Robert A. Dowling, 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.

Almost all clinicians avoided negative fee schedule adjustment in 2022.

Urologists prescribe at rates higher than many other specialties.

Medicare Part D data reveal how urology compares with other specialties.

Urologists are the principal drivers of utilization for 14 drugs.

Think of the forgotten stent primarily as a patient safety issue, writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"Be sure you are prescribing and dispensing the most clinically and cost-effective alternatives for your patients, and check that your information systems (electronic health records) are configured to display formulary information as you prescribe," advises Robert A. Dowling, MD.

Be sure to check and refresh your practice’s policies for record requests.

"Being a patient has convinced me that providers do not always treat patients the way they would want to be treated," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

More than a third of urologists work in a urology-dominant practice.

Urologists outscore peers in e-prescribing, providing access to health information.

Prostate cancer, BPH, and OAB products are linked with a majority of payments.

Physician services see 4.8% annual average growth rate in the past 10 years.

Determine whether your prescribing habits are in line with your peers.

Finasteride, oxybutynin chloride, and mirabegron also rank high in latest data from CMS.

Leuprolide acetate remains the most commonly used androgen suppression drug.

"Three products alone used to treat advanced prostate cancer were associated with about half of all payments to urologists," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

Against the backdrop of a new guideline for advanced prostate cancer, Robert A. Dowling, MD, describes how you might measure adherence to guidelines in your own practice.

Mitomycin sees the largest annual growth in spending per dose over the past 5 years, Robert A. Dowling, MD, reports.

Replacing office visits with virtual visits may become the new normal, writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"Many companies understand your utilization, payment, and prescribing data much more thoroughly than you might think," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"Ignoring the entire Quality category may be a risky strategy in 2020 and beyond," warns Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"The mean and median MIPS final composite scores among urologists in 2017 were 79.3 and 91.2, respectively; this was slightly higher than all specialties combined," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"On Nov. 1, 2019, CMS published a final rule making important changes to the 2020 Quality Payment Program (Merit-based incentive Payment System [MIPS] and alternative payment models). Among the most significant are changes to the MIPS Cost Category: changes in the way patients are attributed to physicians, changes in the way the cost measures are calculated, and the addition of new episode-based cost measures," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"Automated urinalysis codes declined 19%, while the manual urinalysis codes without and with microscopy dropped 0.6% and 7.6% respectively over the 3-year period," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

Written policies should address scheduling guidelines and appointment cancellations, advises Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"Patient access to health information-whether it resides in a medical record, a lab company’s system, or an insurance company records-is a right firmly protected by federal laws and regulations," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

The average industry payment to a urologist saw a decline in 2018 compared with the previous year.

Robert A. Dowling, MD, discusses how the National Practitioner Data Bank can inform urologists about the prevalence and type of medical malpractice payments and adverse actions against health care providers in the U.S.

In this article, Robert A. Dowling, MD, discusses Part D drug spending that may be of interest to the practicing urologist: those drugs prescribed, and in some cases, dispensed in the urology practice.