LUGPA convened in Chicago, IL, from November 6-8, 2014, for another successful annual meeting, “In Pursuit of Excellence: Optimizing the Independent Practice of Urology.”

Members from urology practices across the country received updates from experts and participated in proactive workshops on how to best navigate and optimize the changing health care landscape.

Expert speakers provided insights on relevant trends in the clinical, business, legislative, and regulatory arenas, as well as communications strategies to amplify the value and impact of the integrated, independent care model. The meeting also emphasized the critical role of group collaboration and subspecialization in enhancing quality patient care in the independent practice setting.

LUGPA's fourth annual CME activity, “Diagnostic and Prognostics in Prostate and Bladder Cancer,” addressed the new biomarkers’ clinical validation and the utility studies, which are required for payer reimbursement approval. An exclusive member benefit, this year's course was the most well-attended CME course that LUGPA has ever offered during the annual meeting. With recent breakthroughs in genomic, proteomic, molecular, and biochemical pathways, the accessibility and applicability of the new biomarkers can seem daunting. Nonetheless, urologists are facing a decision-making shift in the standards for diagnosing and treating patients.

The Practice Administrators and Lab Directors Workshops continued their impressive attendance, providing discussion of advanced concepts, such as designing effective employee compensation plans to improve staff dedication and performance, recruiting physicians in a competitive environment with hospital systems, using metrics to maximize practice efficiency, and developing patient satisfaction survey tools, which further strengthen our multi-disciplinary approach to patient care.

Attendees were also informed about the data projects underway, including

• Practice Management Benchmarking: Providing member practices with a data exchange platform and practice management tools to develop integration, clinical and financial benchmarks, and define goals and examples of a “best in class” integrated, independent urology group; and,
• Active Surveillance Project: Building a retrospective and prospective prostate cancer active surveillance database that will provide clinical and business benchmarks for optimal urological care influencing active surveillance decision making for newly diagnosed patients with prostate cancer.

These valuable projects are part of the LUGPA commitment to developing clinical and business pathways of excellence that are based on a foundation of clinical and business data.