Conference Sessions

Avoid the lines Thursday morning by registering and picking up your conference badge on Wednesday.

Stop by the registration to check-in and pick up your conference badge.

As a first-time attendee at our conference, we invite you to grab breakfast in the exhibit hall and bring it to Trailblazer DE.

During this session, AAPL Leadership will greet you and offer valuable tips on maximizing your experience at the institute. They will also give you a sneak peek of our 2026 Annual Conference and share some insights about the future of AAPL.

Dr. Vin Gupta, a critical care pulmonologist and one of the nation's most recognized voices at the intersection of medicine, technology, and public health, opens the conference with a candid look at where healthcare is headed. Drawing on his experience across clinical medicine, health policy, and health technology — including his work at Amazon Pharmacy and as a national medical analyst for NBC News and MSNBC — Gupta will explore the forces reshaping healthcare delivery, from workforce and demographic pressures to the growing role of digital innovation, and what physician leaders need to know to prepare their organizations for what's next.

Physician leaders are being asked to make decisions about artificial intelligence at a time when many organizations still treat AI primarily as a tool, a pilot, or an implementation issue. That framing is too narrow.

As generative AI and emerging agentic AI begin to shape documentation, workflow, communication, decision support, and operational choices, physician leaders need more than adoption literacy. They need a leadership framework to govern the expansion of AI capabilities in ways that protect quality, accountability, equity, professional judgment, and institutional trust.

This session introduces a practical developmental frame for physician leadership in AI-enabled care. It begins with grounding in adoption and guided integration to stewardship, but moves beyond stewardship alone toward trusteeship. Stewardship refers to responsible physician oversight while trusteeship refers to the physician leader’s responsibility to hold in trust the organizational and professional conditions under which AI enters care. The session is grounded in the view that physician leadership responsibilities are not static as AI capabilities expand.

Details coming soon...

Revenue cycle performance is often viewed as a technical or operational function, separate from clinical leadership. In reality, sustainable financial results and high‑quality patient care depend on effective collaboration between physicians and revenue cycle teams — and that collaboration rarely succeeds without intentional physician leadership. This interactive, novice‑level session introduces foundational concepts of physician leadership in revenue cycle operations, with an emphasis on interprofessional collaboration and shared accountability. Participants will learn why clinical insight is essential to revenue integrity, how physicians can bridge cultural and communication gaps between clinical and operational teams, and how shared leadership models such as dyads and triads support both financial stewardship and quality of care. Through real‑world case examples and guided discussion, attendees will gain practical strategies to build trust, improve alignment across disciplines, and positively influence team performance and patient‑centered outcomes — even without formal revenue cycle roles.

Healthcare leaders are increasingly required to make high-stakes decisions under conditions of uncertainty, constraint, and competing priorities. Yet few are trained in how to lead effectively in these moments. This session examines crisis leadership through the lens of decision-making, communication, and execution under pressure. Drawing on executive leadership experience, crisis negotiation principles, and real-world healthcare scenarios, this session presents practical frameworks for maintaining clarity, authority, and alignment when the stakes are highest. Participants will learn how to structure decisions, manage competing demands, and communicate in ways that build trust and cohesion across teams. The session emphasizes actionable strategies that leaders can apply immediately in clinical, operational, and organizational crises.

Patients with complex social barriers, such as lack of decision-making capacity, absence of support systems, or inability to secure safe placement, present significant challenges to timely and appropriate hospital discharge. These cases often require guardianship proceedings, coordination with external agencies, prolonged hospital stays, or system-funded placement, creating ethical, operational, and financial strain. At a large academic health system, we developed a structured, multidisciplinary approach to manage these high-risk cases. In partnership with executive leadership, care management, legal, ethics, and community stakeholders, we standardized workflows for early identification, escalation, and coordination. Strategies included defined pathways for guardianship, strengthened collaboration with post-acute facilities, and structured case review. These efforts improved consistency in decision-making and supported more efficient, patient-centered transitions while balancing resource stewardship. This session provides a practical framework for addressing complex discharge barriers through multidisciplinary collaboration and operational alignment.

Being a physician is not just what we do, it is who we are. We feel called to lead! But we miss the deep relationships with our patients. We miss the certainty of science. We miss the camaraderie of clinical colleagues. We worry we aren't the expert at some of the problems brought to us. We quietly wonder: Who am I now? From a physician who still teared up walking past a patient room two years after becoming an executive, hear how she forged a wholesome and integrated physician-leader identity. Review challenges with delegating, impostor syndrome, loneliness "at the top", identity confusion, and the loss of the physician-patient relationship as an anchor of meaning and self-worth. You will learn insightful and practical strategies to develop a fulfilling physician-leader persona and a more expansive way to understand yourself: as a leader who is strengthened by being a physician. In role, fully a leader. At heart, always a physician.

Physician leaders are often asked to lead beyond the boundaries of their formal role. This session explores the challenge of entering a new organization as Chief Medical Officer, identifying an unowned gap in data and information leadership, and stepping in after the loss of the CIO to help stabilize and lead that function while continuing to serve as CMO. Using a real-world case study, this presentation will examine how leaders recognize true organizational gaps, decide when to step in, and expand responsibility without creating confusion, overreach, or burnout. The session centers on three themes: filling gaps where the organization most needs support, leading through service rather than title, and using curiosity to understand systems before changing them. Attendees will leave with practical approaches to diagnosing leadership gaps, building credibility outside their original lane, and balancing clinical, operational, and information leadership responsibilities.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering clinical care, often accompanied by expectations of precision, efficiency, and near-autonomous decision-making. In reality, most AI applications in medicine are designed for narrow tasks—such as risk prediction, imaging support, or workflow optimization—and function on probabilistic outputs rather than clinical judgment.

Managing expectations is critical to ensure these tools are used safely and effectively. Clear communication about capabilities, limitations, and the need for human oversight helps clinicians integrate AI as a support tool rather than a replacement for expertise. Transparency around issues such as bias, variability, and data dependence is particularly important in healthcare, where errors carry significant consequences.

Aligning AI use with meaningful clinical outcomes—improving patient care, access, and efficiency—rather than novelty ensures sustainable adoption. Ultimately, positioning AI as an adjunct to clinical decision-making preserves accountability while enabling innovation in patient care.

Concurrent session focusing on establishing an AI Risk and Governance council; the role of the physician leader in AI governance. Through a combination of slide presentation, facilitated discussion, and applied simulation, The Director of AI Enablement & Governance and the Deputy Chief Medical Executive from a large health system will lead an interactive educational session focused on AI governance and physician leadership. 1.Welcome and Context Setting- interactive introduction and slides. Overview of session objectives and interactive components. Why AI governance matters in healthcare. 2.Designing an Effective AI Governance Council- slides and facilitated discussion. 3.Framework for evaluating Clinical and Non-Clinical AI solutions- slides. 4.Physician Leadership as stewards of AI- experienced- based storytelling and facilitated discussion. 5.Case-based simulation: AI Solution- full group interactive simulation Participants are given a case scenario. Using the framework, participants assess the AI solution and decide whether to approve, revise, or decline the solution. 6.Audience Q&A and key takeaways.

Key attributes of effective physician leadership include excellent clinical judgment and business acumen but also the development of broader skills including deeper self-awareness, empathy and an understanding of the art in managing behavioral ambiguity and organizational change.

To align individual, organizational and social values, leaders need to understand priorities that may be different from their own. Self-awareness and empathy are intellectual skills difficult to teach yet able to be learned, practiced and internalized. The capacity to recognize one’s own emotions and their effects upon others is critical to leaders’ success.

These tools and skills are essential competencies. Study of the humanities—philosophy, history, and visual arts—has been shown to help physicians navigate behavioral ambiguity, enhance decision-making, and improve working relationships.

