American Urological Association Education and Research

Office of Education: the office of Education provides essential educational opportunities to urologists, advanced practice providers (nps and pas) and urology practices including practice administrators and coders. Formats include live in-person and virtual courses, enduring materials (such as the self-assessment study program and update series), and online Education supported within the auauniversity including webcasts, videos, and mobile apps. The auauniversity offers physicians and their team year-round access to a growing repository of valuable educational opportunities. During 2023, the office of Education continued to expand the reach of our two podcasts: auauniversity focusing on clinical topics and aua's leadership and business podcast and our auauniversity youtube channel.

Annual meeting: annually, the aua holds a conference focusing on cutting-edge science and groundbreaking Research related to urologic medicine. Attracting more than 16,000 Research scientists and medical professionals related to the fields of urology and clinical care, the meeting is focused on educational sessions about advancements in urologic Research and is vital to the advancement in skills and knowledge of attendees. For 2023, the aua was successfully held in chicago, Illinois, as an in-person meeting with a virtual component which expanded the reach of the educational content presented in the building through streamed presentations of key content. The meeting included plenary presentations, industry clinical updates showcasing advancements and innovations in laboratory equipment, pharmaceutical products, and diagnostic tools, instructional courses, and abstract presentations.

Science & quality: the science and quality (s&q) division provides strategic oversight along with the s&q council as they shape and execute the broad science, quality, and data agenda of the aua. This agenda includes the creation, dissemination and implementation of clinical guidelines and literature updates; maintenance of the aua quality (aqua) registry; development and implementation of physician performance measures; advancement of patient safety initiatives; monitoring of federal, state, and local quality health care programs; and the formation and execution of data projects. From 2023, there are six ongoing clinical guidelines projects with an additional two having completed production. Furthermore, five amendments, four updated literature reviews and several endorsement reviews were completed. Additionally, nine guidelines publications were featured in the journal of urology. In 2023, over 4,100 respondents completed the annual census and aua released its 9th census report on u.s practicing urologists, with two supplementary census reports on advanced practice providers (apps) and international urologists in development. Additionally, 42 articles were published based on census or aqua data. The data Research program was reinstated with six projects selected for funding in 2024, including four based on census data and two based on aqua registry data. The aqua registry was approved by cms as a qualified clinical data registry (qcdr) for the 2024 mips reporting year. Routine measure maintenance was conducted for eight urology-specific measures that are supported through the aqua registry. A mips value pathway (mvp) for urology was drafted and submitted to cms for approval. A national quality agenda and strategies for urologic practice was also developed for aua board review and approval in 2024. Other quality improvement activities included an online seminar focusing on six sigma lean methodology that was targeted to the aua practice managers network as well as convening a quality improvement summit focusing on telehealth.

Journal of urology, medical organ liasions, and office of Research.