Urology Coding Alert

While in-facility urologists are losing money on cystoscopy and treatment procedures, in-office urologist fees have skyrocketed, increasing more than 150 percent and this isn't the only in-office advantage of its kind.

Large increases in the 2002 physician office fees for certain urological procedures stand out as the minority amid a majority of fee cuts that affect urological procedures. With the 5.4 percent decrease in the 2002 national Physician Fee Schedule conversion factor from 38.2581 in 2001 to 36.1992 urologists have experienced a big decrease in payment for many of their more popular services.

Although the physicians performing in-facility services have been hit harder by the payment decreases, physicians performing some office services, e.g., treatments of bladder lesions (51720) and insertions of urinary catheters (53670), two procedures whose payments have decreased by more than 30 percent, have also noticed the impact of the fee cut.

For those urology coders who see the glass as half full, there have been some very noteworthy increases in some in-office services including: