2025 Annual Conference

Neil Gokal, MD, FAAFP, Senior Medical Director of Education and Quality; John Rhodes, MD, MBA, President & CEO; and Toni Corbin, West Region Chief Operating Officer, Optum Nevada

As populations expand, the ability to provide safe quality care entails embracing a team model to support practice scope and access. This poster presentation shares how Optum Nevada developed a program to integrate APC interns into a value-based care model enabling them for success upon graduation to join the care team as skilled, knowledgeable practitioners.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Design a program to integrate APCs early in training into a care model.
• Enable dyad partnerships to naturally evolve and foster stronger relationships.
• Set up APCs in training for greater success as they enter the clinical workforce.
• Decrease burnout by integrating clinician connections with learners.

Emily Hamilton, MA, Senior Director; and Amy Van Gundy, MHA, Operations Administrator, Mayo Clinic

Compassion, especially during challenges, is important to effective leadership. In this busy time, demonstrating compassion is more important than ever. This poster presentation details an extensive review of this topic and shares how Mayo Clinic utilized those principles in recent challenging scenarios. 

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Define empathy and compassion and how they can be effectively applied to leadership.
• Walk through case studies of impactful uses of empathy in difficult conversations and tactics to increase empathy in their own leadership.
• Determine the impacts of empathy to the business.

Christine Krause DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, PNP-BC, and Amanda Huber MSN, APRN, FNP- BC, UW Health Northern Illinois

This poster presentation shares practical strategies for developing and enhancing APP onboarding programs, with a focus on achieving measurable improvements in patient access, provider resilience, team engagement, and care integration. Case studies and data-driven results will provide actionable insights applicable across diverse healthcare settings.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Identify the steps in the development of an onboarding program for new APPs.
• Understand how to increase patient access through an effective onboarding program.
• Discuss the findings of the REACH and ANCHOR program for both knowledge and confidence levels.
• Describe strategies used to promote hospital engagement and fellowship to foster its success and sustainability.
• Discuss the methods that were utilized to evaluate program effectiveness.

Peggy McRae, DNP, RN, CENP, Chief Nursing Officer, MaineHealth Medical Group

Workforce challenges continue to plaque healthcare organizations. This poster presentation provides tools to support a multimodal approach to building the workforce through apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, including programs to support ESL learners.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Identify which apprenticeship programs would be beneficial for their organization.
• Understand how to operationalize a successful apprenticeship program.
• Identify resources needed for a sustainable program.

Eric Lombardi, MHA, MBA, Hospitalist Program Manager Canyons Region; Michael Pirozzi, MD, Senior Medical Director, MedSurg Service Line, Canyons Region; and Krystal Porter, DNP, APRN, AGNP-BC, APP Director for MedSurg Service Line, Canyons Region, Intermountain Health

This poster presentation shares how Intermountain Health used mixed staffing models and evaluated Swing, Night, and Day shifts to see which shift type and staffing models would benefit from having an APP vs. a physician, accounting for patient volumes and cross coverage at each location. This assessment was shown to support expense savings, ensure adequate staffing, and continue to offer high level care. 

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Understand how to evaluate staffing models and identify configurations that generate the most value.
• Develop their own strategy to evaluate APP and Physician staffing models.
• Explore how this analysis can be applied to other services outside of hospital medicine.
• Create staffing models that emphasize patient care while also considering expense.

Amy Quinn DNP, APRN, FNP-C, Advanced Practice Leader; Brent Wadle, DO, Family Physician, Vice President of Physician Operations, Institute Chair for Primary Care, and Chief of Continuing Care; and Linda Ray, MD, Internal Medicine, Program Director for Clinicians Care PRN, Chair Honeycomb Project, CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic Board of Directors, CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic

Healthcare systems are seeing rapid growth in the employment of advanced practice clinicians. Integrating APCs into healthcare teams not only enhances the capacity to deliver high-quality care but also ensures that healthcare institutions are prepared to meet future challenges. This poster presentation shares steps to pioneer a pathway to partnership.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Identify areas of opportunity for partnership with physician and APC leadership.
• Recognize to support successful APC integration, highly reliable organizations must have the infrastructure and processes in place to reinforce support.
• Self-assessment to review and discuss potential action plan within one’s own healthcare system.

Margaret Head, RN, MSN, MBA, Vice President, Clinical Operations; and Jefferson Alegria, MHA, Director PO Strategic Operations, Houston Methodist Physician Organization

This poster presentation addresses gaps in understanding the implementation and benefits of Daily Management Systems (DMS) in healthcare, focusing on operational impacts, team engagement, and continuous improvement practices to foster high reliability and enhanced clinic performance.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Understand the Role of Daily Management Systems: Comprehend the strategic importance and operational benefits of implementing DMS in ambulatory clinics.
• Explore Implementation Strategies: Learn the step-by-step approach to introducing and scaling daily huddles across a healthcare network.
• Evaluate Impact and Outcomes: Analyze the qualitative and quantitative impacts of DMS on clinic operations, team morale, and patient care.
• Explain Future Directions: Discuss the next steps in the evolution of DMS, including the introduction of Tier II huddles and ongoing improvement initiatives.

Amy Miller, MD, VP/CMO Primary Care; Jennifer Nagy, MD, ACMO Primary Care; and Jaime Hilbelink Manager of Medical Staff Services, Froedtert Health

By harnessing the power of communication, structure, and support, Froedtert Health demonstrates the evolution of a transformative medical director leadership group to empower successful primary care practice growth. This poster presentation shares strategies for effective communication, onboarding processes and leadership structure to achieve successful change management.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Develop effective communication strategies within their physician and APP practice.
• Structure a medical director leadership team to drive success.
• Envision a physician and APP onboarding strategy to help new physicians and APP’s transition to practice.

Dina M. Barbarino, AGACNP-BC, ANP-BC, Director of Advanced Clinical Providers, Center for Advanced Providers, Northwell Health, and Adjunct Faculty Instructor, Hofstra - Northwell Health School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies; Andrew Rotjan, DNP, FNP-BC, AGACNP-BC, ENP-C, EMT-P, Director of Advanced Clinical Providers, Co-Director, ACP Education and Fellowships, Northwell Health, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Hofstra - Northwell Health School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies; and Pasqualina Zuaro, Associate Project Manager, Northwell Health

Transitioning from student to provider evokes feelings of stress, self-doubt, and frustration. Literature strongly supports implementing transition-to-practice programs for new providers to address these challenges. Essential factors for its success include robust support from organizational leadership, a clearly defined structure for APRNs and PAs, and strong leadership throughout onboarding. This poster presentation shares how Northwell Health developed a transition-to-practice program to support newly-hired APRNs and PAs across their network of nine-hundred ambulatory practices.

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Articulate the importance and need for a transition to practice program and its impact on an organization and its health care delivery.
• Identify methods of designing, planning, and implementing a transition to practice program and evaluating the data.
• Explore ways to support new providers in developing confidence and comfort while overcoming the learning curve.