Dr. Reyna on LUGPA Member Ancillary Services

Juan A. Reyna, MD, President, LUGPA, discusses in-office ancillary services among LUGPA members.

Reyna says that LUGPA has been able to pull together data showing that an owner of an ancillary is no more likely to use the services than a practice that does not have one. Data have shown that rates of surgery have not decreased because more expensive modalities of treatment exist and the rates of active surveillance have increased to an extent.

These ancillary services, in the scope of LUGPA members, Reyna says, do not represent an initiative to self-serve or drive more revenue due to the addition of ancillaries. LUPGA members now have more treatment options for patients: advanced cancer modalities, new drugs, and bone health therapies.

Reyna’s comments follow research published in the October 24, 2013 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The manuscript reviewed Medicare claims for more than 45,000 patients from 2005 through 2010 and showed that IMRT use is 2.5 times greater when self-referral’s financial incentives are involved.