The consequence of incontinence extends far beyond embarrassment. Around 13 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with incontinence, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. While older age increases the risk of this condition, there are a wide range of factors that can cause this problem in younger persons. Meanwhile, women are much more likely than men to experience incontinence, per the Centers for Disease Control.
Topics: urodynamics, urinariy incontinence, incontinence
Reduction in Medicare contract payments and decreased physician reimbursement from insurers are causing decreased physician salaries, medical profits and general revenue. This is driving the desire for urology practices to add ancillary services - and this is a good thing for patients.
Topics: ancillary services, urology
Medtronic just released a new product called the Medtronic NURO for treating overactive bladder (OAB). It will compete directly with Uroplasty's incumbent product Urgent® PC. (Note: Uroplasty is now owned by Cogentix Medical) We have been using the Urgent PC product within several partner clinics we serve, and we have had great success with it. I am sure many will be looking for a NURO and Urgent PC product comparison, so we have attempted to compile a comparison in the bullets below and in the included video. There are quite a few differences, but the major ones are detailed below.
Topics: BHN, Medtronic NURO, Urgent PC
I have the benefit (and sometimes curse) of having an engineering degree and a finance degree. Due to this background I tend to analyze everything. In dealing with clinics and hospitals of all sizes, I see numerous purchase decisions being made. Sometimes the purchase decision is related to direct purchase of medical equipment, and sometimes it's related to a rent rather than buy decision.
Topics: urodynamics, finance
I recently attended a statewide gastroenterology conference in Mississippi. I got to meet all types of interesting people, including accomplished doctors and their staffs. For this conference I compiled some data on anorectal manometry (ARM) reimbursement rates. Given gastroenterologist use of colonoscopies, I thought it would be useful to compare ARM reimbursements (CPT Codes 91120, 91122, and 51784) to screening colonoscopy reimbursements (CPT Code 45378). I was aware that ARM reimbursed at a better rate, but I was not aware it was substantially better. When looking only at National Medicare reimbursements, anorectal manometry reimburses at a 93% higher rate than a screening colonoscopy. In the chart below you'll see the trend of reimbursements rates both nationally and within the state of Mississippi over the last decade. As you can see, and as every gastroenterologist knows, colonoscopy reimbursement rates have fallen quite significantly and are expected to fall more in coming years. However, ARM shows a more stable reimbursement rate, especially in recent years.
Topics: Reimbursement, Anorectal Manometry, Colonoscopy, colonoscopies, Reimbursement Trends
Brighter Health Network, LLC (BHN), which offers medical diagnostic solutions such as urodynamics testing services, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire INSIGHT Urodynamics, LLC for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings.
Urodynamics testing is performed in clinics and hospitals all across the globe, and the specifics of the testing can vary wildly. Often these specifics don't impact the final result, but often they do and often certain practices can have very detrimental results. Here at BHN we have a very long list of Best Practices that we use for the urodynamics testing we provide our clients. These best practices allow us to offer the best testing possible and help us be very efficient. Below we provide a short list of best practices that we think are very critical and can be helpful to others.
Topics: Urodynamics Testing
Urology practices across the U.S. have changed considerably over the last decade. Many practices have merged and increased in size in order to be more competitive and deal the complexities of insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid reimbursements. Additionally, these practices have starting taking on more diagnostic and treatment services that were traditionally done in hospital settings. These servcies include minor surgeries, CT scans, urodynamics testing, and more. A listing of the largest urology practices in the U.S. is provided below:
Topics: General Urology Information
