Bridging Clinical and Administrative Leadership with Idalis McPhail, MGMA Future Five Award Winner
Download MP3Well, hi, everyone. I'm Daniel Williams, senior editor at MGMA, host of the MGMA Podcast Network. We are back as we've been doing all month. We are looking at and recognizing our MGMA award winners. Today we have another of our twenty twenty five Future Five award winners.
Daniel Williams:Our guest today is Idalis McPhail. Idalis is a practice administrator at Fairfax Pediatric Associates. She's also worked to bridge the clinical and administrative sides of her practice, leading to initiatives in safety, technology, revenue cycle, and culture. And we are so excited to welcome Adalis to the show today. Adalis, welcome.
Idalis McPhail:Thank you so much, Daniel.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. You and I had wow. Did we have some technology issues getting set up today?
Idalis McPhail:That's perfect.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. You told me you had a theater background. And so you're used to the show must go on. Right?
Idalis McPhail:The show must go on. Exactly.
Daniel Williams:So I certainly had a first question for you. Your your name is so unique. I was so interested in it. I love, kind of the etymology of words and names. Where did Adalis come from?
Idalis McPhail:Yeah. Everyone, they they always ask. They're like, where where is this from? I am the daughter of teenage parents that watched a lot of MTV. And so Idalis was a video announcer, I guess, on MTV, and my mom was like, that's the one.
Idalis McPhail:So there it is.
Daniel Williams:That is so cool. I will tell you. Not that you asked or anybody else, but, my particular name, I have three older siblings. My dad, he might have, I don't know. He might have stretched the truth a little bit, but he say it sounds kinda like the lion king, but he said he held me up in the in the maternity ward and everything and said, we will name you Daniel because you have been born into a lion's den because I had these three older siblings, and I think he might have just seen the lion king or something.
Daniel Williams:But although this pre I'm I'd certainly predate the lion king, but, I think his storytelling, it was once the lion king had come out. So, you know, anybody listening, if y'all have interesting name origins, send those in to me. I'd love to hear them so we can go in that direction. So let's talk about future five. So let's think about this.
Daniel Williams:You, are one of our five recipients, of course, and we're so excited to have you as one of those recipients. Where were you when you found out? What was that like? Did you even know you had been nominated? Tell us about, learning about your, honor.
Idalis McPhail:Definitely. I was so surprised. It was a Monday in clinic. And you know, Mondays at any point in time are just rough getting started. You get your coffee.
Idalis McPhail:And I was kind of going through the emails that had come over through the weekend. And, you know, I was going through the emails and I stopped a little bit and I had a phone call, but I was going into another meeting. And so all these things were happening and I was reading the transcription of a voicemail that came in from my phone. And it was someone saying, Please call me back. You won this award for MGMA.
Idalis McPhail:And I just, I was in the middle of the hallway, in the middle of a conversation, and I just stopped and I said, I won an award. And so it was very, very surprising to me. I was so excited. I shared the news with my colleagues, my medical directors, and I was just so thrilled because I am very new to practice administration. And so MGMA has been a resource for me to learn about medical group management.
Idalis McPhail:And so I just started a mentorship through MGMA. I just started really diving into the resources. And so to be honored from this organization that I just kind of became a part of and started learning more about, it's been amazing.
Daniel Williams:Yeah, that is so cool. And I appreciate your resilience and your patience as we were trying to get set up. We actually, everybody, we jumped into a different platform. We're recording this in Zoom, but we were recording it in another platform and things just weren't working for us. That's just what we do.
Daniel Williams:That sounds like healthcare, right? It doesn't work here, and we're going to make an adjustment. We pivot. Pivot. We make executive decisions in real time to get things to work.
Daniel Williams:So you and I did as we were trying to get set up and get things going, we had time to think about this. And so you were able to share some of your background with me, as you just mentioned. You're more recent on the administrative side. You have been in healthcare for a little while. So share with us that healthcare journey, anything you might want to share about what has led you up to where you are today?
Idalis McPhail:Absolutely. So I actually started as a certified nursing assistant in the hospital. I then graduated with my bachelor's in nursing. So I became a registered nurse on the inpatient side. And I really saw how my leaders, my managers, their motivation and their leadership was impacting staff morale.
Idalis McPhail:It was impacting patient outcomes. And I just kind of felt I want to be a part of that. Like, I want to have that bigger impact. And so I transitioned into nurse management and finished up my master's in nursing as well as my master's in business administration. And very, very quickly after graduation transitioned at the beginning of this year in 2025 to practice administration.
