"TIPS" The International Prostate Series

April 2010 | Issue # 5

Stop by Booth 206 at the AUA in San Francisco to learn how The Spanner Prostatic Stent can help your patients.

Practice Management Tip:

Here's a practice management tip. To streamline your staff's time, arrange one day a week when catheter-wearing patients come to your office for Trial Without Catheter. Urologists have been using this TWOC opportunity to introduce The Spanner™ Temporary Prostatic Stent to those who fail the trial.

When offered The Spanner as an alternative to a Foley catheter, patients unanimously choose the stent. With the Spanner in place, patients say things like: "I haven't had a stream like this since I was a boy," and they are delighted to leave your office without a leg bag in place.

How can The Spanner help your patients? Learning about the stent is unbelievably simple: schedule a 15-minute online and in person Virtual Office Visit (VOV). When you place an order, you'll receive a training kit and live-via-internet training and you will be ready to get started. Contact us by email, visit the website or phone (888-528-9073) to start offering The Spanner Stent to your patients.

The Road To San Francisco (AUA2010):

When urologists meet in San Francisco for the AUA 2010, some will definitely take the advice of thedoctorschannel.com to stop by Nomadic Outfitters to try on the MBT Footware (Masai Barefoot Technology). But guess what? There's a new "hot shoe" since this video was made! The same great folks at Nomadic Outfitters will now help you preview the RYN sport shoe. To try this popular specialist shoe, a favorite of those on their feet all day, stop at the store Tue 12 - 7:30p, Wed – Fri 12- 8pm, Sat 12 - 7pm. (Note new store address is 412 Presidio Ave. between California and Sacramento streets.)

Improving Your Practice:

A Method to Improve Patient Access in Urological Practice

Snow et al set out to reduce new patient appointment wait times to one week. Writing in The Journal of Urology in August 2009, they outline how they manipulated their bookings to permit 50% of their appointments to be open one week before the clinic date. They report a significant improvement in appointment delay times, durable for 2 years, with no change in their no-show rate. Abstract

Expand Your Mind:

The Reten-World Survey Of The Management Of Acute Urinary Retention: Preliminary Results

In 2008, Emberton and Fitzpatrick presented early results from the worldwide study of AUR management. The annual incidence of AUR can range from 2.2 to 6.8 per 1000 men, representing a significant worldwide public health issue. Note the interesting differences between countries for the management of AUR. Read the full article here

Worth A Look:

AUA Practice Managers' Network

Over 1000 urology specialists are subscribers to the AUA Practice Managers' Network. For an annual subscription fee, the AUA provides unlimited access to the Coding Hotline, a monthly informational update on reimbursement developments, and access to shared information with other practices. With recent government changes to health care reimbursement, there has never been a better time to be well informed in this critical area. More information

On A Lighter Note:

You'll be gasping to this fun video of Eric Mead from TEDMED 2009 regarding placebo effects. Thanks to KevinMD.com for the find. Watch the YouTube Video