Since launching our Physician and APP Leadership Academy (PLA) in 2017, our health system has trained 300 physician and advanced practice provider leaders— representing 20% of our 1,500-employed provider workforce. This penetration represents a tipping point where individual leadership development has scaled into organizational culture transformation of our employed physician group.

The Academy was designed to address a fundamental challenge: well-trained physician leaders throughout an organization improve frontline physician well-being, raise engagement, and enable system-level change. Built on three core competencies—Leading Self, Leading the Team, and Leading the Organization—the 12-month program combines virtual and in-person sessions, limits cohorts to 35 participants to maximize interaction, and is CME-eligible for 24 hours. In recent cohorts, we have also included resident physicians and operational leaders who are in dyad partnerships with physician leaders.

We will share how we measure individuals' leadership development as well as organizational impact; we will also share the unique features of our program that have led to its longevity.

As AI adoption accelerates across healthcare, physician leaders are being asked to make decisions about innovation in environments already strained by administrative burden, fragmented workflows, and workforce fatigue. The question is no longer whether AI has potential. The question is how to implement it in ways that improve operations, support clinicians and staff, and preserve trust.

This session provides a practical, physician focused framework for evaluating and leading AI-enabled workflow redesign. Drawing on the perspective of a physician, healthcare executive, and health tech founder, it examines where automation can deliver real value and how leaders can avoid adding new technology to broken processes.

Attendees will leave with a framework for identifying high-value use cases, examples of where AI can reduce friction across intake, communication, follow-up, and documentation, and a set of leadership questions to guide implementation. Rather than treating AI as a trend, this session focuses on disciplined, physician-led adoption that improves workflow, protects quality, and helps teams work at the top of their training.

Early and mid-career physician leaders often step into leadership while still building clinical identity, credibility, and confidence—frequently without formal leadership training. As responsibilities grow, many find themselves quietly struggling with misalignment, role overload, imposter syndrome, and the personal cost of leadership, even while appearing highly functional.

This session will use lived leadership experience to explore what it means to lead as a whole person. Drawing from my transition from direct patient care to purely administrative leadership and people management within a major healthcare and insurance organization, I hope to normalize the internal challenges physician leaders face but rarely name and discuss. Participants will examine how identity shifts, unexamined narratives, and evolving definitions of success can either support or silently undermine leadership effectiveness and wellbeing. This session will provide practical reflection tools to help physician leaders reconnect with their purpose, build self-awareness, and navigate career decisions with intention—laying the foundation for sustained leadership over time.

Evidence suggests that today’s physicians (for a variety of reasons) are seeking to retire at an earlier age than in the past. As such, many physicians are stepping away from their traditional clinical practices while maintaining the energy, focus, and desire to continue their life’s purpose of creating difference-making impact. When addressed with reflection and honest deliberation, physicians can flourish in the next stage of their lives, capturing renewed purpose, significance, and meaningful contribution.

This session is designed to help physicians reflect on some of the elements of this next journey. If you are in your early to mid-50s or older, this session should be relevant. Drawing from research and physician interviews, you will gain practical and usable ideas for making a successful and fulfilling transition. You can expect an engaging and interactive workshop.

Careers in clinical medicine and leadership do not always go according to plan. Many physicians have experienced professional derailment, where a promising career encounters a major setback. Common causes of derailment include disruptive behavior, substance abuse, interpersonal or political conflict, and organizational financial challenges. Derailment can result in a devastating loss of income, professional identity, and career options. In this session, Dr. Sanders will discuss how his own promising career as an academic specialist came to an abrupt end, and his subsequent quest to regain a sense of confidence and purpose over nearly two decades. He will share insights from leadership research, his own experience, and his work as a physician executive coach on how to find help, identify purpose, and begin again. This session will be invaluable for physician leaders who have experienced derailment either personally or through their role as a physician leader. Participants will be encouraged to share their insights on how to avoid and recover from major career setbacks in a constructive and supportive environment.

When physicians don't understand how their compensation is calculated, the effects extend beyond the paycheck. Trust falters, relationships between medical staff and administration become strained, and clinical work can suffer as a result. For physician leaders, understanding how pay works is foundational to building trust with medical staff and keeping clinical operations running smoothly.

This session will give physician leaders a step-by-step framework for bringing transparency to every stage of the compensation process. Eric Leafgreen, VP of Physician Compensation and Strategic Services at Ludi, will explain:

1. How compensation is established, governed, and communicated to physicians.

2. How performance is monitored and how physicians can access that data.

3. How incentive structures connect to organizational goals and the behaviorsthey're designed to encourage.

4. How to resolve compensation disputes in ways that build trust and hold up to scrutiny.

He'll also address how the right tools, including AI-assisted technology, can support physician leaders in managing these processes day to day. Attendees will leave with an actionable framework they can use to assess the transparency of their own programs and identify where improvements are needed.

This will be similar to the Webinar presented for AAPL on March 25, 2026 reviewing the Inova Schar Heart & Vascular Physician & APP leadership program and the published ROI for the program and the Capstone projects included as part of the program. We will review program structure and composition as well as syllabus creation, and tools for program evaluation. Pre and post competency assessments and defining meaningful metrics to apply to all such programs will be explored.

Physician executives are increasingly expected to lead beyond clinical and administrative responsibilities — into enterprise strategy, system transformation, and organizational leadership. This moderated lunch & learn features a candid conversation between two experienced physician executives, Michael Lalor, MD, and Kristin Mascotti, MD, facilitated by Tom Rossi, Vice President, Executive Search, at Jackson Physician Search.

The session explores what it takes to grow into, and succeed in, senior enterprise leadership. Dr. Lalor will share insights from his transition from Chief Medical Officer to Chief Executive Officer, including the skills, relationships, and organizational trust that leap requires. Dr. Mascotti will reflect on how physician executive roles expand and adapt across organizations, drawing on her own leadership journey and experience with triad leadership models that strengthen alignment, accountability, and execution.

The conversation will also address shifting expectations and the competencies required to lead in increasingly complex, matrixed environments heading into 2027. The session is highly interactive and grounded in real-world experience, closing with an open Q&A for attendees to engage directly with the panelists on leadership pathways and the future of the role.

The Community of Practice sessions are organized around a common theme, question, or career goal. Learning focuses on the practical and is shared from both successful and unsuccessful experiences to create collective knowledge.

Every participant has a role to play in sharing ideas and experience and creating collective knowledge. This is a safe space for participants to discover answers, solve problems and seek solutions together. • Communities of Practice are informal, organic and free-flowing. • A Community of Practice is known to be a high impact educational practice where a group of people, who share common learning goals, engage collaboratively to achieve them. • Participants become both teacher and learner. The moderator is not intended to provide answers, but to enable discussions amongst members. • We have created these sessions in recognition of the need for new skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world in healthcare.

Healthcare leaders are under increasing pressure to improve performance, retention, and outcomes, yet many organizations continue to fall short despite clear strategic direction. The issue is not a lack of vision. It is a gap between leadership intent and system execution. This session examines how misalignment between organizational priorities, resource allocation, policy design, and decision-making authority directly impacts performance at the front line. Drawing on experience in medical staff governance and system-level leadership, this session introduces a practical framework for identifying and correcting these gaps. Participants will learn how to diagnose where systems are unintentionally working against stated goals and how to implement targeted, high-leverage changes. The focus is not on adding initiatives, but on getting the fundamentals right: aligning systems so that performance is not dependent on individual workarounds, but built into the way the organization operates.

Advocate Health Midwest — one of the country's largest employed medical groups, with 4,000+ physicians and 2,200+ APPs across two states — identified a critical need to invest in developing & mid-career clinical leaders through intentional culture-building and connection, not competency alone. Launched in 2021 despite limited funding, logistical complexity, and post-COVID hesitancy, the program ran four days annually across spring and fall cohorts.

