient portal, responding to requests for records, and supporting the concept of a shared electronic record," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"Male residents do about 100 more cases over the 4 years of urology-specific training than female residents, which is a significant difference," says Kathryn Marchetti, MD.

Health care practitioners utilizing telemedicine, regardless of the modality, must be cognizant of the many pitfalls of violating the rules regulating patient confidentiality as established by federal and state privacy laws.

"There's...this concept of the virtualist; truly, the virtual urologist who has a potentially full-time telehealth practice but geared toward really delivering care, and these positions exist," says Kara L. Watts, MD.

"As investigational therapies and devices make their way through the approval process and into practice, urologists should stay abreast of early clinical results and may look to publicly available information for costs and utilization trends," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

Independent health care practices rely on online ratings and reviews to attract new patients and establish themselves as leading, recognizable providers in their community.

Prior authorizations for medical care will become quicker and easier, while saving money, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

"I probably see about 20% of my patients a week via telemedicine right now," says Helen L. Bernie, DO, MPH.

"The world has a way of sending you the same message until you get it, and burnout is the same way. It's going to keep coming at you until you acknowledge it," says Anne M. Suskind, MD, MS, FACS, FPMRS.

"At MIU, we host many ancillary services, including complete ultrasound services, UroCuff, urodynamics, PTNS [percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation], full laboratory and pathology services, Xofigo [radium-223]," says Jason M. Hafron, MD.

According to statistics provided by the AUA, 385 medical students and other applicants were matched across 148 urology residency training programs nationwide.

"From a physician standpoint, [telemedicine] allows you to have a greater reach of patients that you can help, that you can educate, that you can help improve their quality of life," says Helen L. Bernie, DO, MPH.

“To the point where a child would come in and request to see a cartoon character was really quite interesting for me,” says Patrina H. Y. Caldwell, BMed, FRACP, PhD.

"Continuing certification is not merely a bureaucratic process; it is a commitment to staying abreast of advancements in urology and maintaining competencies," writes J. Stuart Wolf Jr, MD, FACS.

The investigators at DSUI developed 4 recommended actions for urologists based on the findings from the survey: drive multidisciplinary collaboration, leverage technology excellence, bridge patient-urologist perspectives, and foster collaboration with general practitioners.