Practice- vs Physician-Level Variation in Use of Active Surveillance for Men With Low-Risk Prostate Cancer

Owing to concerns about overtreatment, urologists are increasingly using active surveillance (AS) as the initial management for men with low-risk prostate cancer.1,2 Nonetheless, additional progress in this area requires a deeper understanding of the wellestablished and wide variation in use of AS. 3,4 Of particular interest from a quality improvement perspective is whether practice patterns tend to vary widely even among urologists in the same practice and/or based on her or his panel size (ie, the volume of men with low-risk prostate cancer a given urologist manages).In the context of limited resources, the availability of such information may be used to develop efficient improvement interventions aimed at optimizing the implementation of AS among diverse urologists and practice settings.