Practice Management

"Three products alone used to treat advanced prostate cancer were associated with about half of all payments to urologists," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"We had a Russian-based attack. All of our data was encrypted. They said they’d give us back our data for $24,000 in bitcoins," says one urologist.

Against the backdrop of a new guideline for advanced prostate cancer, Robert A. Dowling, MD, describes how you might measure adherence to guidelines in your own practice.

3 urologists discuss their experience with telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The deletion of code 99201 is among the evaluation/management coding changes for 2021.

As practices reboot, urologists consider leaner staffs and operations.

Mitomycin sees the largest annual growth in spending per dose over the past 5 years, Robert A. Dowling, MD, reports.

Three codes are available for prostate biopsy, but only one is typically used for perineal biopsy, according to Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

"In the current environment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it has become obvious that it won’t be business as usual when the economy restarts and social distancing restrictions are relaxed," write Steven A. Kaplan, MD, and Alexis E. Te, MD.

"I struggle with fighting burnout because I don’t think I’ve done it as well as some people. People advised me to establish a better work-life balance," says one urologist.

CPT 51798 will not be paid if performed in place of service 21 or 23, according to Jonathan Rubenstein, and Mark Painter.

"[A study by Harry Markowitz] found that more than 90% of your long-term investment success is determined by asset class selection," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

"I think the biggest challenge is the technical aspect, because there's always a potential that even if you have good connectivity, your patient may not; or even if you both have good connectivity, the platform might be suffering some sort of overload or some sort of error," says urologist Aaron Spitz, MD.

A group of experts answer the question: What are some words of advice you would give to somebody who's new to telemedicine based upon your experience?

Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, John Gore, MD, MS, Aaron Spitz, MD, and Eugene Rhee, MD, discuss urologists’ potential use of telemedicine for hospital consults.

In this video, experts discuss the relaxing of Medicare rules regarding telemedicine and how this has affected its adoption.

In this video, a panel of telemedicine experts discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic led to rapid adoption of telemedicine visits at their practice.

The bill provides coverage of nonreimbursable expenses attributed to COVID-19, writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

Replacing office visits with virtual visits may become the new normal, writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

"CMS has clarified that it will not enforce the requirement that remote services be reported only for patients with whom the physician has a prior relationship, allowing you to provide new patient visits remotely (99201-99205)," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

"Many companies understand your utilization, payment, and prescribing data much more thoroughly than you might think," writes Robert A. Dowling, MD.

Avoid making decisions motivated by emotion and fear, advises Jeff Witz, CFP.

"A 90-day global procedure means that the work for the procedure and associated care has already been factored into the payment for the code, typically including 1 day preoperative work, work on the day of the procedure, and the work that is typical for 90 days beginning the day after surgery," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter answer the question: Our urologists are incorporating Botox injections into urethral strictures after a direct vision internal urethrotomy. How do you appropriately code for the Botox injection into the stricture?

"As we see it, the indication to perform this procedure was that the stone was in the ureter. The fact that it was accidentally knocked back into the kidney is inconsequential," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

"An excess contribution into a Roth IRA can be a hassle, but it is correctible. The sooner you fix the error, the less painful and less expensive the process will be," writes Jeff Witz, CFP.

The developer of a leading telemedicine platform and a health care staffing agency have teamed up in a pilot program to provide clinical and emergency tele-urology services across the United States.

"First... you have to determine if you are in a global period," write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.

"Ignoring the entire Quality category may be a risky strategy in 2020 and beyond," warns Robert A. Dowling, MD.