Idalis McPhail:So I've kind of, I've been in it, I've been from the nurse assistant side to the administration side. So I've learned a lot about the different aspects of healthcare for sure.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. And what can you tell us about, Fairfax Pediatric Associates? Anything about the size, scope, anything of where y'all's focus is as a practice you might want to share?
Idalis McPhail:Definitely. So Fairfax Pediatric Associates, we've been in business for almost sixty years now. We have three locations in Northern Virginia taking care of the pediatric population. So newborn patients all the way to 18, 19 year olds. And we're primary care, but we also handle a lot of ADHD, mental health, different specialties like that within our practice as well.
Idalis McPhail:We have about 80 employees and we're part of a larger conglomerate called Trusted Doctors in the DMV. And everything is pediatrics. So there's lots of color and bubbles and stickers to go around.
Daniel Williams:Now you said DMV, and so just to clarify, acronyms always catch me. Which DMV is this? Because I think of the Department of Motor Vehicle. And so Like, the the
Idalis McPhail:Delaware, Maryland, Virginia. That's what very close to DC.
Daniel Williams:Says I thought that's what you were referring to. And, you know, that's when I always hear these, acronyms. I'm going, wait a minute. Are are you also moonlighting with the Department of Motor Vehicles?
Idalis McPhail:Manage. Break your forms, everybody.
Daniel Williams:Well, that is wonderful. So let's focus in then on where your energy is taking you right now at the practice. I always laugh when I ask this question, what's a typical day like? But what is a day in the life of a Dallas in your practice? What does a day look like for you?
Idalis McPhail:Yeah, I would say a typical day does not look like yesterday for sure. So every day is different. There's always something new that pops up, maybe a fire that needs to be put out or a patient that maybe a parent needs to be de escalated. But really what I've learned as a practice administrator is that the scope goes throughout all the different departments. So maybe one day the focus is our billing department and really making sure that those workflows and those questions are answered and people feel supported there.
Idalis McPhail:But maybe the next day it's something on the clinical side, Maybe there's some training that needs to happen or some, you know, there's a new, you know, new, so vaccines right now are huge in kind of that realm. So just being able to clearly communicate to the team, make sure that everyone's on the same page. And lots of meetings, I've learned as a practice administrator. So making sure that I'm spending my time in an appropriate manner between all those meetings.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. Now you brought up something really interesting that you do have that clinical background. Now you're on the administrative side. How have you leaned into that experience that you previously had where you can bridge that gap? Sometimes, and we've done studies where we've seen that the administrative side at a practice and the clinical side sometimes are speaking a different language.
Daniel Williams:They might even say, Oh yeah, things are going great in X, Y, Z. And then you interview the other side and they go, No, they're going actually terribly. And so how do we speak that same language? How do we connect? So what have you done with your experience to help bridge those gaps?
Idalis McPhail:I was really thankful to start at FPA as the nursing manager. So I was able to get a lot of that experience on the clinical side, learning about the ins and outs of what the clinical staff, the providers, what they needed in terms of support to take care of patients. And when I transitioned to the administrative side, I was able to really kind of have that balcony view. And I saw that what FPA kind of needed, because we have three different locations and because we have a lot of different departments, there really needed to be that unification between everybody where you're saying, we need to speak the same language. We need to be on the same page.
Idalis McPhail:And so really we needed that centralized mission. And that's going to be, it's the patient always, right? So it's patient first, it's patient experience. I had to remind everybody that the patient experience is not just the check-in process or the vital signs with the nurse or medical assistant or the provider visit. The patient experience goes across the whole spectrum from insurance verification all the way through the visit and then even follow-up after the visit.
Idalis McPhail:So we needed to make sure that our departments were all centered on the same mission. And once we kind of opened up that communication and said, Hey, we're all on the same team here, we're all on the same page, it really helped to kind of unify and build this environment where, you know, we're collaborating now. It's not us versus them. It's we're all on the same team.
Daniel Williams:Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you for sharing that. You also, in reading your nomination, you led a major initiative to review and standardize infection control and safety practices. Talk about what that was about and what some of the results were from developing that initiative.
Idalis McPhail:Definitely. That was exciting. I definitely learned in that process to kind of change up my approach to things. Usually I'm the first to raise my hand. I'm the first to give my best ideas as soon as someone asks a question.
Idalis McPhail:And I learned that when I'm going into a clinic or an organization that's been here for over sixty, almost sixty years, I really needed to observe what was currently happening. And so I kind of approached that with an open mind and a closed mouth. So I went in, was really trying to observe the workflows, hand hygiene, different, you know, safety needle protocols, different things like that. And I just went around, I observed, I asked questions. I really wanted to know, how did we get to this process?
