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Publication
The Population Level Prevalence and Correlates of Appropriate and Inappropriate Imaging to Stage Incident Prostate Cancer in the Medicare PopulationPurpose : According to guidelines most men with incident prostate cancer do not require staging imaging. We determined the population level prevalence and correlates of appropriate and inappropriate imaging in this cohort. Materials and Methods : We …
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The Relationship Between Clinical Benefit and Receipt of Curative Therapy for Prostate CancerRaldow, A.C., C.J. Presley, J.B. Yu, R. Sharma, L.D. Cramer, P.R. Soulos, J.B. Long, D.V. Makarov, and C.P. Gross …
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Patterns of Care and Outcomes Associated With Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy Versus Conventional Radiation Therapy for Older Patients With Head-and-Neck Cancer Purpose : Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) requires a high degree of expertise compared with standard radiation therapy (RT). We performed a retrospective cohort study of Medicare patients treated with IMRT compared with standard RT to assess …
Publication
Appropriate and inappropriate imaging rates for prostate cancer go hand in hand by region, as if set by thermostatPolicy makers interested in containing health care costs are targeting regional variation in utilization, including the use of advanced imaging. However, bluntly decreasing utilization among the highest-utilization regions may have negative consequences. …
Publication
Immortal Time Bias: A Frequently Unrecognized Threat to Validity in the Evaluation of Postoperative Radiotherapy Purpose : To evaluate the influence of immortal time bias on observational cohort studies of postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) and the effectiveness of sequential landmark analysis to account for this bias. Methods and Materials : First, we reviewed …
Publication
Surgical Decompression is Associated with Decreased Mortality in Patients with Sepsis and Ureteral CalculiPurpose : The combination of sepsis and ureteral calculus is a urological emergency. Traditional teaching advocates urgent decompression with nephrostomy tube or ureteral stent placement, although published outcomes validating this treatment are lacking. …
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Long-Term Satisfaction and Predictors of Use of Intracorporeal Injections for Post-Prostatectomy Erectile DysfunctionPurpose : Intracorporeal injections have low use rates and high discontinuation rates. We examined factors associated with intracorporeal injection use, long-term satisfaction with intracorporeal injection and reasons for discontinuation in men treated …
Publication
Centralization of Radical Prostatectomy in the United StatesPurpose : Radical prostatectomy is a common treatment for organ confined prostate cancer and its use is increasing. We examined how the increased volume is being distributed and what hospital characteristics are associated with increasing volume. …
Publication
A new approach to understanding racial disparities in prostate cancer treatmentObjective : Previous studies addressing racial disparities in treatment for early-stage prostate cancer have focused on the etiology of undertreatment of black men. Our objective was to determine whether racial disparities are attributable to …
Publication
Prostate Cancer Imaging Trends After a Nationwide Effort to Discourage Inappropriate Prostate Cancer ImagingBackground : Reducing inappropriate use of imaging to stage incident prostate cancer is a challenging problem highlighted recently as a Physician Quality Reporting System quality measure and by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American …
Publication
National Trends in the Utilization of Partial Nephrectomy Before and After the Establishment of AUA Guidelines for the Management of Renal MassesObjective To assess the impact of the American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines advocating partial nephrectomy for T1 tumors guidelines on the likelihood of undergoing partial nephrectomy. Materials and Methods We analyzed the Nationwide Inpatient …
Publication
Radical Prostatectomy Improves and Prevents Age Dependent Progression of Lower Urinary Tract SymptomsPurpose : The prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms increases with age and impairs quality of life. Radical prostatectomy has been shown to relieve lower urinary tract symptoms at short-term followup but the long-term effect of radical prostatectomy …
Publication
The Cost Implications of Prostate Cancer Screening in the Medicare PopulationBackground : Recent debate about prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based testing for prostate cancer screening among older men has rarely considered the cost of screening. Methods : A population-based cohort of male Medicare beneficiaries aged 66 to 99 …
Publication
Association between Arsenic Exposure from Drinking Water and Hematuria: Results from the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal StudyArsenic (As) exposure has been associated with both urologic malignancy and renal dysfunction; however, its association with hematuria is unknown. We evaluated the association between drinking water As exposure and hematuria in 7843 men enrolled in the …
Publication
Twitter Response to the United States Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations against Screening with Prostate Specific AntigenObjective : To examine public and media response to the United States Preventive Services Task Force's (USPSTF) draft (October 2011) and finalized (May 2012) recommendations against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing using Twitter, a popular social …
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The global cancer divide: relationships between national healthcare resources and cancer outcomes in high-income vs. middle- and low-income countriesBackground : Cancer continues to rise as a contributor to premature death in the developing world. Despite this, little is known about whether cancer outcomes are related to a country’s income level, and what aspects of national healthcare systems are …
Publication
Are hospitals “keeping up with the Joneses”?: Assessing the spatial and temporal diffusion of the surgical robotBackground : The surgical robot has been widely adopted in the United States in spite of its high cost and controversy surrounding its benefit. Some have suggested that a “medical arms race” influences technology adoption. We wanted to determine whether a …
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The Effect of the Diffusion of the Surgical Robot on the Hospital-level Utilization of Partial NephrectomyIntroduction : The rapid diffusion of the surgical robot has been controversial because of the technology’s high costs and its disputed marginal benefit. Some, however, have suggested that adoption of the robot may have improved care for patients with …
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Horizontal Equity in Health Care Utilization in Brazil, 1998–2008Introduction This study assesses trends in horizontal equity in the utilization of healthcare services from 1998 to 2008--a period of major economic and social change in Brazil. Methods Data are from nationally representative surveys repeated in 1998, …
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The Impact of the 2008-2009 Global Economic Crisis on Local Governments. Martinez Vazquez, J., P. Smoke and F. Vaillancourt. …
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What’s the Worst That Can Happen? Social Media Protocols and PoliciesTimely updates, increased citizen engagement, and more effective marketing are just a few of the reasons transportation agencies have already started to adopt social media networking tools. Best Practices for Transportation Agency Use of Social Media …
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The Microfinance Business Model: Enduring Subsidy and Modest ProfitRecent evidence suggests only modest social and economic impacts of microfinance. Favorable cost-benefit ratios then depend on low costs. We use proprietary data on 1335 microfinance institutions between 2005 and 2009, jointly serving 80.1 million …
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"What You Don't Know Can't Help You: Worker Knowledge and Retirement Decision-Making"This paper provides an answer to an important empirical puzzle in the retirement literature: while most people know little about their own pension plans, retirement behavior is strongly affected by pension incentives. We combine administrative and …