MGMA honors 2026 award winners as acting chief outlines changes members asked for

Members of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) have asked the association to improve local engagement, education and the digital experience. Akash Madiah, MBA, MGMA's acting chief executive officer, said so Sunday as he opened the association's 2026 Annual Conference in San Antonio.

"We've heard that feedback, and the work is already underway," Madiah told practice leaders in the Stars at Night Ballroom at the Henry B. González Convention Center.

He pointed to a state task force MGMA launched this year. "Our new website is coming, and we're exploring innovative ways to deliver education," he said.

Members also told MGMA it is one of the most trusted resources in their professional lives, Madiah said. "When something goes wrong in your practice, we want MGMA to be the first resource that comes to mind, not the third call after you've already struck out twice — the first."

The conference continues through Wednesday. Madiah said it is MGMA's centennial meeting and its largest since the pandemic. The association dates its founding to a 1926 gathering at the Madison Club in Madison, Wisconsin, where 32 clinic managers from 21 medical groups set an agenda that ran from accounting and collections to staffing problems, patient flow, office operations and comparative statistics.

MGMA says its community has grown to more than 60,000 practice administrators, executives and leaders working across more than 15,000 medical groups.

Madiah came to MGMA in 2018 as chief financial officer from DaVita Medical Group and picked up the chief operating officer title in 2024. He has led the association on an acting basis since January.

He said he first found MGMA as a user of its data while working in practice operations. "I've sat in your seat," Madiah said. The lesson he took from that seat, he said, is that practice leaders' "best work happens behind the scenes."

A patient's view of the front office

Sasha Andreev, an actor and television host who hosted the session, began losing his voice two years ago. He said he has made so many medical visits since then that "the receptionists know my name."

Every round of care came with scheduling appointments, dealing with his chart, waiting for someone to answer the phone and sorting out insurance, he said. He has had good experiences and bad ones. For a patient whose livelihood is on the line, he said, the difference between a practice that runs smoothly and one that does not is plain.

He called the administrators and executives in the room "the chaos coordinators, the ringmasters, the magicians who keep these practices running."

Who won MGMA's 2026 awards?

The first half of the session closed with MGMA's 2026 award recipients, each of whom appeared in a recorded video on the ballroom screens.

Tracy Bird, FACMPE, CPC, CPMA, CEMC, CPC-I, president and owner of Medical Practice Advisors in Spring Hill, Kansas, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, which the ceremony called the pinnacle of MGMA's recognition. Andreev noted that Bird has been doing the work for 50 years.

"This is the most humbling thing that has ever happened to me," Bird said. Of past winners, she said, "I see such notable things they've done, and I am shocked that I've been considered in that company."

Adam Pople, MBA, M.A., FACHE, FACMPE, of Saint Francis Healthcare System in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, was named MGMA Legislative Liaison of the Year. The award goes to a practice professional who educates and motivates MGMA members on legislative and regulatory issues through grassroots advocacy. Pople said the recognition brings "a lot of the work that goes on behind the scenes" to the forefront.

"Too often, we let legislation happen to us," he said. "Instead, we have to get out there and be a part of the process. We have to share our knowledge and our expertise of what happens behind our practice walls, so that we are a part of the decision, and we help those policymakers understand what really matters to us."

Brigid E. Jones, MBA, RN-NIC, FACMPE, an operational strategy consultant with JBE Consultants in Denver, was named American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE) Forum Representative of the Year.

The award recognizes a state ACMPE Forum representative who has led the education and motivation of MGMA members through ACMPE's offerings. Jones credited the team behind the work. "It started out as an educational opportunity, and it's really grown into more of that community piece," she said.

MGMA said the conference will also honor the 54 members of its 2026 ACMPE Fellow class.

MGMA gives the Future Four award to professionals whose leadership and results are shaping where their organizations and the health care management field are headed.

This year's recipients are Sonya Biswas, PPMC, practice manager at Specialized Dental Partners in Charlotte, North Carolina; Sara Brice, director of physician services at HCA Physician Services in McKinney, Texas; Jackie Hansen, practice manager at HCA Physician Services in Wichita, Kansas; and April Marsh, RN, staff development coordinator at Desert Cove Nursing Center in Gilbert, Arizona.

In the honorees' video, one said she started her career behind the front desk. "It's just a fast-paced world, and we have to be ready for every single thing," she said.

"I am really optimistic that we are going to really start taking a proactive approach versus reactive, and I think care management is going to play just such a crucial role in that," another said.

Physicians Practice is in San Antonio at the MGMA Annual Conference, Sept 27-30, celebrating 100 years of MGMA, attending sessions and speaking with industry leaders. Follow our coverage on our MGMA conference page.