Annual Meeting Recap 

Day 1 Highlights 

We kicked things off with multiple insightful and interactive workshops for Practice Administrators, Research Coordinators, Advanced Practice Providers, Lab Directors and Medical Directors. Our popular, extensive CME program, Leveraging Disruptive Technology: Pragmatic and Productive Advances for Your Practice provided great learning opportunities for attendees.

Day 1 ended with a discussion on the future of independent practice with the next generation of urologists at the LUGPA Forward networking reception. Then, we got a chance to connect with our colleagues and check out our valued exhibitors’ booths for the latest in innovative products, services and offerings to help us provide the best possible care for our patients. 

Day 2 Highlights 
Program Chair, Dr. Evan Goldfischer, began Friday’s session with welcoming remarks and an overview of what the 2019 meeting had in store for attendees.

Our President, Dr. Richard Harris, shined a light on the state of LUGPA, the state of independent urology and what the future holds. A key takeaway: LUGPA is as poised as ever to advocate for the independent physician and their groups.

d2p1As health policy is essential to advancing the practice of independent urology, it’s imperative we all stay up-to-date on the latest in this arena. Following his presidential remarks, Dr. Harris moderated an informative forum with a panel of our policy experts, including Dr. Deepak Kapoor, Dr. Mara Holton, Dr. Gary Kirsh and LUGPA’s legislative consultants, John McManus and Tracy Spicer. Want to get involved in policy? Keep an eye out for future communications regarding ways you can participate.

bushNext on the program, we were honored to have former Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, give a keynote lecture on ways for government and healthcare to work together to improve patients’ health and our practices. His key takeaways: less talk, more action and a plea to “return to civility.”

Dr. Kapoor, Dr. Holton, Dr. Kirsh, Mr. McManus and Ms. Spicer joined us back on stage for an insightful Q&A with Mr. Bush.

Following the Q&A, the Chair of Political Affairs, Dr. Gary Kirsh, shared an update about LUGPA’s legislative impacts in D.C.

Our last session of the morning involved a lively debate on the controversial topic of private equity (complete with Dr. Goldfischer in referee attire!). Overall, we don’t think PE will impact the quality of care for our patients, but will it impact your quality of life? Did your opinions shift at all after listening to the arguments made by each side?

After lunch, Dr. Bob Dowling provided an update on our practice management benchmarking initiatives and reminded us to register for the first LUGPA virtual meeting on March 4, 2020.


Our second keynote of the meeting was delivered by Quint Studer, on ways to commit to excellence in our practices. Mr. Studer emphasized the importance of building a culture around service, creating great leaders, focusing on employee satisfaction, building individual accountability, providing excellent communication and recognizing success.

Next, Drs. Jeremy Shelton and Neal Shore shared an update on LUGPA educational grants.

Following that, we got an update from our Communications Committee. They are hard at work under the leadership of Board member, Dr. David Ellis. Dr. Ellis reminded us to check out the new LUGPA website at www.LUGPA.org and to read those Monday media monitors!

We wrapped up Day 2 by electing our new LUGPA Board members and Officers. Congratulations are in order to E. Scot Davis for being selected as our newest Board member and to Mr. Alan Winker, Dr. David Albala and Dr. Jeffrey Spier for being reappointed to the LUGPA Board for another term.
That evening, we attended a packed Welcome Reception in the exhibit hall. We were glad to have another opportunity at this short meeting to connect with colleagues.

Day 3 Highlights: 
Dr. Goldfischer opened the third day of sessions and recapped the previous day’s events.

Opening day three was Jim Veronesi, special director and faculty member of the Advisory Board Company’s talent development division, who led a panel of LUGPA Forward committee members including Dr. Jason Hafron, Dr. Mara Holton and Dr. Timothy Richardson. As urologists with less than 15 years of practice, the panel discussed ways to convince older partners to be open to change as new and innovative technologies become available.

Our final speaker and keynote of the meeting was Joe Theismann, champion quarterback, broadcaster and entrepreneur. Mr. Theismann delivered actionable ways to embrace change in our practices and continue forward momentum. And, he reminded us to laugh along the way.

Members had the option of closing out the meeting by attending two of the six available breakout sessions featuring innovative ways to make our groups more relevant to our patients, partners and staff. Topics included: ways to overcome barriers and get all generations working together; how to set up a foundation; the industry hot topic of understanding healthcare cyber risk; reviewing the value of an annual practice retreat; how to use conversation to effectively diffuse emotionally charged people and the annually recurring open mic session.

Closing words from Dr. Goldfischer: A big thank you to our members for your valued support in the past, present and future. We hope to see you at our other regional meetings, academies and of course, right back here at next year’s meeting. 

It’s never too early to mark your calendars for next year’s meeting! The 2020 Annual Meeting will be held again at the Fairmont, November 5-7. Can’t wait another year to network? Our 2020 regional meetings are scheduled for March, April and June. Visit lugpa.org for more.

LUGPA members can review all the presentations and a few videos from this meeting in the archive! Visit lugpa.org/presentation-archive to access them [login required]. 


Social Media Highlights - #LUGPALeads   

Speakers, attendees and industry partners alike were busy on Twitter during the conference. Here are a few highlights:

social media


Conference Media Coverage (as of December 6)  

Speakers, attendees and industry partners alike were busy on Twitter during the conference. Here are a few highlights:


Graphic Scribe Boards    

As attendees saw during Friday’s plenary sessions, we did something different this year. We had a graphic scribe artist take visual notes of the key themes and messages from our meeting. Check out the final pieces below: