Practice Management

In this article, Ray Painter, MD, and Mark Painter provide some facts about the 2015 Medicare fee schedule and share some insights on how its changes will impact your practice in the New Year.

The claim alleged negligence in injuring the right ureter with a retractor during the original operation, and also claimed that the physicians were negligent in opening the bladder when removing part of the left ureter without performing a biopsy first.

Other products featured include a 16-slice CT scanner, new generic testosterone gel, prostate cancer risk calculator, and more.

As the health care market matures, consolidation will occur throughout the system, including within medical groups, says Steven M. Berkowitz, MD.

As owner and president of Shift Happens, a Chicago-based consulting firm, James Feldman is not a physician. But he learned some valuable, if not difficult, lessons about practicing medicine from his physician father.

A panel comprised of a highly experienced health care consultant and two group practice leaders finds that large group practices are likely to be one of the few entities allowing urologists or other specialists a refuge from the current chaos in the American health care system.

In this article, Robert A. Dowling, MD, reviews the challenges of implementing active surveillance in a practice as well as ways to surmount these obstacles.

Other cases discussed in this installment of "Malpractice Consult" include chronic testicular pain following vasectomy and a claim that a spinal tumor should have been found during treatment for post-vasectomy urinary problems.

In this "Coding Q&A" column, Ray Painter, MD, and Mark Painter answer several reader questions involving billing for multiple stones, including replacements for the –59 modifier, use of CPT code 50590, and NCCI guidelines and multiple stones.

In this article, Robert A. Dowling, MD, discusses what you need to know about EHRs and patient safety.

When faced with the difficult prospect of changing one’s normal style of living, the major factors to consider are age, interests, finances, and of course, health issues and concerns.

Other products featured include a testosterone gel, exercise program to strengthen male pelvic muscles, and a book about prostate cancer diagnosis and management.

In this article, Robert A. Dowling, MD, discusses practical aspects of a work flow analysis in your office, including its relationship with health information technology and some helpful resources and tools.

The 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.

When considering purchase of a disability insurance policy, it’s important to have an exact understanding of the language being used in the policy.

In malpractice cases that involve the occurrence of a known complication during a procedure, the issues usually raised are informed consent for the procedure and the timely recognition and appropriate treatment of the complication.

Other questions addressed in this installment of "Coding Q&A" include understanding the Physician Quality Reporting System and avoiding being denied payment for lab tests based on medical necessity.

By their very nature, financial markets rise and fall constantly, with an ever-present potential for gain or loss. The key is to have a plan in place in advance of large market selloffs or large market increases.

Web analytics refers to collecting, analyzing, and using data about how users interact with your website to optimize that interaction for the benefit of your business. Here is what you need to know.

New urology products and services from Symtelligence Medical Informatics, LABORIE, Metamark Genetics, the MediSafe Project, and Olympus

As the capital markets have improved, more investors have shifted their concern from weathering the financial crisis to anticipating the possible inflationary effects of rising federal spending and debt. This thinking has led many to reassess their bond portfolios and even look at commodity futures as a potential inflation hedge.

The changes in health care are fast and furious. Remember that in any massive change there is opportunity. For the office that is willing to make the changes, the silver lining is that health care is moving to a more retail environment. When the dust settles, the opportunity for your office to regain control of how your patients are treated is right in front of you.

In this column, Robert A. Dowling, MD, explores bundled payments and describes a method for calculating “costs” that a practice could use to determine profit/loss projections and negotiate fee schedules using relative value units.

New products and services from TERUMO Medical Corp., TOLMAR Pharmaceuticals, Spry Publishing, and Beckman Coulter Diagnostics.

With tax season behind us, now is the perfect time to be proactive for the 2014 tax year. By taking steps this year, you can avoid the situation of sitting down with your accountant next year and finding that it’s too late to reduce your tax liability.

Lumenis Ltd. has announced the U.S. launch of the Lumenis Pulse 120H Holmium laser platform for a range of urologic applications.

The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 largely preserves the status quo for physicians and their Medicare patients, but many believe the health care model is ripe for disruptive innovation.

In this edition of "Coding Q&A," Ray Painter, MD, and Mark Painter also discuss the use of the –59 modifier when instilling mitomycin after TURBT, and whether you can charge for a establishing a treatment on the same day for a patient on whom you have just performed a cystoscopy.

Other cases discussed in this edition of "Malpractice Consult" include cecum perforated during prostatectomy, injections fail to improve Peyronie's disease, and dementia diagnosis blamed on urologic procedure.

New products and services from Lumenis, ITelagen, Mission Pharmacal, PatientPoint, and HealthTronics IT Solutions.