Has the amount of time urologists spend with patients changed?

I haven't been under pressure to see more patients because an increasingly large percentage of pediatric patients are paid through Medicaid, so we don't have insurance company pressures to cut costs and see more patients."

"I spent 10 to 15 minutes with patients when I started, and 38 years later, I plan on spending about 10 minutes. For a new patient, it's probably close to 20 minutes; a follow-up for a specific reason is about 10 minutes.

The content of the visit has changed quite a bit. Presently, you can get residual urine results from the bladder with ultrasound. Before, you had to do catheterization. That's become rather routine stuff. Technology has changed things."

Carl Van Appledorn, MD
Ypsilanti, MI