Practice Management

Looking at your practice's monthly finances, focusing on big expenses, and wondering how you can cut them is a response typical among urologists concerned with a shrinking bottom line.

Looking at your practice's monthly finances, focusing on big expenses, and wondering how you can cut them is a response typical among urologists concerned with a shrinking bottom line.

The United States is witnessing a consolidation of physicians into groups, and urology is no exception. AUA estimates that only 22% of its members in 2006 are in solo practice (down from 48% in 2003).

Washington-Changes in federal policy that could hinder urologists' ability to provide in-office imaging services to patients appear to be on the way, threatening to toss another punch at physicians already confronting hefty Medicare fee schedule reductions in 2007.

Managers and the billing departments of most urology practices strive to get the money off the books and into the bank, but managing accounts receivable continues to be a daunting task that absorbs a fair amount of resources. This article offers a few practical tips that will make managing accounts receivable a lot easier.

If possible, contracts based on straight percentage of Medicare should be avoided.

National Report-With another year of Medicare payment cuts looming in 2007, declining reimbursement is no surprise as the number one current concern among practicing urologists, according to an exclusive survey from Urology Times and its sister publication, Contemporary Urology. Changes in reimbursement are followed closely by malpractice, office overhead, pay for performance, and increasing regulations as the top five issues that urologists are extremely or very concerned about, the first State of the Specialty survey found.

What is considered the usual postoperative bleeding time following a transurethral resection of the prostate?

New York-Urology practices that have not started performing office-based surgery (OBS) are missing significant advantages in scheduling, convenience, and compensation.

It is not enough to maintain control over the profitability of your practice. In order to gain control, you need to know the cost of each procedure you perform in the office, the reimbursement from each of your payers, and the profit margin for each service you offer your patients.

To be an effective marketer, you must nurture and promote your professional image: Sell yourself as well as your practice.

Washington-On Aug. 8, 2006, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposal to reform the Medicare ambulatory surgical center payment system beginning Jan. 1, 2008, and the news for urology appears to be mixed.

Atlanta-Operating room-based procedures continue to make up a significant proportion of urologists' practice, despite a predominance of office-based clinical practice, data from the American Board of Urology indicate.

Atlanta-Undiagnosed urinary incontinence may occur in up to half of adult women age 25 to 80 years, according to a survey sent to patients at Kaiser Permanente Northwest Health Maintenance Organization, Portland, OR.

Specialty groups asking for time to develop effective measures

Whenever the needs of the practice change, job descriptions should be redefined to reflect those changes so that you achieve optimal staff productivity.

What you discuss with patients and when you do it can make a difference in how you code

Atlanta-Direct medical costs are nearly twice as much for men with chronic prostatitis as men without, and those costs are definitely because of the disease, an analysis of an HMO's cost data showed.

Physicians' cost efficiency is being judged by all costs, not their individual service fees alone.

Atlanta-Results of a Medicare claims analysis of women undergoing a sling procedure for stress urinary incontinence have revealed a significant variation between gynecologists and urologists in their approach to patient evaluation and the outcomes after surgery. However, further study is needed to understand the factors underlying those differences, researchers from UCLA said at the AUA annual meeting here.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. has reached a broad settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies following investigations into Tenet's receipt of certain Medicare outlier payments before 2003, physician financial arrangements, and Medicare coding issues.

Washington-Physicians who embrace a new federal initiative to establish a uniform system of interoperable electronic health records will be eligible for increased payments under the pay for performance policies being established at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Many urologists are in the process of trying to transition their practices from the hospital to the office, and are looking for opportunities for ancillary income. A number of ancillary services are being explored.

The current CPT terminology does focus specifically on the results of the laser and not the laser itself.