Each two-day session paired an AAPL faculty speaker on broad leadership themes for one day with internal Advocate Health content for the second day. Intentional co-attendance of physicians and APPs — alongside senior leader presence — has been central to dismantling silos and forging shared identity across geography and discipline. Over four years, 400+ participants have completed the program. Presenters will share participant feedback on the AAPL partnership, lessons learned, selection processes, and curriculum evolution.

Attendees will then apply these insights in facilitated small groups to develop a leadership program roadmap suited to their own organizational context and current financial realities.

Early-career physicians often assume that excellent clinical performance alone will naturally lead to leadership opportunities. In reality, physicians are selected for their first medical director, section chief, committee chair, program director, or other formal leadership roles when they have built visible credibility, demonstrated reliability, communicated effectively, solved meaningful problems, and aligned their work with institutional priorities. This one-hour interactive session is designed for early-career physicians across specialties who aspire to formal leadership roles. Drawing from the presenter’s experience as a physician leader, medical director, educator, and nationally invited speaker, this session will provide a practical roadmap for building leadership credibility before receiving a formal title. The session will introduce a leadership-readiness framework adapted from the PROMOTE-V model: Purpose, Reliability, Ownership, Metrics, Opportunity, Teamwork, Emotional Intelligence, and Visibility. Participants will learn how to move from being viewed as strong clinicians to being recognized as trusted, solution-oriented physician leaders.

Even highly successful physicians can overlook financial strategies that could significantly impact their wealth and financial security. Through real-world case studies, we’ll examine common financial blind spots involving tax planning, disability protection, and retirement benefits—and show how physicians have addressed them. Attendees will leave with practical ideas to help reduce taxes, protect their income, and build a stronger path toward retirement and financial independence. By the end of this session, participants will be able to identify common financial planning gaps that can impact physicians and evaluate strategies to:

• Reduce current and future tax liabilities through proactive tax planning.

• Protect earned income against the financial impact of a disability.

• Maximize retirement savings and evaluate benefit strategies beyond traditional retirement plans.

• Apply lessons from real-world physician case studies to identify potential opportunities in their own financial plans.

Every place AI fails traces back to a human blind spot. Every place physician leadership succeeds, in the age of AI, traces back to a human who knows themselves well enough to lead from something no algorithm can replicate. As artificial intelligence reshapes clinical practice, operations, and decision-making, physician leaders are being asked to implement technology while simultaneously managing a workforce experiencing identity disruption at scale. The fear of being replaced, the erosion of professional worth, the quiet loss of purpose. These are not soft, passive concerns. They are organizational stability concerns that need to be addressed.

Physicians are rarely included in the design of the tools, workflows, and systems they are expected to use. As a result, many technologies and processes are implemented with poor fit to clinical reality, creating inefficiencies, frustration, and unintended consequences. How can physician leaders move from being passive end-users to active participants in shaping AI-powered solutions? Drawing on design thinking and co-design principles, this session introduces practical approaches for engaging earlier and more effectively in the design process, whether working with internal teams, external vendors, or interdisciplinary partners. Participants will engage in experiential learning by design thinking hands-on structured exercises. Using real healthcare challenges and practical tools such as empathy mapping, problem definition, and solution testing, partipants will co-develop a clinical AI chatbot prototype. Through interactive exercises and group discussion, participants will reflect on what they learned and how to apply this in their home institutions and own clinical settings.

Value-based care demands physician executives who can lead when clinical performance and financial accountability are inseparable. This session brings together two physician executives operating at opposite ends of the risk spectrum — one leading population health strategy across 150,000+ employer-covered lives through onsite health centers, integrated pharmacy, and care coordination; the other taking full risk on one of healthcare's most complex and costly populations: patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. Through dual case presentation and interactive small-group exercises, attendees will examine how each model is built, measured, and led — and what transferable principles apply regardless of organizational setting. Topics include risk stratification, clinical-financial data governance, program design under risk, and communicating performance to non-clinical stakeholders including plan sponsors, CFOs, and health plan risk partners. Attendees will leave with practical frameworks for translating clinical insight into financial accountability and a clearer understanding of what physician executive leadership looks like when real outcomes are on the line.

Modern healthcare presents a seemingly endless array of daunting challenges that can leave physician leaders feeling frustrated and disenchanted. Entrepreneurship allows physicians to use their innate creativity to develop novel solutions to hard problems. Becoming an entrepreneur can provide a path to a renewed sense of purpose, greater fulfillment, and lasting impact. In this panel discussion, serial entrepreneur Dr. Rob Sanders will moderate a discussion with an accomplished group of physician leaders who have chosen the founder’s path as way to lead substantial and lasting change. We will explore how these physicians became entrepreneurs, the obstacles and pitfalls they encountered, and their advice for other physicians who are considering starting a new venture, whether internally, as a side gig, or as their career focus. We will also consider how entrepreneurship fits into their professional mission and shapes their sense of purpose. Active discussion among the panelists and attendees will be encouraged.

Session Schedule

• What Search Firms See That You Don't—Yet. A panel of experts - 45 min

• Recognition of AAPL Fellows/Award winners (30 min)

• Dr. Roy CPE success story (15 Min)

• Recognition of CPE’s (30 min)

• Dr. Sree Koka Closing Speech (15 Min)

Expert Panel: What Search Firms Know That You Don't—Yet Moderator: Mamata Majmundar, MD, FAAFP, CHCQM, CPE Panel: Tom Rossi Executive search firms sit at the center of one of healthcare's most consequential shifts: the changing demands placed on physician leaders. In this session, leaders from top physician executive search firms share what they're seeing in real time — which skills and experiences health systems are prioritizing, how the physician executive role is evolving, and where the next wave of demand is headed. Panelists will offer a candid, insider look at what it takes to be considered for top physician leadership roles today, and what current and aspiring physician executives should be doing now to prepare for what's coming next.

Cap off the first day of the 2026 Annual Leadership Conference at our Welcome Reception, a relaxed evening to connect after a full day of sessions. Enjoy drinks and light appetizers while reconnecting with familiar faces and meeting fellow physician leaders from across the country. This is a great opportunity to unwind, network in a low key setting, and put faces to names before tomorrow's sessions get underway. Casual attire is welcome. We look forward to closing out day one of ALC 2026 with you.

Stop by the registration to check-in and pick up your conference badge.

The Community of Practice sessions are organized around a common theme, question, or career goal. Learning focuses on the practical and is shared from both successful and unsuccessful experiences to create collective knowledge. Every participant has a role to play in sharing ideas and experience and creating collective knowledge. This is a safe space for participants to discover answers, solve problems and seek solutions together. • Communities of Practice are informal, organic and free-flowing. • A Community of Practice is known to be a high impact educational practice where a group of people, who share common learning goals, engage collaboratively to achieve them. • Participants become both teacher and learner. The moderator is not intended to provide answers, but to enable discussions amongst members. • We have created these sessions in recognition of the need for new skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world in healthcare.

The Community of Practice sessions are organized around a common theme, question, or career goal. Learning focuses on the practical and is shared from both successful and unsuccessful experiences to create collective knowledge. Every participant has a role to play in sharing ideas and experience and creating collective knowledge. This is a safe space for participants to discover answers, solve problems and seek solutions together. • Communities of Practice are informal, organic and free-flowing. • A Community of Practice is known to be a high impact educational practice where a group of people, who share common learning goals, engage collaboratively to achieve them. • Participants become both teacher and learner. The moderator is not intended to provide answers, but to enable discussions amongst members. • We have created these sessions in recognition of the need for new skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world in healthcare.

