Practice Management

"I struggle with fighting burnout because I don’t think I’ve done it as well as some people. People advised me to establish a better work-life balance," says one urologist.

CPT 51798 will not be paid if performed in place of service 21 or 23, according to Jonathan Rubenstein, and Mark Painter.

"[A study by Harry Markowitz] found that more than 90% of your long-term investment success is determined by asset class selection," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

"I think the biggest challenge is the technical aspect, because there's always a potential that even if you have good connectivity, your patient may not; or even if you both have good connectivity, the platform might be suffering some sort of overload or some sort of error," says urologist Aaron Spitz, MD.

A group of experts answer the question: What are some words of advice you would give to somebody who's new to telemedicine based upon your experience?

Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, John Gore, MD, MS, Aaron Spitz, MD, and Eugene Rhee, MD, discuss urologists’ potential use of telemedicine for hospital consults.

In this video, experts discuss the relaxing of Medicare rules regarding telemedicine and how this has affected its adoption.

In this video, a panel of telemedicine experts discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic led to rapid adoption of telemedicine visits at their practice.

The bill provides coverage of nonreimbursable expenses attributed to COVID-19, writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

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

"CMS has clarified that it will not enforce the requirement that remote services be reported only for patients with whom the physician has a prior relationship, allowing you to provide new patient visits remotely (99201-99205)," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

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

Avoid making decisions motivated by emotion and fear, advises Jeff Witz, CFP.

"A 90-day global procedure means that the work for the procedure and associated care has already been factored into the payment for the code, typically including 1 day preoperative work, work on the day of the procedure, and the work that is typical for 90 days beginning the day after surgery," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter answer the question: Our urologists are incorporating Botox injections into urethral strictures after a direct vision internal urethrotomy. How do you appropriately code for the Botox injection into the stricture?

"As we see it, the indication to perform this procedure was that the stone was in the ureter. The fact that it was accidentally knocked back into the kidney is inconsequential," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

"An excess contribution into a Roth IRA can be a hassle, but it is correctible. The sooner you fix the error, the less painful and less expensive the process will be," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

The developer of a leading telemedicine platform and a health care staffing agency have teamed up in a pilot program to provide clinical and emergency tele-urology services across the United States.

"First... you have to determine if you are in a global period," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

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

"Category III codes are designated as temporary codes by the AMA. Even though the codes are considered temporary, they are an integral and important part of the system," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

"Contribution limits increased for 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and most 457 plans to $19,500, up from $19,000 in 2019," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter address the coding question: My local hospital tells me that starting Jan. 1, 2020, I have to consult a Clinical Decision Support Mechanism due to the Appropriate Use Criteria program. I thought that didn’t start until 2021. Can you help?

"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.

I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all who have read my “Coding and Reimbursement” and “Coding Q&A” articles for the past 23 years.

"By creating time-based codes, one can most accurately describe and be reimbursed for the amount of time and effort spent face to face with an individual patient," writes Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

"If you are self-employed, a solo 401(k) is an excellent option for saving for retirement," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

“It’s actually an exciting time for patients who have metastatic urothelial cancers and prostate cancers or advanced prostate cancers because there are a lot more products on the way, like the newer hormone agents for prostate cancer and the new immunologic agents like PARP inhibitors for different types of cancers," says one urologist.

Declining reimbursement for their work and the burden of prior authorization are nearly universal concerns of U.S. urologists, an exclusive Urology Times survey has found.