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The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) is a program established at the end of last year to provide incentive funding for physicians to begin submitting data that will be used to make Medicare a smarter purchaser of health care.

Many physicians are concerned and confused about all the discussion on pay for performance, and urologists are no exception.

National Report-With another year of Medicare payment cuts looming in 2007, declining reimbursement is no surprise as the number one current concern among practicing urologists, according to an exclusive survey from Urology Times and its sister publication, Contemporary Urology. Changes in reimbursement are followed closely by malpractice, office overhead, pay for performance, and increasing regulations as the top five issues that urologists are extremely or very concerned about, the first State of the Specialty survey found.

What is considered the usual postoperative bleeding time following a transurethral resection of the prostate?

New York-Urology practices that have not started performing office-based surgery (OBS) are missing significant advantages in scheduling, convenience, and compensation.

It is not enough to maintain control over the profitability of your practice. In order to gain control, you need to know the cost of each procedure you perform in the office, the reimbursement from each of your payers, and the profit margin for each service you offer your patients.

Washington-On Aug. 8, 2006, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposal to reform the Medicare ambulatory surgical center payment system beginning Jan. 1, 2008, and the news for urology appears to be mixed.

Atlanta-Operating room-based procedures continue to make up a significant proportion of urologists' practice, despite a predominance of office-based clinical practice, data from the American Board of Urology indicate.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

If you perform a diagnostic retrograde (52005) and the insertion of a stent (52332) at the same setting, each should be billed separately.

The CCI edits reflect the way the Medicare computer has been programmed and the way you will be paid when you submit your claim.

Two significant trends are having an impact on most urology practices today. First, most practices, including my own, are experiencing a decrease in reimbursement and rising overhead expenses. This ultimately translates to a decrease in net income.

A new estimate shows that chronic prostatitis, especially nonbacterial prostatitis, is common in American men and that most diagnosis and treatment takes place in the primary care setting.