Evolution of the California Urological Association
By Lawrence W. Jones, M.D., Past-President
There are two notable aspects of the California Urological
Association's development, The first is that the CUA was not incorporated
until 1986. The second suspect is that within two years over 400
members, almost half of California's urologists, joined the CUA.
Several significant actions contributed to the evolution
of the CUA over many years. First of all, it wasn't until 1926 that
the Western Branch (Western Section) of the American Urological
Association could no longer hold its annual meetings in conjunction
with the annual meetings of the California Medical Association,
in accordance with a new CMA Council exclusionary rule.
The CMA's ruling was partially reversed in 1966 by
the creation of scientific panels to the CMA Scientific Board established
in 1963. The panels were designed to develop educational specialty
based epitomes on Sundays during the CMA Annual Meeting. This is
a program that remains today.
In 1978, the CMA House of Delegates created a "specialty"
delegation. The CMA Bylaws required that CMA Advisory Panels not
be responsible for the seating of specialty representatives in the
CMA House of Delegates. In 1980, lames L. Goebel, M.D., President
of the Western Section American Urological Association, received
a letter from the Executive Director of the CMA informing him that
his "society's 80% membership" in the CMA of eligible
members entitled the Western Section AUA to one seat in the CMA
House of Delegates. Dr. Goebel then appointed Stanley Brosman, M.D.
as general chairman of the "Specialty Organization of California
includ ing the four G.U. Societies, the sole purpose of which was
to seat a delegate. He then asked each society to contribute $100
toward a fund to cover incidental expenses. Dr. Goebel's request
for component support was well received by the Northern California
Urological society, Orange County Urological Society and San Diego.
However, the Los Angeles Urological Society did not contribute.
The society, in a letter, stated that "The Los Angeles Urological
Society has adequate legislative representation in the CMA through
local organizations and there does not exist any necessity for the
formation of any new formal body in the state to represent urologists."
Nevertheless, seating in the House of Delegates was rotated between
participating societies over the next few years.
The turning point came in 1986 when the California
Urological Association, assisted by Arthur Dick, M.D., developed
a set of bylaws and its own Articles of Incorporation. These were
filed with the State and CUA was granted a tax exempt status, formally
classified as a 501 (c)(6) organization, by the Internal Revenue
Service. An invitation letter to join along with a request for $5O.OO
dues was mailed to all the urologists on the CMA list and yielded
an encouraging response.
In 1988, several events occurred. Dr. Carl Biorn was
formally elected President of the CUA. He subsequently attended
a meeting of the Los Angeles Urological Society and addressed a
speech, "Politics and the California Urologist" which
stressed the importance of socioeconomic issues and unification
for clout with Congress. In May, the California Medical Association
Specialty Delegation was notified that the Western Section American
Urological Association would no longer hold representation for the
California urologists and that they would now be represented by
the California Urological Association.
At the 1989 Board Meeting, the CUA faced its biggest
challenge: recommendations to modify criteria for TURP. Dr. Donald
Gartman, president of the CMRI had written to Dr. Biorn solicit
ing CUA's input and asking for names of members who would assist
with physician review. The CUA's strong stance and the resulting
cooperation from CMRI helped to finally unite the California urologists.
The CUA continues to provide valuable input to the
CMRI, other regulatory agencies and the government representatives.
The CUA offers an 800 number "hotline" to assist members
with in insurance billings, or reimbursement infractions. The organization
has grown to over 400 dues paying members and has built a responsive
Board who are ready to respond to the needs of California urologists.
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