As healthcare organizations navigate mounting pressures around cost, workforce, and patient outcomes, quality and leadership are becoming inseparable disciplines. In this fireside chat, AAPL Interim CEO Dr. Claude Brunson and NAHQ CEO Stephanie Mercado explore how physician leaders and quality professionals can work together to drive meaningful improvement across health systems. Drawing on their respective vantage points leading two of healthcare's key professional organizations, Brunson and Mercado will discuss where quality and leadership intersect, the shared challenges facing both fields, and what it will take for healthcare organizations to build a culture where quality and leadership reinforce one another.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the evolving relationship between healthcare quality and physician leadership, and identify why the two disciplines are increasingly interdependent

• Identify at least two strategies for fostering stronger collaboration between clinical leadership and quality improvement functions within their own organizations

• Discuss emerging trends and challenges facing healthcare quality and leadership, and how physician leaders can prepare their organizations to respond.

*Pre-Registration for this course is required, see details below.

On Friday, October 23, the HALM Prep Course will follow a schedule slightly different from the 2026 AAPL Annual Leadership Conference's.

• Time: 8:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

  • AM Session 8-11:15 a.m.

  • Lunch 11:15-12:15 p.m.

  • PM Session 12:15-2:30 p.m.

Prepare for the HALM certification exam with a focused review of all nine tested content domains: business of health care, care innovation and population health, governance, policy and law, health IT, HR and workforce development, patient safety and quality, organizational leadership, and professionalism and ethics. Led by physician leaders and subject-matter faculty, this course emphasizes the administrative and leadership competencies the exam covers — not clinical medicine — through content review, practice questions, and exam strategy. Ideal for physicians eligible for or pursuing HALM certification who want an efficient, structured way to get exam-ready.

You must pre-register for this course via the mobile app. You will receive an email with the subject line: Friday’s Events Are Filling Fast, Download App to Register. You must register by September 30th

Vanguard Schedule: 8 am – 2:30 pm, with lunch from 11:15-12:15pm

• 8:00 – 8:30 am Opening: State of AAPL — Leadership in Transition Remarks + Q&A (whole group)

• 8:30 – 9:30 am Session 1: Policy Panel Expert panel + discussion

• 9:30 – 9:45 am: Break

• 9:45 – 11:15 am Session 2: Leadership Dilemmas — Cases from the Field Volunteer case presentations + small-group breakout + report-out + reveal

• 11:15 am – 12:00pm: Vanguard Networking Lunch Unstructured — Vanguard group only

• 12:00 – 1:45 pm Session 3: Leading with AI Hands-on workshop

• 1:45 – 2:30 pm Closing: Your Own Next Chapter as a Leader Facilitated reflection + extended-engagement sign-up

For nearly 20 years, MaxWorth Consulting Group has partnered with healthcare leaders to pioneer a transformative approach to on-call compensation that benefits both physicians and their organizations. Our proven methodology controls the escalating cost of call pay while providing greater value for the medical staff and fostering a sense of fairness.

This session serves as a playbook for physician leaders searching for a more sustainable approach to call pay. We will demonstrate a step-by-step process that will empower you to turn your call pay expense into a strategic asset. Learn how to position this innovative solution with your leadership team and protect your hospital or health system from the unpredictability of traditional on-call payment arrangements. By championing this forward-thinking approach, you can help your organization secure a more stable financial future.

The Society for Human Resource Management reports 223 million acts of incivility every day in everyday American life. Those incidents do not stay outside the hospital doors, but we are not teaching our workforce to effectively conduct civil discourse to manage conflict and communicate across difference.

This hands-on workshop treats civil discourse as a clinical leadership skill, not a soft skill. Through structured exercises, real-case discussions, and practiced frameworks, participants will work through the communication challenges that show up most often in healthcare teams: disagreement across hierarchy, bias in real time, and the moments when silence feels safer than speaking.

Participants will practice calling in rather than calling out, reframing assumptions before they harden into bias, and responding skillfully under pressure. They will leave with tools they can use the same week: concrete language, a framework, and practiced confidence. Teams that succeed do not avoid hard conversations, they have them effectively.

What do I love to do? What giving me energy? What aligns with my values and my purpose? How might a coach help me move towards my best life? Using the SOAR framework (J.Stavros) in a coaching context, workshop participants will consider their internal strengths and external opportunities to envision aspirational future(s) which align with their highest values.

This framework will guide participants to consider next steps and develop necessary post session conversations to continue their SOARing journey towards their intended future.

Physician leaders are frequently tasked with driving change in complex healthcare environments, but many initiatives stall despite strong ideas and effort. Authority by a title is not enough. Whether your system is a hospital department or state-wide payer, influence to drive change requires understanding systems, people, data, and change management steps. This session introduces a practical, systems-based approach to leading change, grounded in real-world physician-led case studies published in the AAPL book, Systems Thinking for Physician Leaders. Participants will learn to analyze stakeholder and power dynamics, organizational culture, and policy and economic forces. Using structured frameworks, participants will be able to apply the learnings from cases to their own physician leadership and participate in discussion with peers in breakout groups.

By learning from their own leadership challenges, participants will gain clarity on how to assess their current environment, identify barriers, and develop adaptive systems thinking to consider more robust problem-solving skills. Participants will develop a focused strategy and action plan to take back to their home organization.

Conflict causes significant challenges in the interprofessional medical workplace. However, learning how to effectively adapt communication styles to the personality type of the colleague involved can be transformative. At our center, we recently incorporated this training into our leadership curriculum with improved resident stress management and workplace engagement. In addition, confidence to resolve conflict increased and overall workplace conflict decreased. This session will explore how to recognize the personality types of colleagues to improve team dynamics, leading to improved resilience. Practical guidance and strategies will be shared to improve attendee's confidence and understanding.

SC Johnson Thought Leadership Session

Attendees will gain practical, actionable insights to sustainably improve hand hygiene performance and measurement within the healthcare systems they lead. The course will highlight current hand hygiene guidance, efficacy test methods and why they matter, emerging science on alcohol-based hand sanitizer performance, the value of monitoring and meaningful metrics, and leadership strategies for building an effective hand hygiene program.

Session Objectives:

• Identify leadership and system-level strategies to drive meaningful change in hand hygiene performance, including dispenser validation, staff education, and integration of product-use effectiveness into patient safety and quality improvement programs.

• Evaluate hand hygiene measurement strategies and metrics, including traditional compliance measures and automated monitoring systems, to better assess hand hygiene performance in real-world healthcare practice.

• Explain how alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) dose, hand coverage, wet time, and in vivo efficacy test methods influence antimicrobial performance and measures of product-use effectiveness.

• Understand lessons learned from SCJ Professional & SwipeSense in healthcare, with suggested actions that can be practically applied.

Panel Moderator: Bryan Becker MD, MMM, FACP, CPE, FAAPL

Health policy is shifting faster than most physician leaders can track — from payment reform and prior authorization to scope-of-practice battles and workforce regulation. This session cuts through the noise. Join policy and advocacy experts Michael Tutty and Manuel Bonilla for a candid, panel-style conversation on the forces reshaping how physicians practice, lead, and advocate. Drawing on their experience in health policy research and national association advocacy, our panelists will unpack the legislative and regulatory issues most likely to affect your organization in the year ahead — and share practical strategies for staying ahead of the curve rather than reacting to it. Whether you're new to policy engagement or a seasoned advocate, you'll leave with a clearer map of the policy landscape and concrete next steps for engaging effectively with your patients, your institution, and your legislators.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the top legislative and regulatory issues currently shaping physician practice and healthcare delivery.

• Describe how policy decisions made at the federal and state level translate into day-to-day operational and clinical realities.

• Analyze strategies physician leaders can use to engage effectively with policymakers, regulators, and professional associations.

• Apply practical advocacy tactics to influence policy outcomes within their own organizations and communities.

• Evaluate emerging policy trends to anticipate — rather than simply react to — changes affecting their practice.

