Day Two - Thursday, June 18, 2026*Times and Content Subject to Change
*All times listed in CT
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Sunrise Yoga
Start your day with intention as the sun rises over the Austin skyline at our Sunrise Yoga session on the pool deck. This peaceful morning experience is designed for all skill levels and will guide you through gentle stretches, mindful breathing, and relaxing poses to help you feel energized, focused, and ready for the day ahead.
Space is limited, so reserve your spot early. We look forward to welcoming you to a relaxing and restorative sunrise experience! *This event is subject to cancellation if there are fewer than 20 registrants.
AAPL 2026 Conference - Sunrise Yoga
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Continental Breakfast and AAPL 2026 Pulse Survey Results (Pulse Survey Results will begin at 7:45 am)
Susan Boydell
Principal, Barlow McCarthy
Monica Aunan
Physician Relations Manager, University of Iowa Health Care
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Today's Healthcare Landscape and the Road Ahead
Willie Underwood III, MD, MSc, MPH
President-elect, American Medical Association
American Medical Association President Dr. Willie Underwood will examine the current state of healthcare and the forces shaping the future of medicine, including healthcare affordability, physician burnout, workforce challenges, digital innovation, and the evolving patient experience. He will highlight the AMA’s advocacy priorities, including Medicare and prior auth reform, strengthening physician well-being, and ensuring that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence support—not replace—the patient-physician relationship. Dr. Underwood will also discuss the critical role of physician leadership in driving meaningful change within a rapidly changing healthcare landscape.
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How to Use the U.N.I.Q.U.E Formula to Discover Your Personal Power
Dr. Christopher Fairbank, DBA
Communications Expert
Educator & Assistant Professor, Palo Alto College
This session helps participants discover and activate their personal power by understanding what makes them uniquely capable of growth and success. Through a practical six-step framework, learners will explore strategies to strengthen self-awareness, build resilience, and develop the confidence needed to pursue meaningful goals. Each step is designed to help participants apply the U.N.I.Q.U.E. formula in real life, increasing self-esteem and empowering intentional personal and professional development.
- Uncover your true self
- Never give up – positive change within
- Importance of self-discipline – individuality
- Question everything – knowledge brings power
- Undivided attention to your goals – you must set the goal to achieve the goal
- Everyone is unique – what has been learned from this
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Refreshment Break/Visit Our Sponsor Partners
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Focus Session #1
Boots on the Ground Essentials: 25 Things to Know About Your AAPL Membership
Michele Brock
Physician Liaison, UK Healthcare
This session will provide a practical, boots-on-the-ground overview of 25 essential benefits, tools, and opportunities available through membership in the American Association of Physician Liaisons (AAPL). Attendees will gain insight into how AAPL supports Physician Liaisons across business development, sales and marketing, and healthcare strategy. The session will highlight key member resources such as the online directory, job board, resource library, special interest groups, mentorship program, and targeted education. By the end of the presentation, participants will understand how to fully leverage their membership to expand their network, strengthen their expertise, share best practices, and drive measurable impact within their organizations.From Underdog to Contender: Building New Market Presence When Bigger Systems Dominate
Mike Becallo
Physician Liaison, Oswego Health
Entering a new market already dominated by larger health systems can feel daunting for any community hospital. This session presents a real-world “New Market Playbook” designed to help smaller organizations compete through data, strategy, and genuine local connection. Attendees will learn practical steps to assess opportunity, build trust with physicians, and create measurable growth in even the most competitive environments. Walk away with proven tactics and the confidence to make your mark where the big players already stand.
Where Do We Grow From Here?!
Cindy Ferst
Vice President Business Development, Emory Healthcare
What's next when you've been a liaison for years, and what else can you do! Leading teams means more than just supporting efforts and providing resources. Great leaders are able to help develop their team members to understand what they are looking for in their next role and how to get there.
Roundin’ Up Referrals: How to Work Smarter with Gatekeepers, Case Managers/Referral Coordinators, and Providers
Lacee Keller
Physician Liaison, Shriners Children’s Hospital
This presentation will cover the dynamic relationship between Physician Liaison and gate keeper, case manager/referral coordinator, and provider. Attendees will learn how to bring value that matters to each of the three referral persons. Learn techniques that stretch over a broad spectrum of liaison types while creating lasting relationships.
