When the employer name on a paycheck changes, leaders often rush to explain what it means.
Melanie Stohl did the opposite.
“I don’t have any more answers than you have right now,” she told her teams — and then stayed in the room to listen.
That moment of restraint, shared during a conversation with Daniel Williams, senior editor and host of the MGMA Insights Podcast, captures a leadership posture that runs counter to how many medical practice leaders are trained to operate. Stohl, director of pediatrics for the Pediatric Service Line at M Health Fairview and current chair of the Minnesota MGMA board, joined the MGMA Member Spotlight to talk about her career path, her approach to leading through disruption, and what she has learned managing 27 pediatric specialties across nine clinic entities during a period of organizational and community upheaval.
Leading Without All the Answers During an Employment Transition
Stohl’s teams are navigating a significant organizational shift: University of Minnesota Physicians employees are transitioning to Fairview as their employment home. The work itself remains the same, but identity, loyalty, and uncertainty are very real.
“A lot of people have a strong connection to the organization that they work in,” Stohl said. “We have employees who have been with University of Minnesota Physicians for 10, 15, 20-plus years.”
Rather than over-communicating reassurance, Stohl emphasized transparency — even when that transparency meant admitting limits. “I think there’s an assumption: I know all the answers and I know what’s going to happen,” she said. “And really, I don’t.”
That stance shaped how leaders showed up: Listening sessions instead of scripted updates, presence instead of certainty. “I’m here to listen,” she told staff, adding that sometimes leadership meant saying, “Yeah, you know what? This sucks. And I get that.”
The anchor, she said, was returning to what wasn’t changing. “The work we’re doing is not changing. The people we’re supporting are not changing. Our teams are not changing.”
The emphasis on mission over employer branding became a stabilizing force — not because it erased anxiety, but because it acknowledged it.
Why Working Every Role in the Revenue Cycle Changes How You Lead
Stohl’s credibility during change didn’t come from title alone. It was built over decades of working nearly every operational role in a medical practice.
“My first job ever was a payment poster,” she said. From there, she moved through prior authorizations, credentialing, insurance, front desk work, rooming patients, and ultimately became a certified coder.
“I’ve done the front desk job. I’ve done the prior auth. I’ve done the credentialing,” she said. That experience informs how she evaluates operational changes. “What some people think is just a small change at check-in or a small change in physician documentation sometimes doesn’t understand all the pieces that need to happen before that patient gets there and after.”
That upstream-downstream perspective shows up in meetings where she pauses decisions. “Let’s talk about all the different steps that need to happen before we get there and all the steps that have to happen after,” she said — a habit that often leads to colleagues responding, Oh, didn’t think of that.
Education as a Leadership Tool, Not a Credential
Stohl’s educational path is notable not because of the degrees themselves, but because of how she used them operationally. She earned her bachelor’s degree online through the University of Colorado in her mid-to-late 30s while raising two children.
“I was the mom with the laptop at basketball and soccer games, writing papers,” she recalled.
Today, she is completing a healthcare MBA at the University of St. Thomas, presenting her capstone after two years in the program. The value, she said, wasn’t theoretical. “I was able to utilize projects we were working on within our organization and putting those into my school program.”
One finance class, in particular, reshaped how she understood budgets. “All the dots started connecting,” she said. “Being able to connect the why and how and how each piece plays such an integral role in the overall execution of health care.”
The learning didn’t stay in the classroom. “Usually after my on-campus sessions on Monday, they’re like, ‘What’d you learn in class? What can you share with us?’” she said. That spillover has already influenced her team. “I have a couple of managers who have said, ‘Hey, I think I might want to try this program, too.’”
Building a State MGMA Chapter One Power Hour at a Time
As chair of the Minnesota MGMA board, Stohl is helping grow a relatively new affiliate — one that currently has about 36 members.
“We’re a small but mighty group,” she said, with a goal to reach 100 members by the end of the year.
One of the most effective engagement tactics hasn’t been conferences or formal programming, but monthly “power hours.” Held the first Wednesday of every month, these sessions are intentionally informal.
“You show up with your cup of coffee or tea,” Stohl said, “and we just have conversation.”
There’s a topic to start, but no rigid agenda. The result has been candid exchanges about what’s working, what isn’t, and where leaders are struggling. “I love the vulnerability and the humility of that,” she said. “We all don’t have the answers.”
The sessions have sparked offline connections, topic ideas, and peer problem-solving. “I use the community boards daily,” she added, calling out the national MGMA Community forums as a critical extension of that support.
Crisis Operations: Daily Huddles, Weekly Town Halls, and Open Forums
During periods of community unrest in early 2024, Stohl’s pediatric service line implemented a layered communication strategy designed to surface real-time issues without overwhelming staff. At the leadership level, they held daily huddles — both mornings and end-of-day — to answer one core question: “What are you hearing? What are you seeing? What are you feeling?”
From there, information flowed into weekly town halls and daily emails, with careful attention to “not just putting something out to put something out,” as Stohl put it.
Perhaps most impactful were weekly “pede chats” — open forums lasting 30 to 60 minutes where employees could ask questions without a formal presentation.
“It wasn’t for us to cascade information,” she said. “It was, what do you need to hear from us?”
Not every question had an answer.
“The stuff people wanted additional information on was the stuff that we just didn’t have,” she said, particularly when issues extended beyond the organization to state or federal levels.
Patient Access, Safety, and Rethinking Location-Based Care
Operational disruption didn’t stop with staff. One of M Health Fairview’s main pediatric hospital-based clinics sits in an area directly affected by unrest, leading some families to delay or avoid care.
“We had a lot of patients who did not feel safe coming to that area,” Stohl said.
The response was pragmatic and patient-centered: rescheduling to different locations, shifting to virtual visits, and collaborating with social workers on transportation and escort support. “If you want an escort to and from your car, if you need a ride — let’s figure out how to do that,” she said.
In some cases, that meant transferring care temporarily to outside clinics closer to patients’ homes. “Sometimes you have to go outside the traditional model,” Stohl said. “You’ve got an hour to figure something out and you just have to do what’s best.”
The experience reinforced a broader operational truth: Flexibility in access models is more than convenience — it’s a real need for safety, trust, and continuity of care.
Ending Where Leadership Actually Happens
Looking back, Stohl is candid about imperfections. “We probably could have done some things better,” she said, noting the importance of post-crisis reflection with teams — what worked, what didn’t, and what support was missing.
But she returns to one core principle: presence over perfection. “You need to be okay with not knowing,” she said. “And you need to be okay with just listening.”
In moments when policies fall short and answers don’t exist, leadership, she suggested, is less about control and more about creating space. “Just be yourself and be human,” she said. “We’re going to make mistakes. And that’s okay. We learn from it.”
Resources
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