Urology victorious in maintaining work values for radical robotic prostatectomy On November 2, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule. Within the rule, the agency hands urologists a victory: CMS finalized...
Transprostatic Urethral Implant Procedure Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule that will increase payment for the transprostatic implant system also known as the Urolift® prostatic urethral lift procedure, in an outpatient hospital...
Urologic community data needed to combat the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ latest regulatory burden to be placed on surgeons. On July 15, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a unilateral decision to implement a new sweeping mandate to...
In July, Dr. David F. Penson, past chair of the AUA Public Policy Council, met with the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to discuss prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, shared decision-making and AUA guidelines. We recently sat down with Dr. Penson to discuss the meeting and...
Richard Boxer, MD, FACS is Voluntary Clinical Professor in the Department of Urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and recently attended the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where he hosted a special event, Beyond the Affordable Care Act (ACA): The Future of...
Dr. James Ulchaker is a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. As previously reported , he recently attended the Republican National Convention in Cleveland as an Honorary Delegate. He serves as the chair of the AUA Legislative Affairs Committee. We recently sat down with Dr....
Participating in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) has become more important than ever. Not only will providers who see Medicare Part B patients be penalized for not reporting, but their PQRS score will be used to calculate...
In an effort to assess how Choosing Wisely recommendations are being used in urology and to recognize leaders in this effort, the AUA is soliciting nominations for Choosing Wisely Champions. The deadline for nominations is coming soon: Monday, August 15. Choosing Wisely ...
Both United Healthcare (UHC) and Anthem Blue Cross have announced changes to certain prior authorization requirements UHC Updates UHC now requires commercial to use eviCore national services to obtain prior authorization for proton beam therapy. Providers in the UHC Community...
Following their parties’ presidential nominating conventions, the U.S. Congress remains adjourned and will not return to Washington, D.C. until after Labor Day. Both the House and Senate left the nation’s capital without completing work on various hot-button policy matters, such as passing...