Idalis McPhail:What were the obstacles that this team tried to overcome? And how did this process come out of those overcoming those obstacles? And so in that, I learned kind of how we got here. And then after I identified the need for a change in some of these workflows and processes, we talked before we even rolled out any changes in expectation, we did a lot of staff education. We talked about the why.
Idalis McPhail:Why is it even important that Idalis walked around and watched me wash my hands? Why is that important? How does that affect the patient? And so after we did, you know, PowerPoints and, you know, different just open talks and meetings about why it's so important. We then rolled out those expectations so that way staff had more of a buy in and more of an understanding of, okay, this isn't something crazy that Dallas just made up.
Idalis McPhail:There's a reason behind it. There's statistics. It's an evidence based workflow approach. So that has been great. We've seen less employee callouts during flu and sick season.
Idalis McPhail:We've seen less cross contamination between patient rooms. And so just doing that has definitely impacted not only the employees, but also the patients as well.
Daniel Williams:That is so interesting. I'm just imagining you following someone and then watching them wash their hands and y'all reciting the ABCs twice through and wait a minute.
Idalis McPhail:Very seriously.
Daniel Williams:The thumbs there. I remember watching all these videos during the pandemic on was I washing my hands wrong all these years? You know?
Idalis McPhail:It's something that we do every day that, it's very easy to kind of overlook the importance. But going through nursing school and different trainings, I just wanted to make sure that everyone had that same understanding of the importance. And then once we rolled out those expectations, it wasn't a one and done kind of like, all right, hope you guys wash your hands. It was more so we do monthly kind of I'd almost do like a secret shopper situation. So I pick one of the staff members and I just say, hey, observe the people around you.
Idalis McPhail:Are they washing their hands? Are they using hand sanitizer appropriately? And so we can kind of continue the conversation from there.
Daniel Williams:That is so cool. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. That's so interesting. So when I'm looking at your nomination and I'm looking at, all the different areas that you're touching in the practice, are you a practice administrator that is wearing basically all the hats, or are where where is your focus?
Daniel Williams:Tell us about that because I've got, you know, that kind of safety control stuff, the technology, the initiatives, the financial side, strategic planning, helping people park their cars. No. I don't know about that one. But exactly. You're outside guiding people in.
Daniel Williams:No. I mean, seriously, are you wearing all the hats there? Where would where would you say you land in the practice?
Idalis McPhail:We have an awesome team. We have a lot of different managers and supervisors that are over these departments. And so we work really closely together, having a lot of one on ones, making sure that we're all on the same page. But I do wear a lot of hats and I also, since January, wanted to kind of see and learn as much as possible. And so I kind of got myself excited and learned a lot about the different departments and got excited about all of the things that could be optimized and, you know, more safe, more secure.
Idalis McPhail:And so I do wear a lot of hats, but I also have an amazing team that in this transition from nurse manager to practice administrator, I have a lot of trust and support from the team already because I've been within the organization for, this will be my second year with Fairfax Pediatric Associates. So I've been able to have these relationships with people and they know that when a workflow needs to be rolled out or when we need to have a conversation about safety and things like that, it's coming from a place of, I want you to have a better work day. I want the patient to have a better experience. And so I feel like I gained a lot of trust in that. But there is something new to learn every single day.
Idalis McPhail:So it's been great.
Daniel Williams:Well, it's so interesting that you did make that transition from clinical to administrative. For our listeners who are practice leaders, maybe they have somebody that is coming onto their team, they're going to be onboarding or is new to their team who came from that clinical side, making that transition. What were the biggest maybe friction points or challenges for you to go from one side to the other? And then maybe what would be the best way for a practice leader communicate to someone, maybe something you wish you had learned or you did have a mentor who brought you along in the right way?
Idalis McPhail:I definitely had a lot of mentors. Am a person. I'm not afraid to admit when I don't know something, and I'm not going to pretend that I am an expert in it. So I really leaned on the people who have been within this practice for a really long time. I leaned on their wisdom and I asked questions.
Idalis McPhail:I wasn't afraid to ask the people that I now supervise, Hey, can you teach me a little bit about what you do here, what your role is? How can that help fit the pieces together in my mind? Because coming from the nursing side, we don't talk about, I mean, as a nurse, we don't talk about finances or the business aspect or, you know, how long does the patient need, you know, timings and efficiency. I'm there to take care of the patient as the nurse. And so moving over to that administrative side, it's really learning about how the financial and the business side of things impacts the patient directly.
