Full Agenda Set for Empowering Physicians Conference on September 21

June 28, 2023

The full agenda has now been set for the Empowering Physicians Conference on September 21 at The Marquette Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  

At 1 pm, Minnesota Health Commissioner Brooke Cunningham, MD, PhD, will kick off the event, which is themed: "Inspiring Minnesota’s Physicians to Engage, Lead and Succeed.” She will focus on how the state is partnering with Minnesota physicians to make Minnesotans the healthiest in the nation.  

Then at 2:30 pm, a three-person panel will discuss collective bargaining, role/changes in private equity and independent/physician-owned practices. Moderated by former MMA President Cindy Firkins Smith, MD, the panel will include Julia Reiland, JD; Rebecca Kolins Givan, PhD, and Michael Cumming, MD, MBA, FRCPC. 

Reiland, a partner at Lathrop GPM in Minneapolis, advises healthcare organizations on complex business transactions and strategic partnerships, informed by her significant experience in joint ventures, affiliations, antitrust, governance, and contracting matters. She also counsels providers on state and federal regulatory compliance, including licensure, reimbursement, enrollment, HIPAA and state privacy, and participation issues. 

Givan is an associate professor of labor studies and employment relations in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutger University in New Jersey. She has published widely on employment relations in healthcare, comparative welfare states and labor studies in journals such as Social Forces, ILR Review, and British Journal of Industrial Relations. Her recent book The Challenge to Change: Reforming Health Care on the Front Line in the United States and the United Kingdom was published in 2016 by Cornell University Press. 

Cumming is a board-certified radiologist with a certificate of added qualification in vascular and interventional radiology. In 2020, he co-founded Edina-based Vascular and Interventional Experts (VIE) in partnership with the Infinite Health Collaborative. VIE is the first comprehensive outpatient vascular center in the Upper Midwest with a state-of-the-art Interventional Suite and CT scanner. 

At 4 pm, Martin Stillman, MD, JD, will lead a workshop on conflict resolution. Stillman has expertise in mediating conflict within healthcare and understanding and minimizing physician burnout. He is a practicing internist at Hennepin County Medical Center, where he also serves as the mediation and conflict resolution officer, an assistant director of the Institute of Professional Worklife, and assistant chief for department and faculty affairs within the department of medicine. He is also an associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School and teaches about medical error, medical malpractice, disclosure of unexpected patient outcomes, and the risk management aspects of physician-patient relations and communication. 

From 5:15 to 6 pm, attendees will gather for a networking reception with a cash bar and hors d'ouevres. 

Best-selling author Abraham Verghese, MD, MACP, will conclude the conference with a talk on refocusing the physician-patient relationship. 

The conference will also include exhibit space where attendees can purchase Verghese’s newest novel, The Covenant of Water, as well as meet with a variety of vendors.  

To register, visit www.mnmed.org/ac23.  

The premier sponsor of the conference is COPIC, the MMA’s preferred medical liability insurance provider.