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Focus Session #2
Special Events: Building Engagement Through Recognition and Celebration
Chris Foard, MSN, RN
Physician Liaison, Bayhealth Medical Center
Cassandra Humphrey-Jenkins, MBA
Physician Liaison, Bayhealth Medical Center
This session will demonstrate the impact of well-planned, thematic recognition events that have been successfully held for the past ten years. It highlights the role of senior leadership in strengthening relationships with physicians through purposeful celebration. The presentation also showcases a two-member Physician Liaison team with 19 years of combined experience, emphasizing a culture of reward, trust, and enjoyment within the medical staff.
Service Line Growth Strategies: Innovative Ideas to Grow Key Specialties and Real Success Stories
Alice Hou
Market Outreach Executive Liaison, Stanford Medicine
Lynn Johnson
Market Outreach Executive Liaison, Stanford Medicine
Physician Liaisons are tasked with supporting service line growth but are frequently not provided with the specific tools or frameworks to achieve it. This session will equip you with proven strategies, outreach approaches, and practical techniques to meaningfully influence growth.
The Dreaded Stark Law: What Every Physician Liaison Should Know
Robert Allen Wade, Esq.
The Stark Law is complicated. Physician Liaisons do interact with physicians that implicate the Stark Law. Attendees will gain a working understanding of the Stark Law and what items physician liaisons provide to referring physicians implicate the Stark Law. The presentation will also discuss the best practice for tracking non-monetary compensation.
Don't Blame the Fax Machine: Modernizing Intake with AI and Smart Fax
Sponsored by Promptly
Shaun Priest
SVP, Growth, Promptly
Lana Castle
Director of Business Development, Promptly
This session explores the practical application of AI in referral processing, addressing friction caused by high volumes and messy handwritten referrals. Attendees will learn how AI-powered smart fax systems can "read" incoming paper referrals, and how to champion this technology to save staff time, reduce burnout, and create a frictionless experience for referring providers. The session equips liaisons with strategies to improve operational efficiency and enhance provider relationships.
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Focus Session #3 Community Provider Experience Survey: Measuring Referring Provider Satisfaction
Matthew Hughes
Director of Physician Relations, Children's Hospital Colorado
Referring provider feedback is essential to delivering coordinated care, strengthening professional relationships, improving patient outcomes, and supporting sustainable referral growth.
This session will examine how the Physician Relations team led the development and evolution of the annual Community Provider Experience Survey at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Participants will gain insight into the survey’s purpose, key focus areas, and question design, as well as the thoughtful approach used to align the survey with both provider needs and organizational priorities.
Attendees will also learn how the survey is deployed, strategies used to drive meaningful provider engagement, and ways the results are leveraged to inform strategy, operational improvements, and the development of new initiatives.
Resiliency and Reinvention: Redefining the Liaison Role to Maximize Strategic Value
Brian H. Potenski
Trauma & PennSTAR Prehospital Liaison/Coordinator, Penn Medicine Navy Partnership Liaison, Penn Medicine
This presentation explores how Physician Liaisons can evolve beyond traditional definitions to thrive in unconventional roles and deliver greater strategic value across departments. Through personal stories, practical insights, and real-world challenges, we’ll examine how liaisons can redefine their impact, build resilience, and take actionable steps to rethink their role in today’s dynamic healthcare landscape.
Building From the Ground Up: Crafting the Future of BD Work for Single Specialty Organizations
Bonnie Little-Hildebrandt
Director, Business Development, Wake Radiology
UNC Health Rex
Building or rebuilding a program is never easy. How do you blaze a trail without burning everything in its path? We will discuss building leadership trust and understanding, gain agreement on goals and resources and build a strategic framework for the path ahead.
