LUGPA Annual Meeting

America is facing a health care crisis and physicians, including urologists, and the health care organizations for which they work, are an integral component of both the cause and the solution, according to Scott MacDiarmid, MD.

“There are a lot of patients in the greater St. Louis area that seek out my practice because I am a female practicing urology, and they want to see a female,” says Elizabeth Williams, MD.

Changes in the Medicare fee schedule, including plans to pay essentially the same amount for services whether performed in a hospital provider-based department (PBD) or in individual physician offices, were hailed as “significant wins” in a Health Policy Forum at the 2018 LUGPA annual meeting in Chicago.

A study of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the setting of a community urology practice showed that adherence with active surveillance is good after 3 years of follow-up.

At 10th anniversary meeting, Neal D. Shore, MD, discusses what has made LUGPA “decidedly unique” from other urologic associations.

“Patients have rising expectations for telehealth services as new technology-based ways and preferences for consuming services are shifting into health care. Therefore, it is important for urologists to gear up to meet the market demand,” explains Christian Milaster, MS.

Noted in many recent accounts of doctors running for Congress is the fact that, since January 2017, urologists have been fortunate to have one of their own serving in the U.S. House of Representatives-Florida's Neal Dunn, MD.

"[The MIPS program] provides the only mechanism for many specialists and subspecialists to engage in federally-sponsored quality improvement and demonstrate their commitment to deliver high-value care," says Parag Parekh, MD, of the Alliance of Specialty Medicine.

“The APMs being designed by LUGPA allow for participation by all urologists regardless of their practice setting or affiliation,” explains Alec Koo, MD.

“Care process models… represent a way to decrease variation and waste, and thereby they lead to improved outcomes and significant cost reductions,” says Jay T. Bishoff, MD.

“The answer is to remove the barriers and frustrations that are causing burnout so that physicians can focus on their role as care providers,” advises Paul DeChant, MD, MBA.

Nearly three-fourths of men with very low-risk prostate cancer underwent active surveillance as a primary therapy, according to a study presented at the LUGPA annual meeting in Chicago.

In his health policy briefing, Deepak A. Kapoor, MD, discusses LUGPA’s comments to CMS regarding MACRA and the 2018 Medicare physician fee schedule.

The association and its member groups are “leading the way” in developing urology-specific measures that can be used for MIPS quality reporting, says LUGPA President Neal D. Shore, MD.