Health systems face rising costs and an increasing burden of chronic disease, yet care delivery remains largely reactive. As organizations shift toward value-based care, there is a critical need for scalable, clinically integrated solutions that address root causes while demonstrating measurable return on investment. This session presents a practical framework for designing and implementing a Lifestyle Medicine service line within a health system. It outlines how to operationalize behavior change at scale through structured programs, multidisciplinary teams, and integration with value-based models. Participants will learn how to align clinical care, employee health, and population health into a unified strategy that reduces utilization and improves outcomes. The session also explores the human side of transformation, including overcoming resistance, aligning stakeholders, and sustaining momentum. Designed for physician leaders, this session offers actionable strategies and real-world lessons for shifting care from reactive to prevention-focused delivery.

HygenX AI Thought Leadership Session

How can physician leaders use operational data to make environmental disinfection more consistent, measurable and accountable? This session explores physical AI through autonomous disinfection systems that sense their surroundings, act in the physical environment and generate records of their operation.

The discussion will examine how cycle completion, timing, interruptions and coverage or dose information, where available and validated, can help teams identify missed treatments, workflow variation and opportunities for improvement. It will distinguish measured, estimated and missing data, and explain why process records alone do not establish pathogen reduction or lower healthcare-associated infection rates.

Designed for physician executives, quality and patient-safety leaders, the session offers a vendor-neutral framework for connecting Environmental Services, Infection Prevention and clinical quality around meaningful measures and a practical 30-day review of local data gaps.

Session Objectives:

• Identify the operational measures needed to assess disinfection execution and workflow consistency.

• Distinguish measured and estimated process data from microbiological and clinical outcome evidence.

• Use process trends to identify missed treatments, interruptions and opportunities for workflow improvement.

• Outline a 30-day cross-functional review with defined measures, ownership and follow-up actions.

Leaders have to communicate effectively organizational efforts, projects, and manage change and the introduction of innovation. It is incredibly beneficial to have a framework to aid in communicating these events. DFII breaks down leader communication into 7 categories: Focus, Simplify, Plan, Communicate, Implement, Communicate, Improve. The audience will understand the intent and key questions that underlie each category using a case presentation as a vehicle for communicating the concept and framework. Then, through a set of exercises during the session, audience members will craft their own DFII framework for an endeavor in their own organization. They will then have an opportunity to communicate a component of it during the time of the workshop dedicated to presentation. Key considerations will be how to gain followership (people literally speaking your words), considering your endeavor from other vantage points to understand how to communicate to those who see the effort differently, and sequencing communication and supporting materials to aid in adoption and iterative improvement.

*Pre-Registration for this course is required, see details below.

On Friday, October 23, the HALM Prep Course will follow a schedule slightly different from the 2026 AAPL Annual Leadership Conference's.

• Time: 8:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

  • AM Session 8-11:15 a.m.

  • Lunch 11:15-12:15 p.m.

  • PM Session 12:15-2:30 p.m.

Prepare for the HALM certification exam with a focused review of all nine tested content domains: business of health care, care innovation and population health, governance, policy and law, health IT, HR and workforce development, patient safety and quality, organizational leadership, and professionalism and ethics. Led by physician leaders and subject-matter faculty, this course emphasizes the administrative and leadership competencies the exam covers — not clinical medicine — through content review, practice questions, and exam strategy. Ideal for physicians eligible for or pursuing HALM certification who want an efficient, structured way to get exam-ready.

You must pre-register for this course via the mobile app. You will receive an email with the subject line: Friday’s Events Are Filling Fast, Make Your Selection Today! You must register by September 30th

This team simulation uses the set-up of a Mount Everest expedition to help participants learn key lessons in team building, decision making, communication, and leadership. Participants play one of 5 roles on a team of hikers attempting to summit the mountain. During each round of play they must collectively discuss whether to attempt the next camp enroute to the summit. Ultimately, teams must climb through 5 camps in 6 simulated days totaling approximately 75-90 minutes of playing time, plus 30 minutes of debrief.

Along the journey, the team encounters various challenges and has to make tough decisions which affect hiking speed, health, and ultimately the team's success in summiting the mountain. Failure to clarify and accomplish goals, manage information, or work effectively as a team has negative consequences on team performance.

Participants in this session, please bring a laptop.

Please note: This session requires advance registration and has limited capacity. If you would like to attend, please email programdeliverteam@physicianleaders.org to reserve your spot.

Because AAPL purchases licenses for each participant, if your plans change and you are no longer able to attend, please notify programdeliverteam@physicianleaders.org as soon as possible.

This two hour session will be a small introductory segment of the two-day in-person Micro-Credential course titled Practice Management for Physician Leaders. We will select topics from Module One and Two of the course which covers practice structure, governance, compensation plans as well as strategic planning, execution and shareholder management. This will be both didactic and interactive and will provide insight into these topics as well as the potential for the full two-day experience.

What can elite athletes teach physician leaders about focus, resilience, and peak performance under pressure? In this dynamic two-hour workshop, sports psychology expert Naakesh Dewan and motor learning expert Mark Guadagnoli bring together their work with world-class tennis and golf athletes to explore the mental skills that separate good performance from great performance. Drawing on Dewan's work on the psychology of winning and Guadagnoli's Challenge Point Framework for skill acquisition, this session translates elite sports science into practical tools physician leaders can use to sharpen focus, manage pressure, and perform at their best — on the course, on the court, and in the boardroom. Fittingly timed right before the conference's golf and pickleball activities, this session is equal parts insight and inspiration.

Vanguard Schedule: 9 am – 2:30 pm, with lunch from 11:15-12:15

Check back for more details on Vanguard topics later this month.

Nozin Thought Leadership Session

This presentation will evaluate whether targeting patients for pathogen screening and decolonization adequately protects all patients across the organization. It will identify clinical rationale, operational benefits and financial metrics supporting the value of a universal nasal decolonization HAI prevention initiative. A physician leadership roadmap will be reviewed for such an HAI prevention strategy to advance patient safety and hospital performance.

Session Objectives:

• Evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of targeted pathogen screening and decolonization strategies in protecting patients from healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

• Describe the clinical rationale and evidence supporting universal nasal decolonization as an HAI prevention strategy.

• Identify operational and financial metrics that can be used to evaluate the value and impact of a universal nasal decolonization initiative.

• Develop a physician leadership roadmap for implementing and sustaining an organization-wide HAI prevention strategy focused on patient safety and hospital performance.

You must pre-register for this wellness activities via the mobile app. You will receive an email with the subject line: Friday’s Events Are Filling Fast, Make Your Selection Today!

You must pre-register for this wellness activities via the mobile app. You will receive an email with the subject line: Friday’s Events Are Filling Fast, Make Your Selection Today!

You must pre-register for this wellness activities via the mobile app. You will receive an email with the subject line: Friday’s Events Are Filling Fast, Make Your Selection Today!

Stop by the registration to check-in and pick up your conference badge.

The Community of Practice sessions are organized around a common theme, question, or career goal. Learning focuses on the practical and is shared from both successful and unsuccessful experiences to create collective knowledge. Every participant has a role to play in sharing ideas and experience and creating collective knowledge. This is a safe space for participants to discover answers, solve problems and seek solutions together. • Communities of Practice are informal, organic and free-flowing. • A Community of Practice is known to be a high impact educational practice where a group of people, who share common learning goals, engage collaboratively to achieve them. • Participants become both teacher and learner. The moderator is not intended to provide answers, but to enable discussions amongst members. • We have created these sessions in recognition of the need for new skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world in healthcare.

Panel Moderator: Sophia McIntyre MD, MPH, MBA, FAAFP, CPE, FAAPL

Panelists: Renia R. Dotson, MD, FACS, MPH, MBA Patricia Gabow, MD Mary Dale Peterson, MD, MSHCA, FACHE,FASA Crystal Wright, MD, FASA

Healthcare's most urgent challenges demand its boldest leaders. In this powerful general session, four exceptional physician executives leading across health systems, public health, academic medicine, and policy, offer an unfiltered look at what it takes to drive transformation, sustain purpose, and lead with impact in an industry under pressure. Their stories are different. Their lessons are universal.