Building Your Internal Sales Plan: Strengthening Referral Growth from the Inside Out
Susan Boydell
Principal, Barlow/McCarthy
Tricia Anderson
Senior Consultant, Barlow/McCarthy Physician Liaison teams excel at external outreach. Sustainable referral growth requires just as much intentional strategy inside the organization as it does in the field. This session will show you how to build and execute an internal sales plan that deepens credibility with key clinical and operational leaders, expands your clinical understanding, sharpens organizational alignment, and ensures your work is tied directly to system priorities. Participants will learn how to engage internal stakeholders to uncover insights about referral flow, patient pathways, and organizational priorities—gaining the knowledge needed to target high-opportunity areas and align field strategy with what truly drives growth.
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Focus Session #4
Solving Access Barriers in Specialty Clinics Through the Referring Physician Experience
Kayla Joy
Physician Relations Territory Manager, The University of Kansas Health System
Diana Stanley, RN, BSN
Physician Relations Territory Manager, The University of Kansas Health System
Specialty clinics often have access barriers such as limited availability, inconsistent scheduling processes, unclear referral criteria, shifting physician templates, and communication gaps which are among the top reasons referring physicians express frustration and seek alternative referral options. When access becomes unpredictable, primary care teams can lose confidence, patients experience delays, and competing specialists become more attractive options.
This session uses detailed case studies to show exactly how access obstacles develop inside specialty clinics, and how those challenges ripple outward to shape the referring physician’s experience. Participants will learn how to manage access barriers proactively, partner effectively with specialty leaders, and create collaborative solutions that restore referring provider confidence and strengthen long-term referral relationships.
From Activity to Impact: A Data-Driven ROI Framework for Physician Liaison Programs
Sponsored by Marketware
Ally Frank, MBA
Client Success Executive, Marketware
Physician Liaisons are busier than ever – but in a landscape of competing priorities, shrinking budgets and bandwidth, the real question isn’t whether your uteam is doing the activities, it’s whether they’re doing the right activities with the right providers. This session introduces a practical, five-pillar ROI framework that helps liaison teams move beyond activity tracking and connect their outreach efforts to measurable business outcomes. Whether you’re just starting to build your reporting strategy or looking to elevate how you communicate value to leadership, you’ll leave with a clear structure for evaluating performance, setting meaningful benchmarks, and proving the strategic impact of your PRM investment – regardless of which platform you use.
Positioning for Change
Trent Hickes
Director of Physician Relations, UCHealth
In this dynamic session, “Positioning for Change,” Trent Hickes explores how healthcare teams can move beyond activity and redefine their value through measurable impact, strategic alignment, and proactive engagement.
From navigating market disruption to building trust before it’s needed, this presentation challenges leaders to rethink how they show up—and how they’re perceived—during times of transformation.
Because in times of change, value isn’t created…it’s revealed. Everyday Efficiency: AI Tools and Canva in Action
Sara-Elizabeth Bush
Physician Liaison, UK HealthCare
Discover how artificial intelligence programs and Canva can help you work smarter, save time, and enhance your outreach efforts. This interactive session explores practical ways to use AI and Canva to streamline daily tasks, improve communication, and create professional-quality content. Learn how AI tools can assist with drafting emails, planning outreach, developing strategies, and building presentations. Discover how Canva can assist in transforming ideas into polished graphics, flyers, social media posts, and marketing materials.
Through real-world examples and demonstrations, attendees will gain actionable strategies to increase productivity, improve efficiency, and create engaging content for their organizations. Attendees are encouraged to bring examples of AI generated content and/or Canva projects to share with the group and spark discussion.
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Refreshment Break/Visit Our Sponsor Partners
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Focus Session #5
Boots on the Ground: Liaison Programs in Action
Michele Brock
Physician Liaison, UK HealthCare
This interactive breakout session brings Physician Liaison programs to life through a dynamic, fast-paced tabletop showcase. Physician Liaison programs will display 8 x 11 “posters” featuring their boots-on-the-ground model (staffing structure, team composition, and program design) on one side, and up to three innovative ideas or key program wins on the other. Tables will be organized by organizational type allowing attendees to connect with peers facing similar opportunities and challenges. Participants will rotate through tables every five minutes, speed-networking style, creating a lively atmosphere designed to spark conversation, share practical strategies, and exchange real-world insights. This session is built for idea sharing, peer learning, and meaningful networking, giving attendees actionable takeaways they can bring back and implement within their own liaison programs.
