The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

Ralph Nader

In 2022, recognizing the need for additional leadership opportunities and business education to support our membership, the AUA Board of Directors approved creation of the new AUA Institute for Leadership and Business.

One year later, the AUA now has a library of education available! For convenience, all of AUA’s leadership activities and business-related education are housed in 1 location on the AUA’s website (https://www.auanet.org/leadership-and-business). Beyond educational content, this site also includes information on the AUA’s Leadership Program, which just launched its 10th Leadership Class in this year-long program.

To support the Leadership Program, a new leadership and business education track was offered at AUA2023 and included a kickoff 4-hour course titled “Leading with a Purpose: Perspectives in Successful Leadership.” Moderators Sanford Siegel, MD, Chairman of United Urology Group, and Jennifer Miles-Thomas, MD, President and CEO of Urology of Virginia hosted a dynamic faculty discussion focusing on the varying perspectives of leadership including:

• Medical Leadership: Past, Present and Future (Kevin Loughlin, MD)
• The Essentials of Successful Clinician Leadership (Larry Kaiser, MD)
• Leadership in a Challenging Medical Landscape (J. Stephen Jones, MD)

In addition to the above-mentioned activity, AUA2023 also had 12 additional hours of programming covering a range of topics including:

• Work Smarter, Not Harder: Improving Clinic Efficiency
• Understanding Compensation Models in Urologic Practice: Academics, Employed, and Private Practice
• Avoiding Medical Malpractice—What You Need to Know, What You Can Do
• Teleurology: Practical Guide to Improve Patient Access to Urologic Care
• Time Efficiency and Productivity Hacks for the Busy Urologist
• Personal Finance Boot Camp and Financial Independence for the Urologist

Importantly, all of this great content is not just for those who made the trip to AUA2023 in Chicago. All 16 hours of programming for this leadership and business education track is available on demand at AUA University.

The AUA Leadership and Business Education Committee, led by Kenneth Berger, MD, JD, is currently reviewing the course submissions for AUA2024. Our intent is to offer a new set of courses which builds on the foundation provided in 2023.

To ensure that our leadership and business-related offerings are available to everyone, the brand new, and free, AUA Leadership and Business podcast was launched in January 2023. It focuses on content to help residents transition into practice and for all urologists to be successful leaders and managers.

If you were not aware, the AUA also offers education to support your practice managers and coders. New this year, AUA CodingPlus is a series of quarterly virtual courses providing timely updates in the coding, reimbursement, insurance, and public policy topic space. It is essential that urological practices keep abreast of this ever-changing content to maintain relevant, current coding, reimbursement, and billing procedures. These courses conveniently deliver essential, timely education to practice administrators, coders, and other practice professionals for direct implementation into their urology practices to maintain, optimize, and improve business operations.

The Institute of Leadership and Business continues to expand its offerings to provide the most value to our membership. We encourage you and your team to look into the new resources being offered by the AUA. If you have any questions or recommendations, please email education@auanet.org. We welcome an open dialogue with our members.