Upon completion of this session, learners will be able to:

• Evaluate their own leadership approach by reflecting on the diverse experiences and philosophies shared by panelists to identify opportunities for growth and renewed purpose.

• Formulate at least one strategic commitment to advance equity, mentorship, or organizational culture within their own sphere of influence. 

Despite increasing representation, women physician leaders continue to encounter structural barriers that limit influence, advancement, and the ability to drive meaningful change. The conversation must move beyond access to authority. This panel brings together women physician leaders across diverse roles to examine how power operates within healthcare systems, and how it can be intentionally redesigned. Panelists will share insights from executive leadership, governance, and operational experience to explore how decisions are made, whose voices are amplified, and where opportunities exist to shift both. The discussion will focus on actionable strategies for navigating and reshaping systems, from influencing policy and resource allocation to building coalitions and leveraging leadership roles for broader impact.

Emergency Department (ED) boarding is at an all-time high. Hospital admissions routinely board in the ED with deleterious effects on both patients and healthcare clinicians. ED boarders have well documented increases in morbidity and mortality. Physicians and nurses are forced to care for patients outside of their skill set adding to frustration and burn out. The problem is conceptually simple: patient demand exceeding inpatient bed capacity. However, building more beds and hiring more nurses and doctors isn’t the solution. Besides being prohibitively expensive, the underlying problem of patient flow is ignored. Previous efforts have been misdirected at attempting to control admissions through the ED. ED admissions are predictable but not controllable. Surgical admissions, on the other hand, are unpredictable but controllable. ED boarding has finally caught the attention of CMS, with voluntary reporting beginning in 2027, mandatory reporting in 2028, and plans for incentives and penalties in 2030. The time to address this problem is now. Get ahead of the curve or play catch up later.

Administrative costs in U.S. non-profit acute care hospitals have reached an estimated 25% to 49% of total operating expenditure a proportion that has grown at more than five times the rate of clinical labor costs over the past 20 years and is two to three times higher than comparable institutions in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other U.S. non-profit sectors. There is an Administrative Accountability Gap (AAG) which is sustained not by technical necessity but by lack of structure and governance. Hospital administrators are systematically exempt from the productivity metrics, efficiency benchmarks, and cost-per-output analysis routinely applied to frontline clinical workers. This can be addressed by applying practical symmetric management accounting framework grounded in Activity-Based Costing, Responsibility Centre Accounting, and Balanced Scorecard methodology. Using HR and Workforce Administration as a model in a 350-bed non-profit hospital model we revel $2.9 million in avoidable annual turnover costs and above-benchmark expenditure in training and compliance functions. This framework can be applied to other administrative departments as well.

Transfer centers are often viewed as transactional call centers focused on intake and bed placement. In today’s environment of capacity constraints and heightened EMTALA scrutiny, this model is insufficient. At a large academic health system, leadership loss, staff turnover, and EMTALA citations created urgency to redesign transfer operations. We realigned staffing, standardized workflows in our EHR, required provider-to-provider communication, implemented real-time capacity verification, and defined escalation pathways for “no capability” determinations. In collaboration with legal and operational leaders, we revised policies, developed an EMTALA map, and clarified capacity definitions. We also integrated our physician advisors into case review, redesigned financial clearance to support pre-transfer authorization, and evaluated internal transfers to reduce unnecessary movement. A system-wide EMTALA training module reinforced expectations. These efforts repositioned the transfer center into a centralized operational hub. This session outlines a practical framework to improve transfer processes and align clinical, operational, and regulatory priorities.

Fundamental human characteristics of passion, empathy, intellect and wisdom augmented with education and experiences make up the core of a successful leader. However, lessons offered through failures, adversities, mistakes and enemies give valuable insight into what not to do as a leader. This session will focus on principles of leadership that include an examination of how we become leaders; what leadership qualities and characteristics are needed to be successful; and why is leadership well-being so important for success. The topic of emotional intelligence will also be highlighted as a vital characteristic/skill set to attain the highest level of leadership. Finally, scenarios of real-life situations encountered by the Presenter's 40 plus years of healthcare leadership experiences will help illustrate how negative outcomes are used to benefit leaders navigate through their own leadership journey.

Healthcare leaders are being asked to lead through sustained disruption while maintaining performance, strengthening culture and guiding people through constant change. Many transformation efforts struggle not because strategy is flawed, but because leaders underestimate the human dynamics of change, trust, judgment, communication and alignment. Drawing on decades of physician executive leadership, Dr. Wolf presents a practical framework for leading transformation when complexity is high and resistance is real. Grounded in his eBook, Reflection in Practice: A Practical Guide for Transformational Leaders, this session explores reflective leadership as a discipline that strengthens decision-making, builds trust and supports effective change leadership. This interactive, case-based breakout is designed for physician leaders navigating real-world change. It integrates practical insights with healthcare transformation scenarios, guided reflection and peer discussion. Participants engage in applied exercises, and structured exchange to explore challenges and develop practical strategies. Participants leave with actionable approaches to strengthen judgment, and build team alignment.

This 60-minute session will discuss how to operationalize trust in clinical AI—what to require before go-live, how to monitor performance and equity over time, and when to pause or rollback. Defining a practical governance model (clinical ownership, risk tiers, oversight cadence, and escalation pathways) that accelerates adoption without compromising safety, compliance, or workflow fit. Connecting AI decisions to ROI and documented patient-care metrics—quality, safety, access/throughput, clinician efficiency, and patient experience—so leaders can measure impact and communicate value credibly.

Being a Chief Medical Officer means making tough calls with no easy answers. In this two hour session, five experienced CMOs will walk through real world case scenarios covering issues such as clinical autonomy, medical staff conflict, adverse events, and high pressure decisions with limited information. Whether you're a current CMO or preparing for the role, this session offers candid, practical insight into the realities of physician leadership at the executive level.

It is well established that each generation possesses its own unique characteristics, work habits, interests and priorities and accepted behavioral norms both within and outside of the workplace. The inherent differences in their perspectives and visions of appropriate professional behavior in the work environment can lead to interpersonal friction and loss of team cohesion. However, if each generation approaches workplace culture with an air of appreciative inquiry and reciprocal generational understanding, there is opportunity to improve workplace culture and dynamics for the entire cross-generational workforce. This interactive workshop will highlight significant generational differences that impact attitudes and perspectives towards work, workplace culture and performance expectations. Specific generational strengths will be brought to the forefront, as will potential blind spots for each generation that may impact the ability to understand and embrace cohesive intergenerational team dynamics. The impact on departmental culture and team dynamics will be explored. Participants will be encouraged to have table-based discussions on their experiences and challenges and to share

Health systems are investing heavily in AI to improve clinician efficiency, yet many struggle to answer a fundamental leadership question: is it actually working, for whom, and when? Evaluating any intervention at scale is difficult, but AI offers a unique advantage: the data needed to measure real impact already exists.

The challenge is building discipline to use it effectively and patience to look beyond early gains. Leaders from SSM Health will share how they evaluated ambient AI (DAX) across hundreds of providers using longitudinal operational data. The analysis revealed a clear pattern: documentation time dropped quickly, but downstream outcomes physician leaders care about - increased RVUs and expanded clinical capacity - emerged months later. Subgroup variation showed adoption and benefit are not uniform, with direct implications for rollout and investment strategy.

Attendees will gain a practical understanding of rigorous AI evaluation, how to interpret impact over time, and how to anticipate where investments will deliver value - and where they may not. The session equips physician leaders to shape AI adoption deliberately rather than react to the next wave of disruption.