Internal Barriers are Killing Referrals: Learn to Fix Them Even Without Authority
Kelly Montgomery
Provider Relations Project Director, Community Health Systems
Often, referring providers are not moving their business because the competitor down the road is better. Instead, there are likely internal barriers frustrating patients and staff. Attendees will leave this discussion with a better understanding of how to identify these barriers, how to gather evidence, and how to use their influence in a way that drives action to create solutions.
Stronger Together: Developing Teams for Market Impact
Rebecca Rajnoch
Regional Liaison Manager, Texas Oncology Hilary Ross
Marketing Manager, Central/South Texas and San Antonio , Texas OncologyThis presentation explores how marketing and liaison teams can work in harmony to drive meaningful growth and strengthen internal and referral relationships. We will highlight the critical value of alignment between these functions, demonstrating why collaboration is essential for market impact. Attendees will gain insight into proven best practices, including strategies, tools, and workflows that enhance communication and joint planning. Additionally, we will outline initiatives designed to foster team development and engagement—building trust, improving cross-functional skills, and creating a culture of collaboration that empowers both teams to succeed together.
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Focus Session #6
The Liaison Formula: Why Authenticity Beats a Sales Pitch Every Time
Stephanie Biblewski, MBA
Market Manager, Business Development, Cook Children's Health Care System
Sadie Crouch, MA, BSN, RN
Physician Liaison, Cook Children's Health Care System
If you've ever tried to define the PL role, you've realized how ambiguous it can feel. But, that might actually be a gift! There's margin for how you do your job. Sure, you have to know your territory, and you have to know your product. Beyond that? There's room to spice it up. And we think that's the key to loving your job.
Junk the Junk Mail: Going Digital and Getting Strategic with Your Collateral
Sean Bradley
Provider Outreach Consultant - Heart & Vascular, Emory Healthcare
Andy Cessac
Senior Marketing Manager, Emory Healthcare
This session explores transitioning from printed mailers to digital campaigns. Presenters will share their journey and illustrate how a close partnership between outreach and marketing teams can create a seamless process for timely, effective messaging to referral providers. Attendees will gain actionable strategies for collaboration, targeting, and measuring campaign success.
Build a Strategic Sales Plan Focused on Referral Growth
Rachel Driskell, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, United Musculoskeletal Partners
This presentation will guide you through how to effectively use your CRM by integrating institutional data with third-party sources to create a strategic sales plan focused on referral growth. You’ll learn how to track referral patterns in real time, identify early signs of decline, and implement proactive recovery strategies before referrals are significantly impacted.
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Optional Networking Events
Grab your friends and experience Austin’s famous bats!
Make plans to catch one of the city’s most unforgettable sights at the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. As the sun sets, watch in awe as thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats take to the sky, creating a breathtaking display as they sweep out over Lady Bird Lake.
Peak viewing is around sunset, when the trickle of bats turns into a dramatic wave that can last up to 45 minutes. Since timing can vary (typically between 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.), check daily flight predictions and weather updates at Austin Bat Refuge before you go. Some evenings are more active than others!
The bridge is just a quick 10–15 minute walk from Hotel Van Zandt, making it an easy and fun outing. Want an even more memorable view? Head out on the water with Lone Star Riverboat or Capital Cruises for a front-row seat on the lake.
Arrive early, bring your crew, and get ready for a one-of-a-kind Austin experience!
Grab your friends and experience a truly one-of-a-kind Austin Honky Tonk at The White Horse!
Register
Get ready for an unforgettable Austin night out at The White Horse, one of the city’s most iconic honky tonks with live music, dancing, great food, and authentic Texas fun.
The evening kicks off with a one-hour Texas Two-Step dance lesson followed by two live bands.
Your event registration fee includes:
- $10 Voucher for the Bomb Tacos Food Truck.
- Two drinks of your choice.
- One-hour Texas Two-Step dance lesson. Lesson begins promptly at 7:00 PM.
Hungry? The famous Bomb Taco Truck will be on-site, serving authentic Mexican tacos and other fun late-night bites available for individual purchase until 1:30 AM. Guests may return to the hotel at their convenience via Uber or another rideshare service. Grab your boots and join us for a high-energy evening you won’t want to miss!
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