The current trends, if allowed to continue, will change the practice of medicine as we know it, even for employed physicians. In this article, we provide an overview of the current macroeconomics of health care, how they affect practicing urologists, and what steps you can take now to ensure you receive a fair share of the health care dollar.
Patients with severe testicular trauma typically face two treatment options: orchiectomy or orchidorrhaphy. A new analysis of national trauma reports suggests that race and insurance status, rather than geography, type of trauma, severity of injury, or other factors, play key roles in decisions that lead to excision or salvage of a damaged testis.
The newest urology products and services from Minimally Invasive Devices, Inc., Merck, GE Healthcare, Pacira Pharmaceuticals International, Iris Sample Processing, HealthForce1, Cardinal Health, and the American Urogynecologic Society.
Higher-volume centers tend to treat adrenalectomy patients who are younger, have a shorter length of stay, and are less likely to die in the hospital when compared to patients treated at lower-volume centers. Researchers found that very low-volume centers treat patients who are older, more likely to be female, and covered by Medicaid or uninsured.
If a patient is already having surgery that would allow for access to the bladder, surgical repair can be worthwhile.
A 4-year retrospective study suggests that re-resection for all T1 bladder tumors, with and without muscle in the original specimen, can provide important prognostic information to guide treatment.
Fatherhood comes with burdens and travails, but one of the unanticipated benefits may be a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death.
Obesity should not preclude a patient from undergoing robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP), but these men may require more time for the procedure.
Results of a retrospective study identify several factors associated with success in achieving pregnancy after intrauterine insemination (IUI), but normal sperm morphology is not among them.
A recent study suggests that a substantial portion of men with comorbidities serious enough to affect their lifespan are also being subjected to likely unnecessarily aggressive therapy.
There are many factors to be considered prior to implementing any type of charitable trust strategy.
Urologists around the country discuss the extent they turn to clinical guidelines or to their own experience when deciding their approach to patient care.
A developing advocacy campaign in Washington state has the AACU Government Affairs team implementing the very practices described in this space and thereby urged upon urologists in seemingly ad nauseum Calls to Action.
Cook Medical (Bloomington, IN) recently announced the renewal of a contract that supplies its urology products to more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals.
Avanafil, an investigational phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor, appears to significantly improve erectile function with low rates of side effects, according to results from a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase III study.
Prostate cancer patients tend to opt for a major cancer center if they have severe disease, but stay closer to home for less complicated cases, even when offered a model of care that taps numerous experts, according to a study by researchers from Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC.
A scale used to measure bone metastases has been found useful in determining whether some prostate cancer patients are responding to chemotherapy, report researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has signed legislation opposing an October 2011 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) draft recommendation that healthy men should no longer receive PSA tests as part of routine cancer screening.
The AUA recently honored Brigadier General (U.S. Army ret.) C. William Fox, Jr, MD, with honorary membership for outstanding service to his country and his profession.
Obesity appears to be associated with higher rates of prostate cancer screening across all races and ethnicities, recent study findings indicate.
Noise-canceling headphones playing a classical melody may reduce pain and anxiety in men undergoing a prostate biopsy, say researchers from Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC.
Veterans Affairs hospitals screen elderly men with limited life expectancies for prostate cancer at surprisingly high rates, even though guidelines recommend against such screening, according to a recent study.
The risks of incontinence and sexual dysfunction are high after both robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and open radical prostatectomy among Medicare-age men, results of a recent multicenter study show.
Results from testing in an initial patient cohort indicate the potential for a six-gene, whole blood RNA-based expression panel to predict survival in men with progressive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Post-radical prostatectomy erectile function recovery is much lower than physician-reported rates, a study indicates.
The advent of nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy and its outcomes has focused attention on the etiology of erectile dysfunction following all forms of prostate cancer intervention.
During periods of dramatic market fluctuation, it is important for investors to avoid emotional responses to investing.
There is a lot we can do to improve our practices' efficiency and productivity. One of the simplest methods is to decrease the no-show rate, a problem that affects most medical practices.
Peter R. Carroll, MD, MPH, discusses the positive and negative aspects of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force prostate cancer screening recommendation and provides a unique perspective on how the urology community should respond.