Every day, physician leaders walk into rooms where the stakes are as high as they get. The decisions made in those moments -- and the development that makes those decisions possible -- are too important to leave to chance. Yet in most clinical environments, the way we approach learning and skill development is exactly that: left to chance. We train to convention, plateau too early, and mistake looking competent for becoming great. This session introduces the Challenge Point Framework (CPF), a scientifically validated model with more than 3,000 peer-reviewed studies across psychomotor skills, simulation, and medical education. The CPF is a powerful principle: optimal struggle creates the conditions for optimal growth. Learners applying this framework progress three to four times faster than those using conventional methods. Attendees will learn how to identify and work at their own optimal challenge point, how to calibrate learning environments for the people they lead, and provide a new lens for physician leaders, both as learners and as teachers. This is not a lecture about theory. It is an invitation to ask the question: what would you do if you weren't afraid?

Neurodivergent professionals including those with ADHD, autism spectrum traits, and other cognitive differences bring unique strengths to leadership, including creativity, pattern recognition, innovation, hyperfocus, and systems thinking. Yet traditional workplace structures often fail to recognize or support these strengths, creating unnecessary barriers to success. This session explores the experiences of neurodivergent leaders and provides practical strategies for leading and supporting neurodivergent team members. Participants will examine communication differences, sensory and processing needs, emotional regulation, executive functioning challenges, and the impact of workplace design on performance. Using real world leadership examples and evidence-based strategies, attendees will learn how to create psychologically safe, high performing teams that leverage cognitive diversity as a strength. Inclusive leadership improves engagement, retention, innovation, and team effectiveness across all workplace settings.

This session shows how physician advocacy in legislation is vital for transforming healthcare. Physicians can drive systemic change by stepping beyond clinical practice and engaging in policy. Attendees will learn why advocacy matters, how it ensures patient-centered, equitable care, and how they can take practical steps to engage in legislative efforts. Participants will leave empowered to amplify their impact on the future of medicine.

More than 75% of physicians work in employed models. Many feel unheard and experience a growing gap between their clinical expertise and their ability to influence decisions within their organizations or the broader healthcare landscape. This often manifests as disengagement, loss of professional identity, and diminished impact despite deep experience and insight. Organizations consequently also build strategy without the benefit of the physician voice. These challenges are not individual shortcomings, but a systemic “voice and influence gap.” Drawing from my executive leadership experience and case examples, the Physician Voice & Influence Accelerator™ is a practical framework that helps physicians clarify their leadership voice, communicate with greater impact, and build visibility in ways that are authentic and sustainable. Participants will gain actionable tools to strengthen executive presence, increase internal and external influence, and reconnect with a sense of purpose and agency in their leadership journey. This session moves beyond traditional wellness approaches to offer a concrete pathway for physicians to lead with clarity, confidence, and influence.

The Community of Practice sessions are organized around a common theme, question, or career goal. Learning focuses on the practical and is shared from both successful and unsuccessful experiences to create collective knowledge. Every participant has a role to play in sharing ideas and experience and creating collective knowledge. This is a safe space for participants to discover answers, solve problems and seek solutions together. • Communities of Practice are informal, organic and free-flowing. • A Community of Practice is known to be a high impact educational practice where a group of people, who share common learning goals, engage collaboratively to achieve them. • Participants become both teacher and learner. The moderator is not intended to provide answers, but to enable discussions amongst members. • We have created these sessions in recognition of the need for new skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world in healthcare.

Panel Moderator: Edgar G. Chedrawy MD, MS, FRCSC, FACS, MHA, CPE, FAAPL, MCPDC

Artificial intelligence is no longer on the horizon — it's already embedded in clinical workflows, administrative systems, and strategic decisions across healthcare. The question is no longer whether AI will transform medicine, but whether physician leaders are equipped to guide that transformation. In this high-energy panel, four innovators at the forefront of healthcare AI cut through the hype to explore what's actually working, what's not, and what physician executives need to know right now. From governance and data integrity to clinical adoption and ethical accountability, this session delivers the insights and frameworks leaders need to move from uncertainty to action.

Upon completion of this session, learners will be able to:

• Analyze the current landscape of AI applications in healthcare — including clinical decision support, administrative automation, and data infrastructure — to assess relevance and readiness within their own organizations.

• Evaluate the governance, ethical, and accountability frameworks necessary for responsible AI adoption to determine gaps and priorities in their leadership approach.

• Formulate an initial strategic response to AI integration by identifying opportunities, risks, and the physician leader's role in guiding organizational adoption.

Daily, it seems, a physician leader gets pitched a new "game-changing" medical AI product by a vendor. Now there is a shift to "agentic AI": systems that take action. This is a fundamental shift: no longer simply summarization tools, but forms of delegated authority operating within clinical workflows. Current approaches to AI evaluation are insufficient for systems that adapt, interact across platforms, and act in real time. This session introduces a practical framework for physician leadership in AI, drawing on real-world experience in health systems, policy, and technology. Participants will examine key considerations to determine how to evaluate vendor claims and for moving beyond pilots to responsible implementation in regulated health systems. Through case-based discussion and structured reflection, participants will explore how accountability shifts when AI systems act within care delivery, and what role physician leaders must play in governance, oversight, and decision-making. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how to evaluate AI beyond initial performance claims.

Physician burnout has multiple contributing levers, but the lever most often overlooked is also the one physician leaders are positioned to notice first: how individual physicians interact with their work under sustained stress. Leaders routinely see early warning signs of burnout long before performance issues or attrition emerge, yet many lack practical coaching frameworks to intervene effectively.

This interactive concurrent session equips physician leaders with a pragmatic, coaching‑focused model for addressing individual contributors to burnout without minimizing organizational responsibility. Drawing on research and program data, participants will learn to identify four common burnout archetypes—Over‑Engaged, People‑Pleaser, Perfectionist, and Cynic—and how healthy personality patterns can become liabilities in medicine. Through case‑based discussion, guided reflection, and leadership exercises, attendees will practice matching archetypes to specific coaching strategies and conversation tactics.

Leaders will leave with a practical mental model and transferable tools they can immediately apply within their teams while broader organizational changes take more time.

Physician leadership is often defined by titles and achievements, yet long-term effectiveness depends on navigating identity, purpose, and resilience. This session offers an experience-based perspective across academic, rural, and community settings, highlighting under-discussed challenges: leading without authority, delivering results without recognition, and working within misaligned systems. Grounded in Certified Physician Executive (CPE) principles, the session introduces a practical framework: Ownership without Permission, Impact without Recognition, and Growth through Adversity. Each concept is supported by real-world examples of measurable clinical, operational, and financial outcomes. Participants will gain actionable strategies to strengthen self-awareness, navigate career inflection points, and align leadership roles with long-term purpose. This session provides a structured approach to sustaining performance and leading with intention in complex healthcare environments.

The Community of Practice sessions are organized around a common theme, question, or career goal. Learning focuses on the practical and is shared from both successful and unsuccessful experiences to create collective knowledge. Every participant has a role to play in sharing ideas and experience and creating collective knowledge. This is a safe space for participants to discover answers, solve problems and seek solutions together. • Communities of Practice are informal, organic and free-flowing. • A Community of Practice is known to be a high impact educational practice where a group of people, who share common learning goals, engage collaboratively to achieve them. • Participants become both teacher and learner. The moderator is not intended to provide answers, but to enable discussions amongst members. • We have created these sessions in recognition of the need for new skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world in healthcare.

This session presents a practical framework for developing physician leaders for progressively broader executive responsibility, including the Chief Medical Officer role. As physician leadership roles continue to expand in scope and complexity, organizations need intentional approaches to succession planning, leadership readiness, and long-term talent development. Participants will learn how to define leadership expectations across career stages, align development with key role transitions, and leverage structured learning, coaching, mentoring, executive exposure, and peer networking to strengthen the physician leadership pipeline. The session will offer adaptable strategies for assessing bench strength, identifying development gaps, and building a sustainable internal pathway for future physician executives.

