One of my favorite cities to visit is Washington, DC, mostly because I love running through the city. People are on a mission in DC, be it for government or to learn more about the history of our rich country. There is always so much occurring. This year, I went to the AUA Advocacy Summit representing my new home state of Arkansas. I was excited to meet my congressional offices and work to represent urology and the needs of the urological workforce. The political views of my current state are quite a bit different than when I represented New Mexico, so I really wasn’t sure how my Capitol Hill visit would go.

This was my fourth time attending the Summit, and I should give a little background of why I have been involved. My first time attending was when I was a member of the AUA Leadership Program. I truthfully did not understand what advocacy was and felt it was a little more for the lobbyists and back-room deals, not really my forte. However, when I went, I realized I had a lot to learn. So much how I practice is determined on Capitol Hill, everything from Medicare rates, relative value units, and funding for research, to regulations on practices. I realized that most elected officials don’t have a lot of experience with health care except from personal anecdotes. This is where the physician comes in; I have the ability to tell my patients’ and colleagues’ stories. The challenges, the needs, the reality of a health care system that frankly doesn’t work but it is what we have. This is what I could contribute to advocacy. I didn’t have to lobby or broker any back-room deals, just tell the truth of my practice. The Summit organizes urologists to speak the same message to congressional members. This is done by making uniform asks from the urological community.

The first day of the AUA Summit was understanding the background of the asks more in depth. I was struck by so many residents, students, and first-time attendees at the meeting. The future is looking very good in terms of the people we are recruiting into urology. The AUA sets the priorities of the asks to Congress and represents the practicing urologist well. This year the focus was on reimbursement, loan repayment for rural specialty care, prostate cancer screening coverage, and telehealth coverage. The highlight of course was Dr Eugene Rhee interviewing James Carville with his honest look at Washington, DC, politics (Figure 1). He certainly is not shy at giving his opinion.

On Tuesday, I was the only delegate from Arkansas this year. Luckily, I had AUA staff member Brooke Bixler as my guide for the Capitol Hill visits. I started with a unique schedule in that I was meeting directly with Senator John Boozman in the Capitol building (Figure 2). Senator Boozman was very open to discuss the issues and even gave me some pointers on making asks on Capitol Hill. His staff was very receptive to the needs of physicians and particularly for graduate medical education areas. We then got to take the senate trolley back to the senate building for our next meeting with Senator Tom Cotton’s office. This was initially a very reserved and aloof office; however, once we finally met with the staff member, things became a little more friendly. I was surprised that his office was receptive to hearing about loan repayment options and they were very interested in prostate cancer screening access, particularly how it would affect veterans in high-risk groups. My next meeting was just dropping off information at Representative French Hill’s office. An international trip kept the office from meeting directly with me. The last meeting was with Representative Steve Womack’s office. His office was the most welcoming of the day, and I don’t think more Arkansan pride could have been fit into the office. His staff member was very empathetic and listened to the needs of the constituents and the needs of urologists. She asked very good questions and truly wanted to understand how helping urologists would help the people she represented. That only led us to lunch, where I met with my former home state delegates, and we shared our experiences of the day.

The final day of the Summit looked at moving forward with issues on the horizon. The State Advocacy Committee discussed the state bills and laws criminalizing physicians, and Dr Rhee led a great discussion on prior authorizations and the damage they cause to patients, doctors, and the health care system. Several representatives were also on the agenda and gave their outlook on health care and policy.

On the last day, I was able to take a nice long run around the major landmarks of the city. I was able to reflect on my short time in DC, and it seemed that the urologists came together for a collective purpose. There was a great panel led by Dr Daniel Frendl on the first day on how advocacy can reduce burnout. I certainly felt that to be true after my experience at the Summit. I could engage in the system and try to work for much needed change. I look forward to next year’s Advocacy Summit, and I hope to see many others with me.