Timothy Lyon, MD, highlights study assessing accuracy of urology rankings

In 2023, the US News and World Report (USNWR) began incorporating potentially preventable complications from elective outpatient procedures in their health care quality rankings. In a recent study, investigators at Mayo Clinic sought to assess the accuracy of this metric in capturing complications in urologic practice.

The findings were published in the study, “Clinical Adjudication of Outpatient Complications Reported in the U.S. News and World Report's Urology Rankings.”¹ In a recent interview with Urology Times®, Timothy D. Lyon, MD, of Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, outlines the background, methodology, and key findings from this report.

Overall, the investigators found that the software had “reasonable clinical validity, but detected several false positive UTIs,” the authors reported. Specifically, 13.8% of the complications identified were determined to be false positive urinary tract infections.

Additionally, the study found that 48% of the index procedures identified by the software were conducted by interventional radiologists, not urologists. The software did perform well in regard to complication type, however. Upon assessment, the investigators agreed on complication type in 78% of complications, and 80% were found to be clinically related to the index urology procedure.

Based on these data, the authors concluded. “USNWR should clarify the extent to which procedures performed by interventional radiologists belong in urology rankings.”

REFERENCE
1. Pollock D, Ugwuowo UC, Anderson SS, et al. Clinical adjudication of outpatient complications reported in the U.S. News and World Report's Urology Rankings. Urology. 2025:195:60-65. doi:10.1016/j.urology.2024.10.052