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Does anyone know the criteria that Coloplast uses to rate a physician a Center of Excellence?

If like most things today, they purchase their product.

According to the Coloplast website, "If a listing is marked as a Center of Excellence, the designation indicates that the facility has been proven to be a leader in the field of men’s sexual health. To receive this honor, the facility must be staffed with the top urology physicians in the country based on criteria such as number of procedures performed, contributions to research in the field of erectile dysfunction, and leadership in professional associations for urologic physicians. When you choose a Center of Excellence for your healthcare needs, you can be assured that you’re getting the best possible care."

http://www.coloplastmenshealth.com/find-a-physician/

I must have chosen a Center of Excellence as my entire experience couldn't have been better. Dr. Kata at Florida Urology Associates is tops!

I went to http://www.coloplastmenshealth.com/find-a-physician/ and got very bad results, very inaccurate results. I searched a Nashville zip code and got almost nothing in Nashville but got doctors from other states. I got these same results from other zip codes, so I'm wondering if there is a problem with my Google Chrome browser or if the site's search function is messed up. I know for a fact there is at least one very excellent high-volume surgery who has done thousands of implants and who teaches classes on how they are done. This guy wasn't even listed.

I searched my own zip code and my local urologist didn't even come up. Something isn't right, but I'm not sure if it's them or me.

Boca Grande wrote:According to the Coloplast website, "If a listing is marked as a Center of Excellence, the designation indicates that the facility has been proven to be a leader in the field of men’s sexual health. To receive this honor, the facility must be staffed with the top urology physicians in the country based on criteria such as number of procedures performed, contributions to research in the field of erectile dysfunction, and leadership in professional associations for urologic physicians. When you choose a Center of Excellence for your healthcare needs, you can be assured that you’re getting the best possible care."

Maybe preface all of this with surgeons that have expertise with Coloplast implant units. As much as we would like an unbiased medical recommendation, Coloplast is not going to recommend surgeons that choose not to implant Coloplast devices.

ddbryan1972 wrote:I must have chosen a Center of Excellence as my entire experience couldn't have been better. Dr. Kata at Florida Urology Associates is tops!

ddbryan1972,
I know you are happy with everything. That's great and I am happy for anyone who feels that way. However, when you praise your doc, I feel I have to step in and rather warn others for choosing him. In your signature you say you have an 18 cm implant and 5.5 cm RTEs.
Unless your anatomy is extremely unusual, I'd say your surgeon did a terrible job in choosing your implant. When installing an implant, the doc should strive to choose the largest size possible to fit in without risk for oversizing. RTEs are used when the implant sizes do not provide the length required. Titans come in 2 cm increments. Hence there is never ever need for more than 1.5 cm RTEs. Next step would be to insert the larger sized cylinders without RTEs.
AMS come in 3 cm increments. Hence there is never ever need for more than 2.5 cm RTEs.
As a principle, I'd say a doc who installs 5.5 cm RTEs has screwed up. Potential reasons:
*He didn't keep inventory of all sizes and had to stack up on RTEs to get the right sizing.
*He thought that size X cm + Y cm RTE would be the right size. After installing the implant and inflating it to test it (still during surgery), he realizes he undersized the patient. He doesn't want to take the cost of removing the implant he just installed, throw it in the bin and insert a larger size. So he just adds more RTEs to the undersized implant he just inserted.
*The doc is unskilled and wants a long stack of RTEs to make it easier to install the rear end of the implant in the crus. The longer the fixed part in the rear end, the easier to insert it for an unskilled surgeon.

And then again, I don't say it is impossible to get good results with 5-6 cm RTEs. At least not in the short term. But if a 5 cm fixed part in the rear end was the ideal implant design, implants would be designed like this. They aren't. On the contrary, implant manufacturers try to minimize the fixed parts and increase the inflatable proportion of the implant.
So any doc who uses plenty of RTEs works completely against the common knowledge of maximizing the inflatable proportion of the total implant length.

So, no matter how happy you are, I would warn potential implant patients about your doctor.

Well stated merrix.

Guys.
I appreciate your concern. My Urologist's Team has earned a Center of Excellence accreditation and the AMS Rep who assisted my surgery had a complete assortment of sizes. I asked the Rep. why RTEs were used. He said to maintain my full length and provide proper pump placement. Only time will tell if this was a good decision. I know the RTEs used were stackable so a 1.5cm was added to accommodate my full length. It's possible that a prior hernia surgery may have been a consideration. Maybe another size up (more than 18cm) would have been to much. So far everything is great (no hinge or backfill) and I am able to totally deflate. Thanks again for your concern.
Donnie

Thank everyone for your reponses, I have scheduled my surgery for later this month with a doctor listed on the Coloplast site and have read many of your blogs, both with positive results and bad. This is a very scary decision, and I like many on this site do not take it lightly. I've read both the Rev Donnie and Merrex entire journals and both were instrumental in my decision to go forward. Although fearful of the outcome I look forward to joining this club of bionic brothers.