In case having prostate cancer wasn't bad enough

In case having prostate cancer wasn't bad enoughIf you're unlucky enough to get prostate cancer, you'd at least expect your doctor to help arrange the best possible treatment plan for you. However, some urologists may be a little more interested in boosting reimbursement for themselves than in making life easier and better for their patients. They're using I.M.R.T., a radiation therapy that can result in payments of up to $47,000, which is far higher than for other methods. According to the New York Times:

Helping drive the trend is a Texas company, Urorad Healthcare, which sells complete packages of I.M.R.T. technology and services, and hopes to persuade even more urologists to buy them."Join the Urorad team and let us show your group how Urorad clients double their practice's revenue," the company says in a marketing pitch to doctors on its Web site.Urologists who have purchased the new multiple beam systems say they are embracing a superior way to treat prostate cancer. But because there is little research directly comparing I.M.R.T. with the other treatments, there is little consensus among urologists about which approach is best...Compared with seed implants, for example, I.M.R.T. involves a large time commitment, requiring patients to visit a radiation center 45 times over the course of nine weeks.

One thing that particularly concerns me is those patients who will be pushed into IMRT when they might be better off with no treatment at all.