I have spent the last several years building clinical programs and leading multidisciplinary teams through complex change new care pathways, quality. clinical initiatives, and operational redesign. Across settings and specialties, I see the same pattern: we are surrounded by data, yet our teams are starving for meaning. Healthcare today is saturated with metrics, RVUs, length of stay, readmissions, throughput, patient experience scores, safety events. These numbers drive compensation, public reporting, and executive dashboards, but too often they feel distant from the lived experience of clinicians and patients. From my experience, the core premise is simple: transformation happens when metrics are anchored in purpose. The speaking session proposed will be designed specifically for physician leaders who are accountable for results and responsible for people. Drawing on my experience leading teams in program development and project implementation, I will offer a practical framework for turning mandated metrics into aspirational, purpose-driven goals that teams want to pursue.

Today’s physician leaders are navigating teams that span four—and sometimes five—generations, each bringing distinct expectations around communication, feedback, work-life integration, and professional purpose. This interactive, case-based session moves beyond stereotypes to provide practical, evidence-informed strategies for leading across generational lines in clinical and administrative settings. Participants will work through realistic scenarios drawn from healthcare environments—such as managing conflict, driving engagement, and aligning teams around organizational goals—while exploring how generational perspectives shape behaviors and decision-making. Facilitated discussion and peer exchange will allow attendees to compare approaches, surface challenges, and leave with adaptable tools to lead more effectively across age-diverse teams.

What do you do when you’re asked to fix a system that isn’t working—before you fully understand why it’s broken? Physician leaders are often tasked with improving strained systems while balancing operational demands, workforce challenges, and rising patient volume under pressure to deliver results quickly. Yet leadership discussions often focus on outcomes rather than the decisions and trade-offs required to achieve them. This session presents a real-world case of rapid emergency department transformation within a large health system, focusing on leadership strategies rather than metrics alone. Participants will explore how to prioritize under pressure, build alignment across interdisciplinary teams, and sustain momentum despite resistance. Through case-based discussion and audience engagement, attendees will apply these concepts to their own settings and leave with a practical framework for leading change, managing competing priorities, and using data to influence decisions.

Despite comprising more than 55% of U.S. medical school matriculants, women hold fewer than 19% of key hospital leadership roles and just 14% of top positions in academic medicine. Female physician leaders are often the only woman when critical decisions are made. While their challenges overlap with those of male peers, they carry a distinct weight: navigating systemic bias, limited promotion pathways, and a persistent shortage of psychologically safe spaces to speak freely, spaces that frequently must exist outside their own organizations or be very carefully cultivated within them. Women physicians are nearly 47% more likely to experience burnout and less likely to feel valued at work. Yet research shows that intentional peer friendships are among the most powerful and most underutilized tools available to women leaders. Leadership development programs focused on building peer relationships have been shown to promote personal and professional growth and reduce burnout among female physicians. The panel will explore the value of friendships for female physician leaders: how to build them within and beyond organizations and create spaces where honest conversations can happen.

Most physician executives know AI is reshaping healthcare leadership. Very few have built anything with it. Not because they lack capability — but because no one has shown them exactly how, in a room where they can actually do it. That is what this workshop is. Participants will build a custom AI system tailored to their leadership context, using a five-step methodology to convert leadership judgment into institutional intelligence. The approach is platform-agnostic and requires no prior technical experience. The use cases are concrete: pressure-testing a strategic initiative, surfacing unsaid sentiment during a change effort, and stress-testing a position before a difficult conversation with medical staff. These are not hypothetical applications. They are what a well-built AI thought partner makes possible. The AI writes its own instructions. Participants direct the outcome. That is the core insight — and the skill that changes how physician executives lead. Participants leave with a custom AI system, a structured testing protocol & use protocol, a data governance framework, and an implementation plan.

The Level 2 Special Pathogen Unit (SPU) at University of Iowa Health Care was developed in 2015 when Ebola was transmitted to a healthcare worker in the United States. Since that time, the SPU has expanded to care for any highly infectious disease deemed to need specialized isolation and care. We maintain a core group of nurses, infection prevention personnel and physicians that can care for these adult, pediatric and neonatal patients at a moments notice. Maintaining a team for a unit that is rarely activated, but risks are high when caring for patients can be challenging. In October 2024, a patient was transferred to our facility and ultimately found to have the viral hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever. It is only the 9th case ever in the United States. The session would describe the unit and the challenges and success of keeping a highly skilled team ready for this type of patient. Also how a unit such of this is built into an existing intensive care unit and how a Level 2 unit fits into the overall National Special Pathogens system. I will also discuss the case, as well as care of an exposed pregnant patient and multi-team approach, as well as the public health response.

Healthcare systems continue to rely on compliance-driven frameworks that ensure regulatory adherence but fail to generate sustained workforce engagement and behavioral change. This session introduces an incentive-based behavioral architecture designed to transform how organizations influence performance, engagement, and culture. Grounded in behavioral economics, the model leverages continuous, multi-source feedback and additive reward systems to reinforce positive behaviors without punitive mechanisms. The framework integrates hierarchical, peer, and self-assessment inputs, aligning individual motivation with organizational goals while fostering long-term engagement. In healthcare settings, this approach redefines physician leadership from rule enforcement to behavioral system design, with implications for workforce well-being, patient outcomes, and organizational efficiency. The session also examines key legal and ethical considerations, including anti-discrimination, wage classification, data privacy, and algorithmic accountability. Attendees will gain practical insights into designing scalable, compliant incentive systems that drive measurable improvements in health.

Every physician knows that State Medical Boards oversee licensing and disciplinary actions. And every physician hopes to avoid getting a letter from them because being investigated is a lengthy, stressful, and costly process, even if it is ultimately dismissed. This session will help leaders understand the nuts and bolts of how medical boards operate, how they vary across different states, how physicians can avoid investigations, potential collateral impact of investigations (such loss of board certification), and what physicians should do if they are investigated to ensure the best outcomes. Leaders can use this information to educate their medical staff and implement programs such as Communication & Resolution Programs (CRP) or High Reliability to reduce poor outcomes and improve patient satisfaction even after an adverse event.

A facilitated discussion with a Moderator (TBD), along with myself (Bakerman), Dr Scheinbart, an experienced CEO and an AAPL leader. The discussion would center around competencies for success as a senior executive in a complex medical facility. What the physician's secret sauce that allows them to manage and be successful in those situations.

To optimize performance, physicians must align with organizational and payer objectives through the monetization of key quality indicators (KPIs). This program demonstrates how to 'automate' regulatory quality which is externally driven and how to create a strategic quality plan that focuses on the 'vital few' quality indicators through monetizing their value and determining which will have the greatest impact on both financial and clinical outcome-based performance.

Moderator: Saju Joy MD, MBA, MS, CPE, FAAPL

The forces reshaping healthcare: technological disruption, workforce transformation, shifting policy landscapes, and rising patient expectations demand a new kind of leader.

In this candid conversation, Dr. Peter WT Pisters, President of UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and one of healthcare's most recognized executive voices, joins a distinguished panel of senior leaders to explore what it will take to lead effectively in the decade ahead. From building resilient organizations to developing the next generation of physician executives, this session cuts through the noise to focus on what actually matters and what each of us must do differently to lead with both purpose and impact.

Join us for the Sunset Social, our closing event for the 2026 Annual Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. After a few busy days of sessions, workshops, and networking, this is your chance to slow down and enjoy an evening with colleagues before heading home. We'll have drinks and appetizers on an outdoor patio as we wrap up the conference together. It's a relaxed, casual event, a good last chance to catch up with people you met during the week and reflect on everything covered at this year's conference. Come dressed comfortably and ready to enjoy the evening. We're looking forward to closing out ALC 2026 with you.