Changes in medicare reimbursement: impact on therapy for benign prostatic hyperplasia

Medicare spending accounts for 17% of all health spending and therefore exerts a significant influence on health care spending policies. Medicare policies such as Diagnostic Related Groups and the Resource Based Relative Value System have resulted in profound changes in health care delivery in the United States. These resource-allocation methods are one of the major sources of controversies between managers, doctors, politicians, and social scientists. Financial disincentives associated with these resource-allocation policies have effectively rationed select therapies, particularly transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). As a consequence, TURP, once the second most common surgical procedure billed to Medicare and comprising 38% of major surgical procedures performed by urologists, is increasingly challenged by medical therapy and minimally invasive surgical therapies that may be associated with lower efficacy and durability. This article examines the history of Medicare policies and their influence on TURP.