Newswise — ALEXANDRIA, VA-The American Medical Group Association is convening more than 2,000 participants, representing the nation’s leading healthcare provider organizations, at its 2014 Annual Conference, April 3-5 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas (Dallas/Ft. Worth area). The conference will be attended by the C-Suite―including CEO, CAOs, CIOs, medical directors, physician board members, etc.―from large multispecialty medical groups, IPAs, integrated healthcare delivery systems, academic faculty practices, accountable care organizations (ACOs), and high-performing health systems. AMGA has designed this conference to broaden leaders’ strategic thinking and prepare them to meet the challenges of the new age of healthcare reform and the role they will play in leading the transformation of care delivery in this country. The program includes a special lineup of keynote speakers, who will motivate and inspire attendees to achieve powerful leadership and transform their organization for future success.

“Each year this conference keeps getting bigger. It is a testament to the fact that this is the only national conference dedicated to the issues faced by the leaders of multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care,” said Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., CAE, AMGA’s president and chief executive officer. “The strength of the program and the brilliant faculty from our member groups presenting in our peer-to-peer breakout sessions attract the best and brightest in health care. AMGA is honored to be the host and facilitator of this event, and we will continue to provide strong educational programming and benefits and services to help our members become successful organizations, delivering the highest quality care to their patients.”

A special lineup of keynote speakers this year will be featured this year. To kick off the meeting, Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and How the Mighty Fall will provide concrete steps to help organizations maintain their focus and avoid failure during times of expansion, mergers, and continued collaborations among stakeholders. Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, will speak to participants about the importance of inspiring employees in your quest to change and grow their organization. The conference will close with Dr. Ben Carson, former pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins, cancer survivor, and one of the most vocal political opinion-leaders on the future of the healthcare industry, who will share his life experiences and thoughts on the future of health care.

In addition to these dynamic keynote speakers, the conference will offer 40 peer-to-peer breakout sessions in which leaders from the nation’s top healthcare organizations share their insights and tactics for confronting the challenges they face in today’s volatile healthcare environment. The rich content of these sessions will provide every member of the leadership team with tangible strategies and tools to bring back and use in daily operations. Organizations presenting in different tracks related to healthcare leadership include:

Leadership and Governance: Board members, department heads, and other thought leaders will discuss and learn about changing cultures, leadership development, and strategic planning. Presenting groups include: Alegent Creighton Health, Cleveland Clinic, Crystal Run Healthcare, Dartmouth Hitchcock, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, HealthCare Partners Medical Group, PriMed Physicians, Scott & White Healthcare UMass Memorial Health Care, and The Vancouver Clinic.

Information Technology: IT/MIS, medical informatics, data warehouse research, and clinical research staff hear from progressive groups on issues such as EMR development and implementation, using IT for disease management, and emerging technological solutions to operational problems. Presenting groups include: Cornerstone Health Care, Intermountain Medical Group, Ochsner Health System, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Care Process Improvement: This track is dedicated to sharing innovations developed to improve health outcomes, lower the cost of care, and increase patient and provider satisfaction. Healthcare leaders and directors involved with quality management should attend these sessions, hear the solutions presented, and build upon these innovations by continuing the quality improvement cycle back at their organizations. Presenting groups include: Allina Health, Aurora Health Care, Baylor Health Care System/HealthTexas Provider Network, Colorado Springs Health Partners, Crystal Run Healthcare, Gould Medical Group, Kaiser Permanente, Mount Kisco Medical Group, New West Physicians, Park Nicollet HealthPartners Care Group, Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, Sutter Medical Group, and University of Utah Health Care.

Practice Management: This track offers practical, results-oriented solutions regarding how to assess and combat the complex problems healthcare leaders and administrators face in managing their practices. These include issues relating to patient satisfaction, office operations, recruitment and retention, finance, insurance relations, and organization redesigns. Presenting groups include: Advocate Medical Group, Baylor Health Care System/HealthTexas Provider Network, Cleveland Clinic, Columbus Regional Healthcare System/Columbus Clinic, HealthPartners, IHA, Mercy Clinic, Mercy Medical Group, NorthShore-LIJ Health System, Scott & White Healthcare, and Vanderbilt University Medical Group.

Further, ample time will be dedicated to networking at the AMGA 2014 Annual Conference so that attendees can interact with peers in the medical group community, as well as top leaders from other organized systems of care. The exhibit hall will host leading healthcare vendors and supporters whose products and services will be crucial to healthcare delivery organizations’ future success. Pre-conference activities include extended networking and idea exchanges at the information-packed Leadership Council meetings. In addition to the leadership of medical groups, a host of healthcare vendors and supporters, whose products and services will be crucial to healthcare delivery organizations’ future success, provided educational grants to support the conference. For a full list of contributors, visit www.amga.org.

This meeting is complimentary to reporters from legitimate press organizations. Interested members of the press should contact Beth Sutter at (703) 838-0033, ext. 322 or [email protected].

About American Medical Group AssociationThe American Medical Group Association (AMGA) represents medical groups and organized systems of care, including some of the nation’s largest, most prestigious integrated health care delivery systems. More than 150,000 physicians practice in AMGA member organizations, providing health care services for 120 million patients (nearly one in three Americans). Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, AMGA is the strategic partner for these organizations, providing a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy, educational and networking programs, publications, benchmarking data services and financial and operations assistance. For more information, visit www.amga.org or call (703) 838-0033.

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