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Facing uncertainty in Medicare and increasing regulatory and insurer burdens, the leaders of organizations representing urologists across the country gathered in mid-August for the 9th Annual AACU State Society Network Advocacy Conference.

The authors of a recent research letter reported a 6% drop in incidence rates for early-stage prostate cancer in men 50 years of age and older from 2012 to 2013.

Although various calculators are available for predicting biopsy results in men with prostate cancer being managed by active surveillance, a novel model developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University is unique for its ability to predict a patient’s “true cancer state”; ie, the Gleason score that would be assigned on whole-gland analysis after radical prostatectomy.

As interest in using multiparametric MRI as a diagnostic tool for prostate cancer increases, urologists should know that a negative mpMRI does not rule out significant prostate cancer, researchers advised at the AUA annual meeting in San Diego.

A slow breathing technique guided by an iOS application was able to reduce the occurrence of vasomotor symptoms in a small study of prostate cancer survivors treated with androgen deprivation therapy.

Clinical outcomes of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with enzalutamide (XTANDI) after chemotherapy correlate with health-related quality of life both at treatment initiation and its change longitudinally, researchers reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

Robert A. Dowling, MD, dug into the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ recently released 2015 data from the "Open Payments" initiative, and summarizes the data on payments made to urologists.

In this interview, Angela B. Smith, MD, MS, discusses two work force problems in urology, discrepancies in male and female urologist compensation, and solutions for these issues.

A treatment system that uses steam to ablate prostate tissue (Rezūm, NxThera, Inc.) can be considered as a first-line therapy for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to BPH, say investigators from a non-randomized multicenter pilot study with 2-year duration of successful outcomes.

The literature is rife with information and data, sometimes conflicting, as to whether disclosure and defensive medicine are beneficial to reducing liability and the chances of a lawsuit. One reason for this conflicting data is that the health care system as a whole is in the midst of a massive change, going from an authoritative physician model to one in which patients are increasingly engaged in their own medical care and treatment decisions.

"The marriage process, regardless of age, requires careful thought about a number of financial situations a couple will likely face," write Joel M. Blau, CFP, and Ronald J. Paprocki, JD, CFP, CHBC.

The AUA and other organizations have been urging Congress to create transparency and accountability within the USPSTF while adding input and feedback from patients and specialists involved in treating the conditions for which it is developing recommendations.

The recent blog post, “The transgender community: Urology has a role and a responsibility,” by Henry Rosevear, MD, prompted comments from several readers. Given the interest in this topic, Urology Times has compiled these comments.