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Costs for In-Office BPH Therapies Presented at the AUA 2015 Annual Meeting in New Orleans
Costs for In-Office BPH Therapies Presented at the AUA 2015 Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
About this update from Urologix
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n MINNEAPOLIS, May 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Urologix, Inc.  (OTCQB:ULGX), a market leader for the in-office treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) today announced that data highlighting the costs and outcomes of cooled high energy Transurethral Microwave Therapy (HE-TUMT), Transurethral Needle Ablation (TUNA), and the Prostatic Urethral Lift (PUL) were the topic of a podium presentation this past weekend at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2015 Annual Meeting held in New Orleans, LA.\n The podium presentation titled “Healthcare Costs for Office Based Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Therapies” was presented by Craig Smith, MD, FAAP, FACS, DuPage Medical Group, Chicago, IL and co-authored by Robert G. Pugach MD, Medical Director, Pacific Coast Urology, Huntington Beach, CA. The presentation compared the costs of HE-TUMT, TUNA and PUL to both providers and patients. Their findings showed that, while all three treatment options show approximately 50% AUA symptom score improvement at one year, there is generally a meaningful difference in the procedure costs. Publically available data from Medicare was presented showing that payers, physicians and patients will collectively spend over $3,100 for PUL supply costs when utilizing 4 implants per patient to treat BPH, compared to under $1,300 for Urologix’s Cooled ThermoTherapy or Prostiva procedure supply and equipment costs.  This is more than twice the cost for the same general range of symptom score and flow rate improvement. Dr. Pugach commented on the findings, “In alignment with the changes we are seeing across healthcare, these results highlight that there are two state-of-the-art, office-based solutions, Cooled ThermoTherapy and Prostiva RF Therapy, which result in excellent outcomes for patients, but provide a great comparative value as well.\" His co-author, Dr. Smith agreed, stating, \"The current evolution of healthcare in the United States is changing the behavior of physicians, patients and payers. Costs have become more of a focus in physicians' offices due to new payment models. Higher deductibles for patients have influenced their decisions when seeking the best value in BPH therapies for their out-of-pocket expenses.\" BPH is a very common disease in men over the age of 50. While not life-threatening, BPH symptoms ...