Medicare proposed rule: What you need to know
August 19th 2014The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed changes to Medicare payment cover the Physician Quality Reporting System, value-based payment modification, potential relative value unit changes, targeted codes, and a change in global for future years, among other items.
Report questions doc shortage; AUA concerned
August 19th 2014A July 29 report by the Institute of Medicine on reforming the nation’s graduate medical education program has struck a nerve with the AUA and other medical societies by questioning the seriousness of continuing physician shortages in the United States.
AMA urology delegates push back on USPSTF, ICD-10, more
August 18th 2014The House of Delegates, the democratic policy-making body of the American Medical Association, meets twice a year to establish broad policy on health, medical, professional, and governance matters. As in previous years, several resolutions from this June’s meeting were of key interest to urologists.
‘Lift’ offers durable improvement in LUTS at 2 years
August 18th 2014Data from 2 years of prospective follow-up in a multinational study show that the prostatic urethral lift (PUL [UroLift System, Neotract, Inc., Pleasanton, CA]) is a safe procedure that provides durable, clinically meaningful improvement of lower urinary tract symptoms due to BPH, reported Claus G. Roehrborn, MD, at the AUA annual meeting in Orlando, FL.
Urology Product Preview: Testosterone agent meets efficacy endpoint in phase III studies
August 11th 2014Drugs and devices in the pipeline form Clarus Therapeutics, Nymox Pharmaceutical, Bioniche Life Sciences, Repros Therapeutics, BioLight Life Sciences Investments/Micromedic Technologies, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceutical, H. Lundbeck A/S, Transplant Genomics, Orion, Bayer, and Roche.
IOM report, AUA at odds over GME funding solutions
August 4th 2014The federal system for financing physician training and residency programs needs to be overhauled to ensure that the United States is producing the physicians that the nation needs, according to a new Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that the AUA says makes recommendations that would have a negative effect on teaching hospitals and fails to acknowledge a doctor shortage across all specialties.
Men too often receive T for ‘soft’ indications
July 29th 2014To gain an endocrinologist’s perspective on current issues in testosterone therapy and hypogonadism, Urology Times interviewed Rebecca Z. Sokol MD, MPH, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
States take novel steps to address work force shortage
July 29th 2014As policymakers learn about the burgeoning bottleneck between medical school graduation and graduate medical education, a number of novel approaches to physician training have launched from Sacramento to Jefferson City to Tallahassee. Not surprisingly, many of these solutions pit providers against one another amid concerns about patient safety and the dilution of professional standards.
Upfront chemo plus ADT dramatically improves survival
July 24th 2014A new study showing a survival benefit of more than 1 year with a chemotherapy-hormonal therapy combination given prior to castration resistance is being hailed by a leading prostate cancer expert as possibly representing a “new standard” in care.
Testosterone, clomiphene yield similar satisfaction
July 24th 2014Symptomatic hypogonadal men treated with clomiphene citrate (Clomid) or testosterone gels report similar satisfaction levels as age-matched men treated with testosterone injections, despite having significantly lower serum total testosterone levels, according to the findings of a recent retrospective study from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.
Decision to use testosterone must be individualized
July 23rd 2014Testosterone replacement therapy has been much debated in recent months, in light of two studies linking the treatment to increased risk of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, and stroke, prompting an FDA investigation into TRT’s safety and widespread criticism from members of the urologic community. In this article, Ajay Nehra, MD, discusses those studies, evolving attitudes toward “low T,” and the importance of individualizing treatment.
Testosterone dependence: How real is the risk?
July 23rd 2014Men are being too easily enticed lately into ill-advised use of testosterone supplementation. Even men with only minimal, vague complaints are promised a hormonal fountain of youth and ageless virility. Many potential candidates seem to be under the misconception that “T” replacement will boost or energize their natural testicular production. In fact, exogenous testosterone suppresses testicular function.