Idalis McPhail:Because coming from a clinical background, that's my main focus. We are people taking care of people. And so if you tie those things together and you make that connection that the things that you are doing, you know, making sure that we have insurance verification, making sure that we're putting claims to the right payers, that is directly impacting the patient, I think it really helps to motivate people coming from a clinical background because they're able to see that bigger picture.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. That's so interesting that you knitted those two together because when you are on that clinical side, you can directly see the impact that you're making that perhaps some people on the administrative side don't always see. They might hear about it or learn about it more indirectly. So when you think about it that way, what? Because you can get more of that immediate gratification of really working with a patient and seeing that you're helping them in real time.
Daniel Williams:So when you're now on the administrative side, what fires you up that way? Where's that gratification that you really did something right, you made a difference? What have you gravitated to there on the administrative side?
Idalis McPhail:Yeah, such a timely question because I have been thinking about that a lot. I was just talking to a colleague about, you know, when I was a nurse, was, man, I was resuscitating people. I was in it, you know, I gave them medication and I could tell the next day that it helped them. And so on the administrative side, it's less of that instant gratification. But what I've learned is that I have a larger now impact, not just on that one on one relationship with a patient, I'm actually able to impact every patient that walks through our doors.
Idalis McPhail:And it's not necessarily just to the patient, but I get to take care of the 80 people that work here as well. So I kind of had to transition my perspective to now it's not necessarily Idalis taking care of patients. It's Idalis taking care of the people, taking care of patients. And so I really had to kind of make that switch in my head where we spend a lot of time at work. We spend a great deal of time at work.
Idalis McPhail:And so when people come and they work here at Fairfax Pediatric Associates, I want to make sure that they feel supported, that they have the information that they need to take care of patients. They feel secure in their job, which means I got to keep the lights on and I've got to make sure that the money comes in. So it's really me taking care of those aspects of the employees that work here, which felt like I had a larger impact for sure.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. That is so cool. Last couple of questions in. First one up, what are you excited about, about the future of healthcare? You've moved from the clinical side to the administrative side.
Daniel Williams:You've really gotten a broader view of all the aspects where people can be impacted through care that takes place. There's always a but here, but healthcare is rapidly changing. It is complex. It is frustrating as heck at times. It's all these things, but you can make a difference as a leader.
Daniel Williams:So where are you focusing on as you project out and think of ways where you can make a difference or where healthcare can continue to make a difference in people's lives? What are you excited about?
Idalis McPhail:Yeah, people can probably find it a little bit scary how, you know, healthcare is just ever changing forever and ever. It's that there's always something new and different, but that's where I think leaders really thrive in taking this new experience as a new opportunity to learn and grow. And so every day I'm learning something new, and I'm just excited to kind of absorb more, network more, really learn from other leaders how they've done it in the past. I'm not really trying to reinvent the wheel on something that has worked for somebody else. But when new things come up, I'm game to brainstorm and think of ideas and really try to, you know, think about the full picture before we roll something new out.
Idalis McPhail:So I'm just excited that, you know, as long as there's people to take care of, there's going to be a need for healthcare. And as long as there's a need for healthcare, there's going to be employees to lead and to manage and to mentor. And so there's always going to be this need for healthcare leadership. That means that there's always going be something to learn. There's always going to be an opportunity to grow.
Idalis McPhail:And so as a forever learner, that's the place to be because you'll never know everything.
Daniel Williams:That is so cool. All right. Last question then. Are you planning to go to Orlando for the Leaders Conference? Have you made any plans in that direction?
Idalis McPhail:So I originally, because I'm so new, I read that there was an MGMA conference. And I was like, man, that would be amazing. But, you know, I just started as a practice administrator. I don't know if I'm ready to play with the big dogs yet in Orlando at MGMA. But with, you know, this award and this opportunity, I have learned that MGMA is not just for people that have been medical group managers for a really long time.
Idalis McPhail:It's a place to learn and network and, you know, really lean on different mentors and learn from them. So I am gonna be in Orlando this year, and so I'm excited to see everybody there.
Daniel Williams:That is so exciting. Well, we'll look you up there in person and congratulate you there as well. So so good to have you here at Dallas on the MGMA podcast.
Idalis McPhail:Yeah. Thank you so much for having me, Daniel.
Daniel Williams:Alright. Well, everybody, I'll give you the information that I've been giving out for the MGMA Leaders Conference. It's gonna be in Orlando. It's October September 28 through October 1. You can go to mgma.com/leaders and get right to it, learn more about it, and register.
Daniel Williams:So I hope to see you all there. So until then, thanks everyone for being MGMA podcast listeners.
