Practice Management

Atlanta-Undiagnosed urinary incontinence may occur in up to half of adult women age 25 to 80 years, according to a survey sent to patients at Kaiser Permanente Northwest Health Maintenance Organization, Portland, OR.

Specialty groups asking for time to develop effective measures

Whenever the needs of the practice change, job descriptions should be redefined to reflect those changes so that you achieve optimal staff productivity.

What you discuss with patients and when you do it can make a difference in how you code

Atlanta-Direct medical costs are nearly twice as much for men with chronic prostatitis as men without, and those costs are definitely because of the disease, an analysis of an HMO's cost data showed.

Physicians' cost efficiency is being judged by all costs, not their individual service fees alone.

Atlanta-Results of a Medicare claims analysis of women undergoing a sling procedure for stress urinary incontinence have revealed a significant variation between gynecologists and urologists in their approach to patient evaluation and the outcomes after surgery. However, further study is needed to understand the factors underlying those differences, researchers from UCLA said at the AUA annual meeting here.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. has reached a broad settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies following investigations into Tenet's receipt of certain Medicare outlier payments before 2003, physician financial arrangements, and Medicare coding issues.

Washington-Physicians who embrace a new federal initiative to establish a uniform system of interoperable electronic health records will be eligible for increased payments under the pay for performance policies being established at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Many urologists are in the process of trying to transition their practices from the hospital to the office, and are looking for opportunities for ancillary income. A number of ancillary services are being explored.

The current CPT terminology does focus specifically on the results of the laser and not the laser itself.

It's clear that a two-track system of urology is already in place.

People who pay more of their own costs up front... make choices based on cost as well as quality.

Atlanta-The population of patients being treated with a penile prosthesis for erectile dysfunction is evolving, with the average patient now being older and having more medical comorbidities compared with less than 20 years ago, according to the results of a nationwide epidemiologic study reported at the annual AUA meeting here.

The population of patients being treated with a penile prosthesisfor erectile dysfunction is evolving, with the average patient nowbeing older and having more medical comorbidities compared withless than 20 years ago, according to the results of a nationwideepidemiologic study reported by University of Michigan urologists.

AUA has established the Department of Reimbursement and RegulatoryAffairs to more effectively target resources and advocacy effortsfor its members. Nancy K. Edwards, currently AUA reimbursementsystems project manager, will become its director.

As all practicing urologists know, shrinking reimbursement forurologic services has become the norm. But current market forcesactually favor the specialty, and urologists can take control oftheir financial future - as long as they are willing to takea handful of forward-thinking steps.

In 2007, physicians will face another cut in Medicare payment ifCongress fails to act.

Washington-Seventy urologists came to the nation's capitalearly this spring seeking to let the policymakers in Congress andthe administration know just how their decisions affect thedelivery of health care in communities across the nation.

Payers have specific forms, phone numbers, and/or addresses thatmust be used for appeals

The plaintiff's attorney has a professional and ethical obligation to represent his or her client with their best interest to the fullest extent of the law.

Your financial policy should represent your practice's philosophy and collection goals.

Washington--When 2006 began, there was somewhat of a mess in Washington involving Medicare reimbursement, and that was especially true for urologists. At press time, some of those issues were being resolved, but, even so, there will likely be fallout that will at least inconvenience urologists and their staffs.

The plaintiff's attorney has a professional and ethical obligation to represent his or her client with their best interest to the fullest extent of the law.

How do I charge for a patient sent from a nursing home for a consult who, upon evaluation, required a cystoscopy?

A statement in a recent "Coding Q&A" article discussing codes 52005 and 52332 was incorrect (Urology Times, January 2006, page 26).

I will leave the reimbursement issues to the expert, Ray Painter, MD, but I would like to focus on overhead and practice efficiency.

Ray Painter, MD As we move into the new year, urologists face three major issues affecting reimbursement: the need for improved data, a change in the Competitive Acquisition Program (CAP), and the inclusion of Medicare Part A in the average sales price/least costly alternative (ASP/LCA) payment process for Part B drugs.

Current AACU President Peter C. Albertsen, MD, discusses the role of AACU?s recently formed State Society Network, the upcoming AACU-AUA Joint Advocacy Conference in Washington, recent lobbying successes, and ongoing legislative issues.

Laserscope, San Jose, CA, has announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has published a technical revision to the 2006 Medicare physician few schedule.